virginia. and bernie sanders a at a bernie's back rally. listen wherever you are using the free cspan radio app. ♪ the house will be in order. >> for 40 years cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court. and public policy events from washington, d.c. and around the country. so you can make up your own mind, created by cable in 1979, cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. cspan, your unfiltered view of government. >> at a campaign event in iowa yesterday presidential candidate joe biden was critical of the u.s. troop withdrawal in syria.

the former vice president called the decision reckless and said it has given isis quota new lease on life. the event was held in davenport [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. [ applause ] >> folks, roxanne and i have known each other a while. i have to tell you she is right about how she is serious. it means a great deal to me. after this time she would endorse me. i mean it sincerely. it's -- it means a lot. and i've got a great, great friend who has -- we keep in touch with one another. we lost one of our good friends, doc, when we passed away. but jim where are you? jimmie? you're where in here. jim, thank you. [ applause ] >> you know aband mayor bill

gluba. i know you know this because a lot of you have been involved in politics a while. but, you know, one of the things that's the great honors, as much of a repetition running for president is, going all over the country. you -- people don't raeltz you make friends for life. you make friends for life, no matter you win, lose or whatever happens. you become friends for life. and so the folks i just named have been friends. they know -- roxanne and i were just talking about we showered a lousy occurrence on the same day. she lost her husband. i lost my son. we knew about each other. we cared what was happening to the other person, not just ourselves. and a lot of the people in this

room were -- excuse as we say in the senate a point of personal privilege, so good to my son bowe, my son hunter. you really were. you reached out, embraced him. and i know some of you know i won't mention the gentleman's name. i was on the other side of the state. good guy. haven't seen in a long time. walked up and said joe, i'm still with you. i would rather have been able to vote for your son for president. but i'm going to vote for you. my dad used to have an expression, mr. mayor, he'd say, you know, you know your success as a father when you turn and look at your child and realize they turned out better than you. the way you embraced my son, the way you embraced me when things happened, you embraced roxanne when she lost her husband means a lot. i didn't plan on saying this at the outset. but i look out at so many familiar faces.

and, you know, to have cindy winkler here state representative, to have her here. and to have all the roles the president of the united states has to fill there is one more consequential than any other role. and that's to be commander in chief of the united states of america, the united states military. it's a sacred duty. it's not something that is done or looked at in a whim. and so i'm going to -- i hope you understand i think it's important that i make serious peach. it's going to take about 25 minutes for me to do it -- about american foreign policy and which i am so concerned about our security and the deployment of the might of the united states military. you know, the power to deploy the might of the most powerful

military in the history of the world -- that's not hyperbowl -- in the history of the world -- there have been never been greater or more competent warriors or larger or more powerful military than we have -- is not an ego booster. not a ratings booster. you take an oath of office to serve and swear responsibility, a., to troops appear families. only sacred obligation we have. a lot of obligations only sacred one is to protect those we send to war. care for them when they come home and care for families while they're gone. they risk their lives for their government, so it will be able to work. the other responsibility is we not risk their lives pointlessly. when a commander in chief puts

them in harm's way it's for an overwhelming national security purpose. we also -- that commander in chief has a responsibility to allies and partners, that the united states of america will stand by its word and stand with our allies in times of need. and that our adversaries -- our adversaries know that the united states seeks peace, peace. but it will not hesitate to defend our national interest or the interest of those we have sworn in sacred alliances to work with by misuse of others. donald trump -- donald trump, i believe -- and i have -- i'm not comfortable to say this about a president. but he is a complete failure, a complete failure as commander in chief. in his most reckless and

incompetent commander in chief we have ever had. and he has failed repeatedly. you know, he doesn't understand. part of it is he is just incompetent. no, i really mean it. he is just incompetent. but he repeatedly fails to foresee the consequences of his impulses. and they're impulses he has, not based on any theory. and when the utterly predictable occurs he seems not to care. he blames somebody else. it's always somebody else's fault. the buck never stops at his desk in his view. talks with north korea collapsing because they are based on nothing more than a delusional promise by a bloody dictator, which he is prepared

