:00:00. > :00:11.This is only the beginning, says President Obama, as America and five
:00:12. > :00:14.Arab states take on ISIS. We're going to do what is necessary to
:00:15. > :00:18.take the fight to this terrorist group. For the security of the
:00:19. > :00:24.country and the region and for the entire world. The air strikes target
:00:25. > :00:27.Jihadists in Syria and Iraq as the Pentagon insist they were about to
:00:28. > :00:31.strike the west. Is Britain shaping up to join the attack. Bahrain's
:00:32. > :00:36.Foreign Minister will tell us what he thinks this curious coalition can
:00:37. > :00:42.achieve. We go in search of Iran's secret bar
:00:43. > :00:47.yes, fighting a clandestine war in Iraq against ISIS. Anyone seen
:00:48. > :00:52.SNOBOL no-one has heard of him. Extraordinary, the most powerful man
:00:53. > :00:56.in Iraq, no-one has ever heard of. Here in Manchester, Ed Miliband made
:00:57. > :01:01.his pitch to be PM, telling his story through the voters he has met.
:01:02. > :01:09.Let's have a round of applause for her and the great job she's doing.
:01:10. > :01:12.She is one one of the lucky few, her school helped her get an
:01:13. > :01:21.apprenticeship, so many schools don't do. That.
:01:22. > :01:28.Why did an important part of his prepared speech on immigration and
:01:29. > :01:36.the deficit go AWOL. Forget everything you think you know
:01:37. > :01:42.about the threat of Syria's Assad, the world was turned upsidedown as a
:01:43. > :01:46.coalition was formed inside Assad's country with his knowledge. The US
:01:47. > :01:49.launched air strikes on ISIS targets in Syria, President Obama warned it
:01:50. > :01:53.was just the beginning. What of Britain's role in all of this? Today
:01:54. > :01:57.our Prime Minister called it a fight you can't opt out of it, does that
:01:58. > :02:04.mean he's opting us in. Tomorrow things become clearer as David
:02:05. > :02:13.Cameron lays out his response before the UN gen. Gen. -- General
:02:14. > :02:19.Assembly. We explore this action and what it means.
:02:20. > :02:25.This is what the Americans once described as "shock and awe".
:02:26. > :02:30.Launched from ships and bombers, fast jets and slow drones, witness
:02:31. > :02:33.the US military action at the start of yet another US campaign. This
:02:34. > :02:37.time they weren't doing it alone, and President Obama was at pains to
:02:38. > :02:44.credit the five Arab nations that took part in these attacks. And this
:02:45. > :02:48.was the result, 22 targets reportedly hit. 70 IS fighters dead,
:02:49. > :02:54.and numerous control centres destroyed. But will a change of cast
:02:55. > :02:59.make today's air strikes any more successful, and any less devisive
:03:00. > :03:05.than the ones in the past? It was a three-pronged attack which began
:03:06. > :03:12.this morning at 1. 30am. In the first, two American destroyers
:03:13. > :03:20.launched more than 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Some of them headed
:03:21. > :03:26.for Aleppo, the target was an area that was planning attacks on the
:03:27. > :03:31.west. Most targeted Raqqa head quarters of ISIS. Phase II was more
:03:32. > :03:38.complex, this time the Americans weren't on their own, jets caused
:03:39. > :03:42.it, Rappers, B-1 bombers and predator drone, Raqqa the target
:03:43. > :03:51.again. The last phase targeted IS positions in eastern Syria,
:03:52. > :03:58.particularly at Deir Al-Zour. They were launched from bases in the
:03:59. > :04:02.region. Training compounds, supply depot, command and control centres
:04:03. > :04:05.and communications hubs had been destroyed or disabled. By the end of
:04:06. > :04:09.the operation more bombs had been dropped in one night than in all
:04:10. > :04:15.previous American operations against IS.
:04:16. > :04:18.So did it work? Undoubtedly IS have anticipated this attack and hidden
:04:19. > :04:22.some of their assets and resources, the point is they can't now
:04:23. > :04:26.concentrate. IS have been successful in such a big area because they have
:04:27. > :04:32.been very rapid and they concentrate on an area of weakness, now they are
:04:33. > :04:38.under air attack they can't concentrate and make any more GAIPS
:04:39. > :04:42.gains. It will frustrate their mode of working and degrade their doing
:04:43. > :04:46.anything. Saudi Arabia apparently launched four aircraft, so did the
:04:47. > :04:50.UAE. Bahrain's contribution was said to be three aircraft. And Jordan
:04:51. > :04:55.admitted involvement in bombing raids. Qatar's effort was more
:04:56. > :05:03.behind the scenes. For some this contribution was overdue. Why should
:05:04. > :05:09.the west pull the Arabs chestnuts out of the fire without significant
:05:10. > :05:13.political, economic and military contributions from the countries
:05:14. > :05:21.most at threat. It is the fight of the people of Iraq and the
:05:22. > :05:28.Government of Iraq and hitherto we have seen too much reluctance by the
:05:29. > :05:36.leading powers of the Iranian peninsula to support the Government
:05:37. > :05:41.in Baghdad. In Syria itself state TV reported their Government had been
:05:42. > :05:45.informed and crucially Syrian air defence radar were apparently turned
:05:46. > :05:52.off. IS hit back with a PR strike of its own. Hello there, I'm John
:05:53. > :05:59.Cantly. Another video of the British hostage. Militants said the attacks
:06:00. > :06:03.would be avenged. Attention will now drift to Westminster, and whether
:06:04. > :06:06.and when MPs will be recalled. Meanwhile Newsnight has been told
:06:07. > :06:10.that the British military is already on the move. Over the last
:06:11. > :06:17.fortnight, a small but significant number of British military
:06:18. > :06:23.strategists have been centre, rbil and Iraq, and also to embed at the
:06:24. > :06:28.renalal headquarters in Qatar. They have been sent there to support the
:06:29. > :06:34.Americans with their surveillance capabilities. But also to prepare
:06:35. > :06:38.for the moment that David Cameron orders air strikes using tornado
:06:39. > :06:41.jets. We have been told that the Kurdish Peshmerga have asked the
:06:42. > :06:45.British to send training mission to help their fighters. They
:06:46. > :06:49.particularly need British expertise to help them with the kind of heavy
:06:50. > :06:54.artillery they have never used before. The request is being
:06:55. > :06:58.considered, and Whitehall sources have told us that David Cameron will
:06:59. > :07:02.find it hard to refuse. Public opinion is in a mood to be seen to
:07:03. > :07:07.do something, so is parliamentary opinion. If Australia and France and
:07:08. > :07:11.our Arab friends are doing things alongside the Americans, it seems
:07:12. > :07:16.unconceivable we will stay out it. The question is how deeply are we
:07:17. > :07:22.involved, do we do a more extensive back-up operation, or do we join the
:07:23. > :07:27.takes ourselves, I think the latter. So it starts again, a new campaign
:07:28. > :07:33.against a new enemy, but the west facing the same sold problems. Is it
:07:34. > :07:36.legal? Will it work? When will it end?
