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Published January 24, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "Your World," October 2, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: The president also did address Syria today.
K.T. McFarland on that and the fact that the Russians don`t have the upper hand here.
Do you agree with him?
K.T. MCFARLAND, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: No.
And, in fact, I think what he`s made really clear is that he doesn`t really clear. He`s ceding the entire Middle East to the Russia-Persian alliance. They`re going to keep Assad in power. They`re going to occupy land. The Iranians have sent over 100,000 troops. The Russians are flying aircraft sorties.
And Obama is, in effect, saying, not my problem. I have got my team. I have got my coalition. Russia, if you would like to join my coalition, fine, but I`m not going to do anything further, and the great arc of history is on my side. Russia, you`re going to get stuck in a quagmire, so too bad.
But I think that, as much as we sit here and watch that press conference, we`re not the only audience. People in Moscow are watching this press conference and people in the Middle East are watching this press conference.
If you`re in Moscow, what -- what message do you take? Keep going. Barack Obama is not going to stop us.
CAVUTO: Well, that -- you know, this issue is one that has gotten Donald Trump`s attention. He had said, as you know, K.T., that this is something that, if the Russians want to fight, go let them do that.
I just talked to Ben Carson a short time ago and got his thoughts on that.
MCFARLAND: Yes.
CAVUTO: This is from Ben Carson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CARSON, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do not want to allow Vladimir Putin to expand his influence. That`s been his goal for quite some time now.
He was very disappointed with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and with its tremendous influence worldwide. We cannot contribute to his ability to regain that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAVUTO: All right, we will be rerunning that entire interview, the entire interview, on Monday. He had some other choice things to say about some of the other candidates in this race.
But, to Ben Carson`s point, K.T., that Donald Trump is wrong, that, on this, you don`t want to cede anything to Vladimir Putin, what do you think?
MCFARLAND: I don`t think you do want to cede anything to Vladimir Putin, because why? Because that`s a part of the world that`s very important.
Not just is it where oil comes from, and Putin and the Russians and the Iranians now are going to control that whole region, but it`s also where we have allies that we now are abandoning. So, not only are people in Moscow watching this, but the people in the Middle East are watching.
If you`re in Israel, what have you concluded? We`re on our own. If you`re the Syrian moderate rebels, we`re on our own. If you`re the Egyptians, if you`re the Saudis, you have concluded from watching this, President Obama is walking away from the Middle East. He`s leaving it to the Russians and to the Iranians and to Assad and to Iraq and to the Shiites.
And Obama is consoling himself with the thought that, eventually, history will prove him right. But if you`re living in the here and now in the Middle East today, you have just been abandoned.
CAVUTO: But, K.T., isn`t he also saying, if it`s -- if it`s Syria, Iran and Russia on the same side vs. the rest of the world, is he right?
MCFARLAND: Well, what`s the rest of the world?
The rest of the world probably isn`t going to play in this. But what about the people in the region? We have just spent probably three decades involved in this part of the world trying to stabilize it. We have made mistakes. Of course we have.
But we`re now walking away from our allies in the entire region. I mean, for example, today, when -- or yesterday, when the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, made a speech at the United Nations, guess who was pointedly not there? The American ambassador.
What does that say? That says, Israel, you`re on your own. And when Obama can talk about the great arc of history, the quagmire Russia is going to get stuck in, they`re making a big mistake, too bad, what I take away from that is that he`s just left. In one week`s time, President Obama has left the Middle East.
CAVUTO: Wow.
K.T. McFarland, thank you very, very much.
END
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