to accept. erratic trade war with china. here in the quad city 160 works laid off. and deere, not to mention the pain at manufacturing, with virtually no gain -- no gain at all in the strategy. iran growing more and more provocative, restarting its nuclear program because donald trump chose to renege on a diplomatic agreement with the world powers, including our allies, on an agreement that was working. it was the most intensive regime in being able to know what someone was doing, inspection, than ever has occurred in modern history. and now turkish forces invading

and attacking our kurdish allies, partners, because trump tweeted -- tweeted their withdrawal. according to admiral stradivenias, former head of naval operations, he went on to say that without any notification to the military -- the events of the past week brought syria -- initiated in syria have had devastating clarity on just how dangerous this president is to our national security, leadership around the world. and to the lives of the brave women and men serving in uniform. you know, building and maintaining the confidence of our allies has been a critical

element that every single president has engaged in, democrat and republican. some with more or less success. since the end of world war ii. but by precipitously withdrawing. trump managed in one fell swoop to betray our kurdish partners to who helped defeat isis. and create division with religious and ethnic communities caught if the cross fire with up to 160,000 newly displaced persons run out of homes, forces -- forcing our troops into retreat. thousand thousands -- they're in retreat.

the united states military is in retreat from turkey. russia and the murderous assad regime is floing in to fill the vacuum, has given isis, formerly al qaeda a new lease on life. forcing them to release the 10,000 isis presentencer. and forcing them to flee north to protect sons, daughters, families, instead of fighting the remnants of the so-called caliphate which isis set up. and leaving guarding 10,000 isis terrorists and supporters -- some of whom have already escaped.

and to throw global confidence in northwestern leadership into complete free fall. i'm going to say something very self-serving. this is something i know a lot about. i spent a lot of time in that area. i know all of the leaders. i've been engaged because that was my job as chairman of the foreign relations committee and doing major national security and intelligence matters for president obama. all the consequences i have mentioned, every single one can be laid at the feet of donald trump. you know, he greenlighted the turkish invasion. now he is left asking turkey to stop it. but the damage is done. you don't get do-overs on national security. the decisions have deadly, serious consequences.

and yet the dynamics in syria are incredibly complicated. and yes the conflict between turkey and kurds dates back decades. decades. but before trump's tweet, a very small number much u.s. forces working together with kurdish partners was actually keeping northern iraq relatively stable. people weren't dying. while keeping the pressure on what was left of isis. now they've been blown apart. imagine how demoralizing it is, demoralizing to our troops as russia pours in mercenaries, taking literally victory laps inside of former u.s. camps and facilities. and president trump ordering them that the very ones

president trump ordered into abandon. and turkey attacking the very people they fought alongside of. that's when we need one in the oval office who understands the gravity and the consequences of their decisions. trumps quote, his great unmatched wisdom, end of quote. my god, what a delusional man. [ applause ] >> the great unmatched wisdom. that great unmatched wisdom has undone the hard won progress across two administrations including the fight against isis in abandon the kurds

and the kurdish partners by making the ridiculous, uninformed, crazy comment, they didn't help us in the second world war. they didn't help us in normandy. i mean, can you believe it? i mean, you think about it. what a global embarrassment. well, guess what? they helped us smash isis. a direct threat to the united states of america and our friends all around the world. and that didn't happen during world war ii. but some of it happened during trump's first term. you know, you think he'd remember. he bragged about it at the time. he said the kurds stood with us to accomplish a vital national security objective in the united states.

he goes on to point out the destruction of isis and their temporary caliphate, he talked about it. he said we achieved this without sending tens of thousands of troops, without spending a quarter trillion dollars as we did in iraq surge. indeed, the obama/biden administration worked with them alongside our partners in syria. the kurds, the syrian democratic forces. but just a few hundred americans stopping tens of thousands of local fighters to take the fight to isis on the ground. the strategy is so successful it turned out that trump's secret plan to defeat isis -- remember that? secret plan to defeat isis was to keep doing what we had put in place until last week.

you know, those brave kurdish and arab forces paid a steep price. in defeating isis in the caliphate they lost over 10,000 soldiers. hear me? 10,000. 10,000. dead. they made the ultimate sacrifice and then trump sold them out. all it took was one phone call from the president of turkey who i know very well. so now, instead of being a reliable american partner, helping to maintain stability and keeping the lid on terrorism, the kurds have had to make the only faustian bargain they could make. to avoid being wiped out and their women and children being wiped out.