:07:37. > :07:45.We will come on to some of those questions. David Cameron is in New
:07:46. > :07:54.York preparing to speak to the UN gen. General -- General Assembly.
:07:55. > :07:57.Did the Americans have permission to do that? They informed the Syrian
:07:58. > :08:01.delegation before they conducted the air strike, we think they also gave
:08:02. > :08:04.some indication of timing and broadly whereabouts they would
:08:05. > :08:10.happen. The Syrians did not oppose them. Those two things put together
:08:11. > :08:14.in the view of some of the Americans who were planning this constitute
:08:15. > :08:18.assent. So they approved it, they didn't attempt to stop it. The
:08:19. > :08:22.Americans, if you like, conservative in their legal advice, but with this
:08:23. > :08:27.line about this Al-Qaeda offshoot group that they also bombed last
:08:28. > :08:30.night. Which was a clear and present danger-type of legal justification
:08:31. > :08:33.for going in. And indeed it may well have been the chance to hit that
:08:34. > :08:37.other group that brought the timing of this forward a couple of days
:08:38. > :08:40.compared with what was expected. The other interesting area of permission
:08:41. > :08:44.is that of Congress itself. They have gone off to fight the mid-term
:08:45. > :08:49.election, they won't be back for weeks and week, and there are plenty
:08:50. > :08:52.in Congress, including some we have spoken to who are quite anxious
:08:53. > :08:59.about the President making war under these terms. At some point that will
:09:00. > :09:07.come back and be formally debated on in Congress. Where does that leave
:09:08. > :09:10.the UK, interesting to hear Michael Clarke say that he thinks David
:09:11. > :09:14.Cameron will find it hard to refuse? It was interesting to hear that. The
:09:15. > :09:19.contribution the British can make in a military sense is limited, a few
:09:20. > :09:23.aircraft, a limited range of munition, perhaps a few cruise
:09:24. > :09:28.missiles from a submarine. The question of whether it is
:09:29. > :09:32.politically and morally essential for them is foremost. Even the
:09:33. > :09:36.politics of this seem to be less attractive in the wake of what we
:09:37. > :09:41.saw last night. The Arab countries joining in and dropping bomb,
:09:42. > :09:47.actually attacking the Islamic State militants. That is clearly hugely
:09:48. > :09:50.beneficial to the US. The UK-type involvement is more what they would
:09:51. > :09:55.expect. They are definitely looking at other options too, including
:09:56. > :10:00.training. We know the Defence Secretary has been there in the last
:10:01. > :10:04.few days, that could be to do with setting up training bases. That is
:10:05. > :10:09.something the Americans are accelerating. It could also be that
:10:10. > :10:10.there will be British trainers sent to the Kurdish areas of Iraq as
:10:11. > :10:15.well. Thank you very much. Just sort of
:10:16. > :10:23.looking at the timetables then, how much appetite do you think there
:10:24. > :10:30.would be from a British parliament for any interaction and intervention
:10:31. > :10:35.now? Well we have seen throughout this uncertainty about whether Ed
:10:36. > :10:38.Miliband would support it. There has been this rhetorical support, would
:10:39. > :10:43.he vote to support direct action, killing people, to put it crudely,
:10:44. > :10:49.by UK military force. I think there are still some uncertainties in that
:10:50. > :10:53.regard. And this broader question about the military utility of it. I
:10:54. > :10:56.sense reluctance in quite a few parts of Government about this.
:10:57. > :11:00.Someone said to me a couple of weeks back. Look in terms of the legal and
:11:01. > :11:06.military practicalities we can do this much more easily in Iraq than
:11:07. > :11:10.Syria. But should we really? Would we actually add anything militarily
:11:11. > :11:15.to the US effort and that's why I think it is the politics and if you
:11:16. > :11:20.like the moral question, having lost a British hostage and having others
:11:21. > :11:22.under threat, which are really paramount in this calculation about
:11:23. > :11:30.whether it is right for Britain to join this. Thank you very much
:11:31. > :11:33.indeed. Well the Bahraini Foreign Minister, Shaikh Khalid joins us
:11:34. > :11:36.from New York. Thank you very much for joining us, what has Bahrain
:11:37. > :11:48.done so far, what do you understand has been achieved? We have joined
:11:49. > :11:52.our allies in this battle and our planes, as we heard earlier in your
:11:53. > :11:56.programme have joined other planes in bombing targets and destroying
:11:57. > :12:00.some of the strongholds and communications and other places. But
:12:01. > :12:07.I don't want to get into more details of the operation. But we are
:12:08. > :12:11.part of the coalition. When you say part of, does it feel like America
:12:12. > :12:15.is taking the lead or the Arab peninsula, how does the coalition
:12:16. > :12:21.work? Well we should thank America for coming to help us in our battle
:12:22. > :12:26.against people who have deviated from our religion and trying to
:12:27. > :12:30.destroy our culture. So this is mainly our battle that we are
:12:31. > :12:34.fighting, and we should thank our allies for standing with us, whether
:12:35. > :12:42.in this time or before against the Taliban in Afghanistan or as we
:12:43. > :12:45.fought together origins the pirates and the Indian Ocean pirate, we are
:12:46. > :12:50.in it together and we are very thankful. Do you agree with the
:12:51. > :12:53.guest on our programme who says there has been previously too much
:12:54. > :12:59.reluctance from the Arab powers to support the Baghdad Government
:13:00. > :13:05.before now? Well, no. We have always maintained very good relationships
:13:06. > :13:10.with the Government in Baghdad and we, the relationship developed in
:13:11. > :13:15.many ways and we opened a consulate in another city other than Baghdad.