by the onslaught of the turkey military. they made a deal with two devils, bashar al assad, a murderer who heads up the government of syria, and vladimir putin for their protection. that's the deal -- i mean, he always calls when i get to this part. i'm joking. that's not a problem, it happens. look, they have now handed over to those two people control of northwest syria. back to the brutal russian and iranian backed regime. i say iranian backed regime. how does this keep america safe? how does it advance our interests around the world? the answer is quite simple. it doesn't. it devastates us. you know?

how does it benefit anyone other than our adversaries? russia which is now at the table to expand its influence throughout syria. encourage iran to be more engaged on the western shore, the eastern shore of the mediterranean. russia again, which gets to sit back and watch one nato ally impose a sanction on another nato ally. furthering putin's goal of fracturing a nato alliance. that's what putin's about. iran and hezbollah, now are going to be more emboldened to use syria to launch attacks against israel from the golan and other places. isis, isis which is clearly seeing it regroup and it has hundreds of supporters released back into the region.

every single strongman, autocrat and dictator around the world who just learned what president trump has done, that will abandon our partners under the smallest amount of pressure. what do you think they're going to do? what do you think they'll attempt to do now? all we're left with is donald trump -- a donald trump shaped hole in american credibility. more chaos. more instant, more threats. threats to the american people, our partners and allies in the region. it was pointed out that the people three -- that isis will flee to europe, what was his comment? don't worry, they'll go to europe they won't come to the united states. that's being a real partner, isn't it? they're going to go to europe. it's okay. they'll take care of them, the europeans.

don't by fooled by his arguments he's pulling u.s. troops out of the middle east, by the way or ending the forever wars. he may have caved to erdogan and to putin. forcing our troops in retreat under fire. but he's also authorized the deployment of thousands of additional troops -- thousands of additional troops into the gulf in saudi arabia to deal with another crisis of his making. one with iran. but this time, the crisis we have to deal with in iran, we have to go it alone. none of our partners want in on the deal. america, you caused the problem. you deal, you deal with the kudz force. you deal with the terrorists coming out of iran, not us. so don't believe trump's con here.

this is not american leadership. this is bending to the will of a straw man. and this is not an end of forever wars. it's a recipe for more forever wars. he's still more than a year -- he has still more than a year in office. and god forbid us, four years after that. look, as erratic as he becomes, the more he's certain that i'm going to beat him like a drum. look what he's doing. no, really. think about it. have you ever heard of a time -- did you ever think you'd see a team they're spending ten millions on ads to try to pick who the candidate is going to be? there's a reason for it. over 70 -- can you turn that off, please.

over 70 polls in a row show me defeating him. i become the new object of his attention. maybe the reason why he's going to be impeached. imagine what damage he could do in the time he has left. either intentionally or because of his total incompetence. the more pressure the more erratic things he does. even for him. they're worrisome. we can't let that happen. i'm not going to let it happen. folks, the next president is going to face enormous challenges of picking up the pieces of american foreign policy, salvaging our reputation and rebuilding confidence in the comments made by the united states around the world. used to be what we say we do, we keep our word.

next president is going to have to address the world and he or she finds it on january 2021. whatever the state of disarray trump leaves it in and there's not going to be time for building relationships from scratch. we're going to need a leader who can't on day one pick up the telephone, call our nato allies, know them by their first names, and know and have them know there will be no question about the word of the next president of the united states. [ applause ] none. and that the united states will maintain our treaty obligations. will stand by democracy and freedom. i personally meant build relationships with every single world leader still on the stage. i know how erdogan operates.

i spent more time with him alone. i predict and i believe more than the president has. and in fact, the reason the united states partnered with the kurdish militia in syria in the first place is because turkey dragged its heels on helping us defeat isis. remember all the people that were led in across the border from europe to go fight with isis? the turkey's border? i spent hours, hours with my security team and going over proposals with erdogan. he wanted us to leverage in order to deal with our concern over isis and the rest of the world, he wanted us to essentially to declare war and send hundreds of thousands of troops in to syria to take down assad. and we would not do that.