:13:16. > :13:18.But now we are seeing the inclusiveness of the Iraqi
:13:19. > :13:22.Government sending very clear messages to the neighbourhood.
:13:23. > :13:31.Especially to the countries in the GCC and around. That this is a
:13:32. > :13:34.serious Government that wants to get out of an area that caused them a
:13:35. > :13:37.lot of problems with their own people. We are looking forward to
:13:38. > :13:43.even move forward with the Government of Baghdad. Just help us
:13:44. > :13:45.to understand, on a practical level, what level of co-ordination do you
:13:46. > :13:51.have now with Syria to make sure they don't shoot you down? Well we
:13:52. > :13:54.don't have any level of co-ordination with Syria. We have
:13:55. > :13:59.all the levels of co-ordination with our allies in these operations. That
:14:00. > :14:03.is what we do now, but there are no co-ordinations with Syria in any
:14:04. > :14:07.way. So there has been no contact between your coalition and the
:14:08. > :14:14.Syrian Government, Assad? Well, you know we are a coalition of several
:14:15. > :14:18.countries, and this point here I'm talking about Bahrain, we did not
:14:19. > :14:23.have any contact, but the coalition has its own way of handling the
:14:24. > :14:31.matters in its own structure. Are you concerned that if this is a
:14:32. > :14:36.success, as you hope, it will help Assad? Well the concern is much
:14:37. > :14:41.bigger than the picture you are putting now about Syria. The concern
:14:42. > :14:46.is about all our countries, so this is one battle, this is one state
:14:47. > :14:50.that was created in an area that transcends the borders of countries,
:14:51. > :14:58.and threatening the rest of the countries, but let's not forget this
:14:59. > :15:04.is one of many. Let's not forget the issues in the Arabian peninsula or
:15:05. > :15:07.Al-Qaeda, or the newly created one in the Indian sub-continent. This is
:15:08. > :15:12.one battle we are facing. When you look at the new relations this is
:15:13. > :15:20.creating now. You find yourself on the same side as Iran. Now for
:15:21. > :15:24.Bahrain that must be very odd? Well, Iran is a neighbour, we do have our
:15:25. > :15:28.relationship with Iran, we do have our differences with Iran. But we
:15:29. > :15:33.are on the right side, we are fighting terror, we are fighting
:15:34. > :15:42.criminals who killed innocent people, who killed aid workers from
:15:43. > :15:46.Britain and journalists from America and around the world. This is a war
:15:47. > :15:51.in the right direction against evil. If anyone would like to choose to be
:15:52. > :15:58.with us in this battle then they will have to be fighting in a clear
:15:59. > :16:03.manner. Because not doing it with other proxys. What would be your
:16:04. > :16:09.message to Britain tonight as it considers whether to intervene or
:16:10. > :16:15.not. Is Britain important to this? Well Britain is vital to this, to
:16:16. > :16:19.this campaign and we have always worked and fought wars with Britain
:16:20. > :16:24.and we are confident that Britain will be taking the decision that
:16:25. > :16:30.would serve its own interests. Does that mean military intervention, you
:16:31. > :16:34.want to see it fighting? Well, you can pose this question to the
:16:35. > :16:38.British Government, but we did stand with Britain and Britain stood with
:16:39. > :16:41.us in the past and this is not something that will surprise us in
:16:42. > :16:45.any way. Thank you very much indeed, we appreciate your time here on
:16:46. > :16:48.Newsnight. So back to that question then where is Britain in all of
:16:49. > :16:53.this? Last time round the question of intervention in Syria was raised,
:16:54. > :16:56.a year ago we were, crudely put, on the other side, then Assad was the
:16:57. > :17:01.enemy, now it is really not so clear. So what are parliamentarian,
:17:02. > :17:05.particularly those who came of age in the long shadow of the Iraq War
:17:06. > :17:10.to decide. And what of the legality of war this time round. Here is what
:17:11. > :17:13.the PM said earlier. There are other plots they have been attempting,
:17:14. > :17:16.include anything my own country, in order to kill and maime innocent
:17:17. > :17:21.people. The same applies to the United States of America. This is a
:17:22. > :17:25.fight you cannot opt out of. These people want to kill us, they have
:17:26. > :17:29.got us in their sights and we have to put together this coalition,
:17:30. > :17:32.working with, right across the board, all the countries I
:17:33. > :17:37.mentioned, to make sure we ultimately destroy this evil
:17:38. > :17:40.organisation. Joining me now the Conservative MP, Adam Holloway who
:17:41. > :17:45.served in the first Gulf War and just returned from northern Iraq,
:17:46. > :17:55.and the former appeal Jew, Geoffrey Robertson. -- appeal judge, Geoffrey
:17:56. > :18:01.Robertson. Does it feel like we have a role to play? We do have a role to
:18:02. > :18:07.play. This will be settled by politics and not military action. It
:18:08. > :18:11.is a shame that tonight's headlines are American-led bombing campaign. I
:18:12. > :18:13.think we should have been a bit smarter about it, perhaps spending a
:18:14. > :18:17.bit longer getting together a coalition of people from the Middle
:18:18. > :18:22.East and seeing ourselves very much in support, but much more as
:18:23. > :18:25.enablers, I think the last thing one wants generated around the world is
:18:26. > :18:29.another western intervention in the Middle East. So what are you saying,
:18:30. > :18:34.don't go in? No, I'm not saying don't go in. It was very interesting
:18:35. > :18:39.in Iraq last week that whole swathe that fell to ISIS recently, didn't
:18:40. > :18:42.fall by magic or indeed by force of arms, it fell because the Sunnis in
:18:43. > :18:47.that area were completely fed up with the Shia Government in Baghdad,
:18:48. > :18:54.so what we call ISIS in Iraq for example is made up of tribesmen, it
:18:55. > :18:57.is made out of former Ba'ath Party members, Saddam's people, and also
:18:58. > :19:01.international Jihadies. To treat them all together is not sensible.
:19:02. > :19:08.What about Syria, should we be going there? No. I think if it was
:19:09. > :19:10.possible, first of all it is a problem for those living in the
:19:11. > :19:18.country and the people in the region. Only as a third order thing
:19:19. > :19:20.is it for us to be doing things, certainly you know overtly like
:19:21. > :19:25.that. Geoffrey Robertson, first question, is it legal? Yes,
:19:26. > :19:30.absolutely in way that the attack on Saddam to overthrow a regime was not
:19:31. > :19:37.lawful and needed Security Council backs. Last year there was a stupid
:19:38. > :19:41.reprisal idea, we bomb Syria because they are using poison Gustafsson,
:19:42. > :19:58.but without any kind of purpose, quite rightly you were opposed to
:19:59. > :20:00.that, as were a number of other Conservativeso that, as were a
:20:01. > :20:05.number of other Conservatives were against it. ISIS are not state, they
:20:06. > :20:10.are really pirates of the desert, and enemies of human kind, and they
:20:11. > :20:15.can be attacked because they are genocidal, they are committing war
:20:16. > :20:20.crimes, crimes against humanity. And they are killing people because of
:20:21. > :20:26.their religious beliefs, because they are unbelievers. As a military
:20:27. > :20:32.man, if you don't go in to stop genocide, when do you deploy your
:20:33. > :20:36.forces? Look the way that ISIS will finally be defeated in the large
:20:37. > :20:43.part is when the local people, living in the areas that they
:20:44. > :20:48.currently control get rid of themselves. If they can't? They have
:20:49. > :20:53.got a big problem. We sure as hell won't, we failed miserably in
:20:54. > :20:58.Afghanistan and Iraq, we have to see this as a political problem. Why do
:20:59. > :21:02.Labour talk about the need to seek a resolution? I think Labour and a few
:21:03. > :21:07.Lib Dems are wrong in law. What they don't understand is this is not a
:21:08. > :21:11.state, it is committing a group of international criminals who are
:21:12. > :21:17.genocidally intent to kill Kurd, they are killing Christian, they are
:21:18. > :21:22.killing Shia Muslims. The call yesterday for people throughout the
:21:23. > :21:25.world to rise up and behead people in the streets, in Australia they
:21:26. > :21:32.foiled a plot at the weekend, there was the killing in Belgium, and so
:21:33. > :21:36.they are international criminals. Ed Miliband, I was actually at his
:21:37. > :21:40.speech today and he started, to everyone's amazement with Alan
:21:41. > :21:44.Henning who was a Manchester man, and you could have heard a pin drop,
:21:45. > :21:54.no applause until the end. And then he said, Britain can never turn its
:21:55. > :21:59.back on internationalism. These are inter national criminals and we have
:22:00. > :22:03.a duty to stop genocide. The feel of this is very different to the
:22:04. > :22:05.British public isn't it? I don't know amongst your Conservative peers
:22:06. > :22:10.how many of them would agree with your position right now, what do you
:22:11. > :22:14.think? I don't know. All I can say is that last week with my colleagues
:22:15. > :22:21.in northern Iraq it was really quite terrifying to hear that literally
:22:22. > :22:25.two minutes drive away from us was 1,000kms of frontline with the most
:22:26. > :22:32.dangerous organisation on earth, who in Mosul alone, 50 minutes away from
:22:33. > :22:36.where we were had got 700 modern American armoured vehicle, 120mm
:22:37. > :22:41.mortars, modern kit, they are not fools they know how to use it, they
:22:42. > :22:46.are all the old ba'athists, not only can they use the weaponry but they
:22:47. > :22:52.can fix it. Their social media effort is unbelievable. Their income
:22:53. > :22:55.is about a million dollars a day in these little mini-pipelines to
:22:56. > :23:00.Syria. We have to cut off the oil money and the hostages. The terrible
:23:01. > :23:05.thing about the wrong thing about going for a UN Security Council
:23:06. > :23:11.resolution is that it puts us in Putin's debt. And at this point,
:23:12. > :23:15.because Russia has a veto, and might exercise that, what has to be done,
:23:16. > :23:23.we should go ahead because we are in the right. And then, if Russia wants
:23:24. > :23:27.to condemn us, let it put forward its opinion. That was done in
:23:28. > :23:34.Kosovo. You have to get the politics right. It is the Kosovo way that has
:23:35. > :23:39.to be done to do our duty a duty under the Genocide Convention to
:23:40. > :23:44.stop this barbaric killing on ground of religion or no religion.
:23:45. > :23:48.Now in Iraq the United States has been bombing ISIS since August in
:23:49. > :23:52.support of an unlikely coalition of Iraqi military, Kurdish fighters and
:23:53. > :23:56.Shia militia, but on the ground it is Iran that seems to be extending
:23:57. > :24:00.its influence, playing a more and more active role, all under the
:24:01. > :24:04.leadership of one secretive Iranian general. We have been on the trail
:24:05. > :24:15.of the Iranian described as the most powerful man in Iraq.
:24:16. > :24:24.In the stifling heat of August, Kurdish forces battle the Jihadists
:24:25. > :24:31.of Islamic State. It was here, less than 100 miles from Baghdad that the
:24:32. > :24:41.Peshmerga halted the IS advance, the Kurds are backed by US air power.
:24:42. > :24:45.Buttal But Jalala is on the border with Iran and Iran is providing most
:24:46. > :24:50.of the support. There is more to this than a battle of brutal
:24:51. > :24:53.Jihadist, Iran is waging a campaign here, for control of Iraq and also
:24:54. > :24:58.for its influence in the wider Middle East. And at the heart of
:24:59. > :25:12.that campaign in the shadows has been one man. General Kasim
:25:13. > :25:18.Sulimani, the covert external wing of the Revolutionary Guards and
:25:19. > :25:26.their leader. He has the ear of the Ayatollah himself. But in Iraq he
:25:27. > :25:30.has been sighting taking control of Shia militia groups, politicians
:25:31. > :25:35.blanche at the mention of his name. His power comes because he deals
:25:36. > :25:40.with units on the ground, he's not afraid to travel into Syria and
:25:41. > :25:46.Iraq. He meets with politicians, influential in the political sphere
:25:47. > :25:56.but also militarily. Off camera people told us that Iran
:25:57. > :26:02.has sent artillery and advisers to support the Kurds, and that Kasim
:26:03. > :26:08.Sulimani was here leading the Iranian forces. On the other side
:26:09. > :26:13.there it is ISIS. At the frontline the Kurds are keen to show us how
:26:14. > :26:16.antiquated their weaponry is. It is hard to see how they could have
:26:17. > :26:24.taken this position from Islamic State on their own. I asked the
:26:25. > :26:32.Colonel whether he had any help from Kasim Sulimani. Nobody has seen him?