syrian government which neither our administration or the american people wanted to have another endless war in fact occur. so unlike president trump, the president gave me the authority to tell erdogan no. but we kept working with turkey. helping them to cope with millions of syrian refugees who are fleeing out of -- out of syria. designed as much humanitarian aid as we could to alleviate much of the suffering as possible and walking those fleeing violence to our shores and we put in place a successful strategy for the kurds to ultimately bring down isis while preventing the kurds from coming to blows. we shouldn't fool ourselves, folks. there may never be a solution in

syria that suffices and satisfies our best hope for a region of peace within itself. no one wants american troops forever to be embroiled in conflict in the middle east or nation building. there's a big difference between sending tens of thousands of troops, combat troops to the middle east indefinitely which i opposed and using small numbers of special operations to support local forces doing the fighting and advancing our common interest. i have to tell you i was surprised last night in the debate when one of my colleagues said she removed all troop -- she'd remove all troops from the middle east. you know, we can be strong and smart at the same time. and when we do draw down, there's a right way and a wrong

way. and what trump has done in syria is disastrously wrong. so this trump created crisis devolves further into chaos. what should we be that's the logical question, what should we be doing? what should we be doing now? first we should begin to work again closely with our nato allies in the united nations to bring more responsible parties to the table. the united states and turkey are allies even if turkey is not acting like one. so we should be inviting a broader coalition of countries to pressure turkey to pull back its operations, refrain from ethnic cleansing and targeting religious minorities as well as cease its callous disregard for civilians. the international community should make it clear to the u.s. that we intend to investigate any reports of war crimes or violations of international humanitarian law and to hold

accountable those who are responsible when it occurs. the second thing we should do is actively work to mediate a resolution between turkey and the kurds to end the violence. there was a way, was there a negotiation initially going on. the united states should be willing to set up and facilitate those talks and engage all sides. leading the free world requires us to show up and have some skin in the game. we shouldn't be delegating this to putin. the third thing we should be doing, we have an obligation to provide critical humanitarian support to medicate the new refugee crisis that's going to be occurring, unfolding before our very eyes. the trump administration released $50 million of humanitarian aid to syria, but that's only a quarter of the $200 million in aid that already has been accommodated, but he

suspended last year, and how will it be distributed? when frontline humanitarian groups, they're all through that region, how are they going to do this when they suspended their services, pulled their staffs out of the areas where they're fighting? we should be willing to carry out airlifts of food, water, critical aid, first supplies, as they're needed. fourthly, we have to remain laser focused on preventing the resurgence of isis. as the kurds defend their villages from turkish attack, it's easy to imagine isis regrowing and filling the void. we can't let that happen for our own safety's sake because no matter how much donald trump tweets, it may be easy for europeans to recapture escaped

isis fighters erers or for us t back and blast isis, that hadn't worked before. that's not how it worked the first time and it certainly won't be now if we have to fight isis again. during our administration we built a global coalition to take on isis that eventually grew 81 partners. it was part of my responsibility to put that together. not just us. we got 81 other nations to participate with us in curtailing isis' expansion and caliphate and rendering them not a threat. nations and organizations from all around the world stood with us because they trusted the word of the united states of america under the obama/biden administration. so ask yourself, after

everything trump has done, after every international treaty that trump has pulled out of, after every ally that trump has attacked, after leaving partners to be slaughtered with no discernible strategy, after embracing some of the most outrageous thugs in the world, going to stand with us today to get this done? if they don't stand with us, how many more brave sons and daughters will we have to send to fight alone in the future to protect ourselves? and that brings me to my final point i want to make today. as president trump's doing what he's doing in syria is much bigger than syria. it's more insidious, insidious

than the betrayal of grave kurdish partners. it's more dangerous than taking our boot off the neck of isis. trump is demolishing the moral authority of the united states of america. i mean that in a literal sense. [ applause ] his incompetence is so extreme and his abuse of power so rampant that he's torching america's influence and our ability to get things done around the world. climate change. we make up 15% of the probable. we got to get 85% of the world to come back and cooperate with us when we put together the paris climate accord. mass migrations out of venezuela and other places in the world.