:26:33. > :26:45.Anybody seen him? No. No-one at all? He's like a ghost! No-one has heard
:26:46. > :26:50.of him, the most powerful man in Iraq and no-one has heard of him!
:26:51. > :26:55.But one local Kurdish commander confirmed to the BBC that Kasim
:26:56. > :27:01.Sulimani had indeed visited this frontline on a number of occasions
:27:02. > :27:05.and he agreed to reveal the extent of Iranian involvement here.
:27:06. > :27:09.TRANSLATION: Iran sent 16 truckloads of weapons, they sent big artillery
:27:10. > :27:14.and monitor, two big rocket launchers, three or four smaller
:27:15. > :27:24.ones, they sent a mortar battalion too. At the Iranian border the
:27:25. > :27:28.Ayatollahs keep a watchful eye over traffic passing into Iraq. The
:27:29. > :27:31.battles for Iraq and Syria are part of a wider campaign for control of
:27:32. > :27:37.the Middle East between Shia Iran and the Sunni powers of the gulf. In
:27:38. > :27:42.Lebanon Sulimani has nutured Shia Hezbollah, in Syria he has bolstered
:27:43. > :27:48.President Assad, in this not so Cold War, he has become one of Iran's
:27:49. > :27:52.most potent weapons. Up until 2003, Iraq was a vast barrier, a
:27:53. > :27:57.geographical and political block between Iran and its Shia allies to
:27:58. > :28:02.the west in Syria and in Lebanon. But then came the US-led invasion
:28:03. > :28:07.and the Americans, by removing Saddam Hussein also removed that
:28:08. > :28:16.barrier to Iran's ambitions for its expansion in the region. He wants to
:28:17. > :28:22.make sure that groups in Lebanon and Syria or Iraq are dependant on Iran
:28:23. > :28:26.for survival, many of the militia groups fighting in the country,
:28:27. > :28:33.there are variety arcs not just one or two, do rely directly Kasim
:28:34. > :28:39.Sulimani, this allows the Iranians more leverage. A senior Iraqi
:28:40. > :28:44.official told us when the city of Mosul fell, it was swift action by
:28:45. > :28:48.Iran, more than US air strikes that prevented a broader collapse. Many
:28:49. > :28:53.fear their country is becoming dependent on Iraq for its very
:28:54. > :28:56.survival. That the militias as providers of security are becoming
:28:57. > :29:07.an instrument of Iranian political control. The weakness of Iraq with
:29:08. > :29:12.the unstable situation, giving them a bigger role. Because most of the
:29:13. > :29:20.Iraqi decisions were made in Iran not Iraq. All the Iraqi politicians
:29:21. > :29:25.when they have a bigger problem they went to Tehran to solve the
:29:26. > :29:31.problems. They go to Tehran. Kasim Sulimani is a veteran of the
:29:32. > :29:38.Iran-Iraq War, he appears in public only rarely, sometimes for a funeral
:29:39. > :29:42.of the member of his Quds force, where he's known on occasion to shed
:29:43. > :29:49.a tear. Those who have met him describe him as a man who says
:29:50. > :29:55.little and achieves much. He has been up and down the country in the
:29:56. > :29:59.north and south, in the capital, making sure that the Iraqi states
:30:00. > :30:04.and the Shia militias assisting the Iraqi security forces are able to
:30:05. > :30:08.confront the threat from ISIS. After eight years of occupation and
:30:09. > :30:11.billions of dollars spent, the Americans are being outmanoeuvred.
:30:12. > :30:16.At the end of last month American air strikes helped break the siege
:30:17. > :30:34.of a town that had been encircled by IS. But who sweeps in to take credit
:30:35. > :30:38.for this victory? Enter Kasim Sulimani, here he is celebrating,
:30:39. > :30:43.evidence of his presence on the ground.
:30:44. > :30:48.Kasim Sulimani came to visit us, he saw the situation and his visit
:30:49. > :30:53.helped raise our spirits. At the Iranian border the advance of the
:30:54. > :30:59.Jihadists has been checked, but they are not defeated. Iraq is becoming a
:31:00. > :31:03.client state, reliant on the muscle of the Shia militias and weapons
:31:04. > :31:11.from Tehran. And in the battle against Islamic State, the Americans
:31:12. > :31:16.as much as the Iraqis are now dependent on Iran.
:31:17. > :31:20.Here in Manchester it was leaders' speech day at the Labour Party
:31:21. > :31:22.Conference. And Ed Miliband pronounced that this was the
:31:23. > :31:27.beginning of his eight-month interview for the top job. Listening
:31:28. > :31:31.to his speech, more than an hour, you would have been in no doubt
:31:32. > :31:37.about his belief in the NHS and his desire to tax mansions and close tax
:31:38. > :31:40.loopholes on bankers. In a sense Ed Miliband quite clearly framed how he
:31:41. > :31:45.would like to see the election campaign. For Labour we are all in
:31:46. > :31:51.it together, stealing the Tories' line, if f the Conservatives, you
:31:52. > :31:54.are on your own. But there were some hefty omissions from the speech too,
:31:55. > :31:59.hardly a mention of welfare, almost nothing on national security, and
:32:00. > :32:03.hard as it may be to believe, it appears he forgot his section of the
:32:04. > :32:08.speech about the deficit, the same with the section on immigration. So
:32:09. > :32:13.was Ed Miliband trying to present a philosophy, and did it work? Our
:32:14. > :32:20.political editor's report contains some flashing images.
:32:21. > :32:26.Four years ago on the fourth floor of this hotel Ed Miliband stayed the
:32:27. > :32:30.night on the night he became Labour leader and took his first steps.
:32:31. > :32:34.Today from the same hotel room he set off to make the big speech. In
:32:35. > :32:39.year one it was the big idea. The producers or predators. Year two the
:32:40. > :32:44.big slogan? One- nation, the country where everyone has a stake. And last
:32:45. > :32:47.year, year three, the big policy offer. The next Labour Government
:32:48. > :32:52.will freeze gas and electricity prices. So to Manchester 2014, his
:32:53. > :32:59.last big moment before the general election. Our country nearly broke
:33:00. > :33:04.up. A country that nearly splits apart is not a country in good
:33:05. > :33:09.health. Lessons from Scotland were fresh in his mind, and people too? I
:33:10. > :33:15.don't know how Josephine voted in the referendum but I do know the
:33:16. > :33:19.question she was asking, is anyone going to make life better for me and
:33:20. > :33:26.my family. That wasn't just the referendum question. That is the
:33:27. > :33:31.general election question. Once he talked about one-nation
:33:32. > :33:35.Labour, today it was even simpler? Together we can build a better
:33:36. > :33:41.future for the working people of Britain. Together we can rebuild
:33:42. > :33:45.Britain, friends together we can. He said the word "together" over 50
:33:46. > :33:49.times, this was primary colour politics, hit the Tories where it
:33:50. > :33:55.hurts, friends of the rich, butchers of the NHS. If you are a
:33:56. > :34:00.Conservative-supporting, gold-mining, Russian oligarch and
:34:01. > :34:04.you have got ?160,000 to spare to bid in an auction, you won't be on
:34:05. > :34:09.your own! You will be on the tennis court, playing doubles with David
:34:10. > :34:14.Cameron. That's telling you all you need to know about this Government.
:34:15. > :34:22.We will set aside resources so that we can have in our NHS 3,000 more
:34:23. > :34:30.midwives, 5,000 more care workers, 8,000 more GPs, and 20,000 more
:34:31. > :34:34.nurses. And NHS with time to care. Paid for by a "Mansion Tax" and
:34:35. > :34:39.windfall tax on tobacco companies, but so far the barest mentions of
:34:40. > :34:42.Britain's deficit or debt. Later it would emerge that without notes the
:34:43. > :34:48.Labour leader had forgotten the sections. The recovery would be for
:34:49. > :34:55.the many and not few, he tried to name check all the population too.
:34:56. > :34:59.Like a young girl called Ziamara, Gareth at a softwarep k I met
:35:00. > :35:06.someone called Elizabeth, I met an amazing man called Colin in his 80s.
:35:07. > :35:12.5 minutes the speech sagged sending Labour's biggest funders to sleep.
:35:13. > :35:18.Today I want to lay out ten years of goals, plan for the next ten years.
:35:19. > :35:22.Increasing wages, NHS funding, apprenticeship, house building,
:35:23. > :35:27.green jobs by 2025, because trust in politics is so low, but also perhaps
:35:28. > :35:31.to help wavering voters who can't yet see Ed Miliband in Number Ten
:35:32. > :35:35.imagine it a little more easily. Ed Miliband waving at Newsnight, but
:35:36. > :35:39.that was one of the flattest to my mind of his big four speech, he
:35:40. > :35:42.didn't have the humourous and dramatic moments he can sometimes
:35:43. > :35:47.pull off. There was a good message on the NHS, very popular. There was
:35:48. > :35:52.good language about basic bargains for Britain's workers. But the thing
:35:53. > :35:55.is Labour as a party is polling well enough, speechers like this may not
:35:56. > :35:59.matter. The party may be in Downing Street in seven month's time. There
:36:00. > :36:02.is a sense in Manchester this evening that the speech didn't
:36:03. > :36:08.broaden Labour's appeal, Labour's big tent has been replaced by a
:36:09. > :36:12.bivoac, one source said. By boosting the NHS, Ed Miliband has tonight
:36:13. > :36:17.made things very unfortunately for the Conservatives. That speech came
:36:18. > :36:25.to an end a few hours ago, people here have been on absorbing what it
:36:26. > :36:29.meant. Can we be clear, did Ed Miliband forget to mention the
:36:30. > :36:36.deficit? You know it was an hour-long speech and you know things
:36:37. > :36:40.always change in the delivery b you I don't think anybody in the cabinet
:36:41. > :36:43.is under any illusions of the challenge we face with the deficit,
:36:44. > :36:47.how we need to live within our means and balance the book. Ed Balls set
:36:48. > :36:51.out a range of things yesterday and we will carry on making the case for
:36:52. > :36:55.the future. As might be understanding in a big speech,
:36:56. > :36:58.trying to do it without notes, he happened to forget a particular
:36:59. > :37:01.passage which is available for all to see on the Labour website. Isn't
:37:02. > :37:06.it telling that issue isn't at the forefront of his mind? I think it is
:37:07. > :37:09.at the forefront of his mind. He has been very clear, and the Chancellor
:37:10. > :37:12.has been very clear, And we are all-clear as members of the Shadow
:37:13. > :37:15.Cabinet. There isn't going to be extra money around. We have to stick
:37:16. > :37:20.to the limits that this Government has set for the first year and make
:37:21. > :37:23.big reforms to the economy, and big reforms to our public services if we
:37:24. > :37:28.will live within our means. But there was not any of that in the
:37:29. > :37:30.speech, surely to re-establish economic credibility, which
:37:31. > :37:35.everybody agrees Ed Miliband has to do for the Labour Party, there had
:37:36. > :37:42.to be language about hard choices fast, you read what he meant to say
:37:43. > :37:46.about it, it was a matter of three or four lines and saying I will get
:37:47. > :37:49.on it? He was clear on the NHS that there wouldn't be extra borrowing
:37:50. > :37:53.for the commitments. He talked about new taxes to put more money? It is
:37:54. > :37:56.also those extra staff will be tied to reform, to make sure that we get
:37:57. > :38:02.a care system we need for the future, keeping people at home,
:38:03. > :38:04.rather than in hospital. Our public serves do need to change, and the
:38:05. > :38:08.economy needs to change. Actually if you look at his section on the
:38:09. > :38:13.economy, if we are going to get the deficit down we have to turbo charge
:38:14. > :38:17.jobs and growth. Good jobs with decent wages that is part of the way
:38:18. > :38:21.to get the deficit down. Hasn't he just given the Conservatives all the
:38:22. > :38:24.ammunition they need for the next six months, they can say Ed Miliband
:38:25. > :38:29.forgot the deficit? I think he set them a challenge. He has set them a
:38:30. > :38:33.challenge and rightly so. That we need a different kind of economy,
:38:34. > :38:37.that helps ordinary people, that we need to have the jobs for the
:38:38. > :38:40.future, decent well-paid jobs. We need to give people a sense of hope
:38:41. > :38:43.that their lives are going to be different. I think that is a
:38:44. > :38:47.rightful challenge to the Tories. And he's saying, which is the really
:38:48. > :38:51.big question, how are we going to achieve this. Will it be by working
:38:52. > :38:55.together and make sure everyone benefits or a few at the top. That
:38:56. > :38:56.has always been the big debate between Labour and the
:38:57. > :39:01.Conservatives, I think he nailed that argument. In the hall, however,
:39:02. > :39:06.the huge rounds of applause, which were far and few between were for
:39:07. > :39:12.those attacks on bankers or for the support for the NHS, isn't it really
:39:13. > :39:20.the case that speech was about the core votes, the 35%? Absolutely not.