unfair trade practices, disruptive technologies. nuclear proliferation. the ascendency of china, the resurgence of russia. how will we meet any of these real, global challenges we face if the united states is forever reduced to the eyes of the world to being an unreliable partner? who is going stand with us? diplomacy isn't just a series of handshakes and photo opportunities. it's building relationships that you're constantly building, constantly maintaining. working to identify areas of common interest while managing points of conflict that requires discipline, requires a team of experienced professionals that you empower, not diminish or demote. requires a coherent national

security process to get everyone on the same page to execute. after almost three years as president, trump still doesn't understand any of this. and he never will. [ applause ] it was the only thing -- the only thing he cares about is donald trump. not our allies. not our neighbors. not our diplomats. not our values. not our leadership. not our standing in the world. not the incredible human suffering that's being caused by his decisions. not even the likelihood that isis, isis, the most coherent and spread and dangerous terrorist group in modern history. not even that isis will

regenerate once again, gain strength, and threaten the united states of america. there's so much at stake in this election. issues that minority to every single american family. this is some abstract speech before the council on foreign relations in new york city or group of foreign policy experts. this is about how it affects the lives of everyday americans. every single family. this is what it is. what does america stand for in the world? who -- who do we want to be? the united states builds alliances and works with our partner democracies for the sake of our own national security. our own economic prosperity. no country, even one as powerful as ours, can go it alone against the challenges that respect no borders and cannot be contained by walls.

the investment we made, make in others, have come back to benefit us tenfold. in markets. our products, partners to help us tackle global challenges. allies to help us deter aggression or fight alongside us if those deterrents failed. i met some gentlemen at the airport who were vietnam veterans. at the time, i sat with them for just a moment before i came over here. talking about how we ran against being the world's policeman. america first means america alone. how do we deal with the crises that are going to affect us and every single american in iowa and throughout the country? with stateless terror. all the things that affect our

ability to survive, from global warming to a fair trade policy. how do we do that? if we're out of the picture? make no mistake, nations will make accommodations to work with those who are in the picture whether that's russia or china or any other country, they'll make their own deals if they think they cannot be protected and/or be part of an alliance with us. the world's going to move on without us. donald trump's vision is antithetical to every -- everything generations of americans have fought for, sacrificed, and defended. i believe we're so much better than donald trump thinks we are. i believe we can and must be the nation which the world looks to,

mobilizes others for common good, the beacon of liberty. offering refugees and the oppressed options. a buolwork of democracy and self-determination. champion of human rights. a leader of the free world. that's not a slight, a throwaway phrase. all this is on the ballot next november. so we have to choose, we have to choose the american we want to be. we have to choose if we want to retake our place in the world, keep the united states safe and secure because we've built on our alliances, because we choose a president who will rebuild our credibility and restore the value of america's word. that's what's at stake here because i promise you, i promise you, if we do not, others will make their accommodations.

imagine, imagine a world without nato and a european alliance with us. imagine a world without alliances in the pacific. how long will it take some of these nations who no longer can take our word that we'll be with them as they will be us before they decide to go nuclear? before they decide they have to act? before they decide they have to make an accommodation with putin, with china. folks, this policy's been a disaster. this president has been a disaster. we can change it. it's totally within our power. we just have to be sure that what we say, we mean. we explain why we're doing it. and we make no apologies. so the world and the american public can look at whomever we pick and say, i believe that

person and i believe on day one that person is ready to command the world stage, does not need any on-the-job training and is known by everyone from putin to our allies to be what he says or she says that they are. that's what's at stake here, folks. if he doesn't do something totally, thoroughly, reckless and cause us to get into a shooting war of consequence, we can overcome four years of this man, but we cannot -- we cannot -- he will ever, forever change the nation of who we are and, and, if, in fact, we do not defeat him this time. that's my intention. i thank you. god bless you all. and may god protect ore troops. [ applause ] what am i doing?

[ applause ] ♪ well, you, you make my dreams come true ♪

♪ you make my dreams come true

♪

c-span's campaign 2020 coverage continues live tonight at 8:00 p.m. on c-span. president trump holds a "keep america great" rally in the americanairlines center in dallas. on friday at 6:00 p.m., live on c-span, elizabeth warren holds a town hall in norfolk, virginia. and live saturday at 1:00 p.m. eastern, senator bernie sanders at a bernie's back rally in new york city. watch on c-span, any time on

c-span.org or listen wherever you are using the free c-span radio app. the british government and the european union announced a brexit agreement today which now goes to parliament for consideration. earlier this week, queen elizabeth ii addressed the state opening of british parliament. her remarks commonly referred to as the queen's speech outlines the priorities for the new parliamentary session. >> please be seated.