:39:21. > :39:26.I take it you would assume you are a middle-class person, do you use the
:39:27. > :39:31.NHS? I do use the NHS, but let's not make assumptions about anyone else.
:39:32. > :39:34.The NHS is from all walks of life. Being able to afford a decent home.
:39:35. > :39:37.That is what people of all walks of life aspire to. The section on
:39:38. > :39:41.people who are self-employed, more and more of those people. I think
:39:42. > :39:45.that you are really wrong to say that was a core vote strategy, it
:39:46. > :39:49.wasn't. It was appealing to ordinary people across the country. That is
:39:50. > :39:53.very positive message for us. In terms of the messages about
:39:54. > :39:55.aspiration, you have written for the pressure group Progress, about the
:39:56. > :39:59.importance of having that message of aspiration. Where was that in this
:40:00. > :40:03.speech? What is more of an aspiration than wanting a decent
:40:04. > :40:08.job, getting great skills, being able to afford a home. I think that
:40:09. > :40:12.is what all people want. That is a message about aspiration. People
:40:13. > :40:15.wanting to own their own business, the entrepeneurs, that is what he
:40:16. > :40:19.talked about, that is a complete misinterpretation of the speech, if
:40:20. > :40:22.you don't mind me saying. You are entitled to have your views, that is
:40:23. > :40:25.why we asked you on the programme. Thank you very much for joining us.
:40:26. > :40:31.Let's hear some other views on Ed Miliband's speech today. Because
:40:32. > :40:39.caught on camera in there was even Len McClusky, Labour's biggest
:40:40. > :40:47.backer falling asleep at the back. We have Phil Collins for the times
:40:48. > :40:50.with us. You used to write these for a living, you wrote some of Tony
:40:51. > :40:54.Blair's speeches, what did you make of it? I thought Liz said more about
:40:55. > :40:58.the deficit to greater effect in the answer she gave you than Ed Miliband
:40:59. > :41:03.managed to say in the speech. I think she did a very good job. It is
:41:04. > :41:06.very telling, not only that he forgot to say what he was going to
:41:07. > :41:09.do, which was a consequence of learning the speech. Which he had no
:41:10. > :41:14.need to do. He should have done it behind a podium with an autocue, we
:41:15. > :41:20.didn't need to know he can audition to play King Lear, he should have
:41:21. > :41:26.done a prime ministerial speech. The fact is even in the scripted version
:41:27. > :41:29.there was hardly anything in the deficit, tells us Labour want to
:41:30. > :41:33.forget it, we will hear about that again and again at the Conservative
:41:34. > :41:37.Party Conference. Is it the new note saying there is no money left? What
:41:38. > :41:41.I'm worried about with the speech which I really wanted to support was
:41:42. > :41:44.indeed that it would appeal to the people who are already convinced by
:41:45. > :41:48.Labour. If you already thought Labour's heart is in the right place
:41:49. > :41:50.and on the side of fairness and justice and more equal society and
:41:51. > :41:55.more opportunities for the people who are left behind and against the
:41:56. > :42:00.privileged, then he reinforced all of that. I thought the messages on
:42:01. > :42:03.the NHS were excellent, I think it has been under threat. I was
:42:04. > :42:08.reassured to hear him talking about Europe. If you are worried about how
:42:09. > :42:11.Labour will deliver this land of unicorns and milk and honey, then
:42:12. > :42:15.you didn't get many answers about how it was going to get from where
:42:16. > :42:23.we are now to where they hope to be. If you are a worried sceptic it
:42:24. > :42:27.wouldn't convince you. Phil it is 35% strategy that you shore up the
:42:28. > :42:32.core and get to the door of Number Ten? There is some of that but let's
:42:33. > :42:37.find glimmers of hope in it. The long section on policy was dull, I
:42:38. > :42:43.say that as a compliment, it is always boring. Part of being
:42:44. > :42:46.primesal is saying I'm man with a -- prime ministerial is saying I'm a
:42:47. > :42:49.man with a plan. I didn't mind it was tedious, underneath that it was
:42:50. > :42:52.a good policy. There was good stuff in there. The thing that didn't
:42:53. > :42:57.work, I have some sympathy because it is hard to do the speeches is the
:42:58. > :43:00.governing idea of together didn't work, together is not an idea it is
:43:01. > :43:04.just a word. The idea that Labour likes to do things together and
:43:05. > :43:08.Tories sometimes like to do something on their own was slightly
:43:09. > :43:13.preposterous, and it fell apart quickly. I disagree with that. Come
:43:14. > :43:15.on! From George Osborne's first budget which made it clear that
:43:16. > :43:19.basically the Tories are stripping away a lot of the safety nets that
:43:20. > :43:22.underpin people's lives, I think there has been a theme from the
:43:23. > :43:25.Tories which says it is a cold, hard world you have to make it on your
:43:26. > :43:31.own merits. I think for Ed Miliband to come back and remind people that
:43:32. > :43:35.the Labour Party is about saying we believe in co-operation,
:43:36. > :43:39.particularly with the Scottish vote. He is reinforcing in people's minds
:43:40. > :43:43.the idea with the Labour Party we are trying to bring everybody up.
:43:44. > :43:47.That is a wonderful that he's trying to make our society more equal, I'm
:43:48. > :43:50.still worried about the fact that for instance when he talked about
:43:51. > :43:53.the fact that we are going to give people better jobs and we are going
:43:54. > :43:56.to make sure that wages rise along with productivity. The things that
:43:57. > :44:01.he then announced that would deliver that had nothing to do with the
:44:02. > :44:04.first. Perhaps, Phil, the scepticism in this conference hall afterwards
:44:05. > :44:09.was pretty high, to be honest with it. The chat was it had been quite
:44:10. > :44:12.flat, it didn't do that much to alter things for him, except that
:44:13. > :44:15.people have underestimated Ed Miliband before, nobody thought he
:44:16. > :44:19.was going to beat his brother and Labour are still ahead in the polls?
:44:20. > :44:22.That is true, that is because the economic recovery is not translating
:44:23. > :44:25.into improved living standards, that is the explanation why Labour can be
:44:26. > :44:28.a long way behind on the economy, but still extremely competitive for
:44:29. > :44:32.the next election, which it is. Briefly, we are almost out of time,
:44:33. > :44:35.did anything happen on the stage today that actually shifts the dial
:44:36. > :44:39.in terms of the election? Can I say this was one of the rare speeches
:44:40. > :44:42.that worked less well in the hall than on the clips on television. I
:44:43. > :44:48.think the clips we have watched where Ed looks as if he as really
:44:49. > :44:51.passionate about the NHS or Europe or the Tories constructing a society
:44:52. > :44:55.rigged against ordinary working people, that worked very
:44:56. > :44:58.effectively. One thing I would say is stop going out and talk to
:44:59. > :45:02.people, so don't talk to anyone ever again. S it the dangerous thing of
:45:03. > :45:05.talking to public people and then mentioning them on the stage. They
:45:06. > :45:08.are not always aware that it is even going to happen. We failed to track
:45:09. > :45:12.any of them down. But thank you very much indeed for joining us tonight.
:45:13. > :45:21.We couldn't track down any of the people who as Phil said were
:45:22. > :45:25.mentioned as nausium in Manchester. Perhaps you could have found them
:45:26. > :45:30.somewhere Emily? Some of you will remember Joe the
:45:31. > :45:32.plumber made famous in President Obama's campaign as the every day
:45:33. > :45:37.voter who speaks volumes to the nation. Today it was Ed Miliband's
:45:38. > :45:43.turn to fixate on a random member of the public and make him totemic, one
:45:44. > :45:47.of those was Gareth, a software developer, quietly coming home from
:45:48. > :45:49.a work do and approached by none other than the Labour leader.
:45:50. > :45:55.Gareth's life will never be the same. We tracked him down and made
:45:56. > :45:59.him watch the speech that some how he had completely missed. We have a
:46:00. > :46:04.duty to look each other when times are hard, together, the way we
:46:05. > :46:08.restore faith in the future, together a different idea for
:46:09. > :46:12.Britain. I think this is the first conference speech I have ever
:46:13. > :46:16.watched. I hope it will be my last claim Gareth is here now, do you
:46:17. > :46:21.mean you are not a convert? Some of the things he said in his speech
:46:22. > :46:25.sounded quite sensible. But it is an hour-long speech by a politician.
:46:26. > :46:28.You met him on the Heath a few weeks ago and they told you you were going
:46:29. > :46:31.to be in the speech? I got a call from his office a week or so ago
:46:32. > :46:34.they talked through some of the things he was going to be saying. I
:46:35. > :46:37.thought I would get one mention and maybe one call from a journalist but
:46:38. > :46:41.the phone has been off the hook today, it has been a surreal day to
:46:42. > :46:45.be honest. Did you tell people you were going to be mentioned? I told a
:46:46. > :46:48.few people, but to be honest I thought I don't want to jinx it, I
:46:49. > :46:52.thought he might not mention me in the end. Getting quite as much
:46:53. > :46:56.attention as I have was a big surprise. Did he convince you on a
:46:57. > :47:01.personal level? I was very impressed I think by the meeting. I didn't
:47:02. > :47:08.know him that well as an individual, but he came across as very sincere,
:47:09. > :47:13.very interested and actually I came away certainly very positive
:47:14. > :47:16.impressions. Leaving the secrecy of the ballot box, would that meeting
:47:17. > :47:21.turn your mind, would it make you vote Labour? I don't think it is
:47:22. > :47:25.transformed my opinion, but certainly it has pushed me in that
:47:26. > :47:29.direction, yes, I think so. And fame awaits presumably? Well I'm on
:47:30. > :47:32.Newsnight, so, yeah! And you are great sport for coming in. Thank you
:47:33. > :47:36.very much. Really appreciate having you here. That is all from us, but
:47:37. > :47:41.if you haven't had your fill of conference coverage yet, Andrew Neil
:47:42. > :47:46.will have further highlights and analysis in Today at Conference,
:47:47. > :47:52.here on BBC Two in a few minutes. Wondering how to sum up the theme of
:47:53. > :47:55.the today in one word, Ed Miliband did 52 keeps. Keeping our country
:47:56. > :47:59.together. We are better together.
:48:00. > :48:02.Together. Together.
:48:03. > :48:06.Together we can build a better future for the working people of
:48:07. > :48:07.Britain. Together a different idea for
:48:08. > :48:14.Britain. # Together Together.
:48:15. > :48:17.# Together Together we bring up our families.
:48:18. > :48:21.# Together. On this Britons pebble of together.
:48:22. > :48:24.Can the Tories be the answer? Together we can build a better
:48:25. > :48:27.future for the British people. Together we can make Britain
:48:28. > :48:33.prouder, stronger in the world. # Together.
:48:34. > :48:43.Together, thank you very much. # Go west On Wednesday we have a
:48:44. > :48:48.cloudy start to the day, the remains of old weather fronts across England
:48:49. > :48:49.and Wales producing patchy rain, it is clearing eastwards,