fighters in the west. anyone who wants to say that wouldn't happen, i wish you were right. but you're not. their ideology is clearly a threat. and the one thing is how do we confront that threat? the one thing that we can learn, is we can learn from our past mistakes, and one of the mistakes that we need to change moving >> it gains strength from over aggression in the region. the stranger case isil has to present to the people who want to join them is they are protecting islam against western

aggression. that is how they present themselves. we understand that that is -- i'm sorry, i was going to say something that isn't appropriate in a public hear, but that isn't true. that's their message. when we show up with 150,000 troops in iraq or afghanistan, it is effective to a point, but also reinforce that is message. that is why the vote we took in the house yesterday and training and equip mission is critical. to win this fight, we have got to final pardners, muslim partners, in the case of isil preferably sunni partners to fight them. we have got to convince the people in this region that they need to fight this evil for their own ache. we were successful in the an bar awakening precisely because that is what we did. we had troops there but went in and worked with the sunni tribes in the anbar region and they took the fight.

it was a bit frustrating yesterday to listen to people who were concerned about it, didn't want to do the train and equip, worried about the u.s. military to get into enyanged, in favor the bombing but didn't want to do the train and equip. train and equip is how we get us out of the fight. it is how we develop a capable force. we've seen this succeed against isil in iraq. we've seen the kurds, who were a probe force until we showed up, provided arms and trained them. they have now turned the tide and taking territory back because we helped them. similar to the iraqi government, a totally broken force. i have an argument, people say here we go, we trained and equipped the iraqi military and how did that work out. the primary reason that didn't work out was because the sunnis in the military chose not to fight or al-maliki.

i don't know if they were a capable force or not, the al-maliki government became corrupt and didn't support the sunnis. we insisted on a change in that government. we have an iraqi government that is trying at least initially a power sharing government, we have sunni partners now who are going to lead that fight. when we go after isil, it has got to be locally driven. we have got to find local sunnis who are willing to do that. we can rush in and bomb and drop a bunch of u.s. troops in there. we would simply sas exacerbate e problem. make no mistake about it, they are a threat. i wish we didn't have to think about it. i truly do. it involves money, involves putting lives at risks, involves difficult military decisions. i wish that there wasn't a threat from isil and this i'd i don't go. we have learned that there is. we need a plan for confronting it. i looked forward to hearing from

the secretary about how we are going to implement that plan and move forward. >> thank you. mr. secretary. >> chairman and ranking member smith, members of the committee, i very much appreciate the opportunity this morning to discuss the president's strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. mr. chairman, on a personal note, i want to thank you for your leadership on yesterday's vote. i believe, the president believe that is that vote was very important and defining vote and we are not unmindful of the work that you and others on this committee invested in that vote, and getting a turnout that you did, so thank you. yesterday, i joined president obama at air force base in tampa where he received a briefing

from the commander of u.s. central command, general austin on operational plans to implement our isil strategy and met with representatives while i was there, as did the president, for more than 40 partner nations. i'm joined here today, as you have noted, mr. chairman, by the joint staffs director for operations, he is our j3 and the general helps oversee among many of his responsibilities, our military operations in iraq, the middle east, and in cent com and works closely with general austin to help develop all of our military plans. i appreciate very much the general being here. and you say noted, mr. chairman,

chairman dempsey is with our partners internationally over the next few days and as you noted, he should be, much of that discussion will be about the middle east specifically iraq and syria. he consults with our allies in this fight against isil, and tomorrow will attend a special nato chiefs of defense conference in lithuania, where they will focus on the isil challenge. the defense department civilian and military leaders, mr. chairman, are in complete agreement with every component of the president's strategy, and we strongerly believe it offers the best opportunity to degrade and destroy isil. we are in full alignment on all of our objectives and our tactics and our strategy, that

military strategy necessary to achieve the president's objective. however, as president obama has repeatedly made clear, american military power alone cannot eradicate the threats posed by isil to the united states, our allies and our friends and partners in the region. iraq's continued political progress toward a more in cluesive and representative government will be critical to achieving our objective. we believe that iraq's new prime minister is committed to bringing all iraqi's together against isil. to support him and the iraqi people against isil, against terrorists, the special coalition that we are assembling will need to use all of its instruments of power, military, law enforcement, economic, diplomatic and intelligence in coordination with the countries

in the region. to succeed, this strategy will also require a strong partnership between the executive branch and congress. the president that made it a priority to consult with congressional leadership on the isil challenge, as have vice president biden, secretary kerry and many senior members of the administration. i appreciate the opportunities i've had to discuss our strategy with members of the this committee, including you, there chairman and other members of the senate and the house over the last couple of weeks and we'll continue with these. isil poses a real threat to all countries in the middle east, our allies and as you have noted, mr. chairman as has congressman smith. in the last few months, the world has seen isil's barbarity up close as they slaughtered

innocent civilians, including sunni and shia muslims and kurdish iraqis and all religious minorities who stood in their way. isil's murder have two u.s. journalists outraged the american people and exposed the depravity of isil's ideology and tactics, exposed those tactics and that brutal ideology to the world. over the weekend, we saw isil's murder of a british citizen. isil now controls a vast swath of eastern syria and northern and western iraq, including towns and cities in these areas. isil has gained strength exploiting the civil war in jair and the sectarian divide in iraq as it seized territory in both countries and gained weapons. it has in is your generality and military tactics. isil is adept at deploying

technology and social media. employing is to increase its global profile and attract tens of thousands of fighters. its goal to to become the new vanguard of the global extremist movement and establish and extremist islamic caliphate across the middle east. it considers itself the rifle in her tore of osama bin laden's legacy. while it poses an immediate threat to american citizens in iraq and the middle east, we know thousands of fortune fighters, including more than 100 americans and a thousand europeans have traveled to syria. these fighters can exploit safe haven to plan, coordinate and carry out attacks against the united states and europe. although the intelligence community has not yet detected specific plotting against the u.s. homeland, isil has global aspirations, clearly has global

aspirations. they have so stated. as president obama has made clear, isil's leaders have threatened america and our allies. if left unchecked, isil will directly threaten our homeland and our allies. in his address to the nation, president obama announced that the united states will lead a broad multi-national coalition to roll back isil's threat and defeat isil. more than 40 already expressed their willingness to participate in this effort and more than 30 nations have indicated their readiness to offer military support. president obama and vice president biden, secretary kerry and i and others are working to unit and expand this coalition. at the nato summit in wales, secretary kerry and i convened a meeting of key partners in this coalition. i then went to turkey and georgia.

the georgians made they're they will help. turkey by virtue of its geography and common interest in destroying isil and inexpensable member of the beginning of the nato. turkey is holding 50 of its democrats. >> oil from isil. >> the chair notes that there is a disturbance of the committee's proceedings. >> you're not the president of the united states -- soviet union. most of you -- >> we stand in recent until the capitol police can restore order.

>> there's a member of the goop that were at the hearing. they expected outbursts. the secretary was told to prepare for that. we heard as he can at her kerry address it yesterday, saying those that believe in humanity and freedom you got to support the airstrikes. an interruption that was expected. let's continue now listening to the testimony. >> nearly 50 turkish dip low he mats are hostage. this obviously is a high and first priority of the turkish government, to get those host ones back. in my conversations with the turnish president and other turkish leaders, we talked specifically about that. also, the important role turkey will play in our overall efforts in this coalition. secretary kerry convened a

meeting in jeddah, also egyptian, iraq, jordan and lebanon. all 22 nations of the arab league adopted a resolution calling for comprehensive measures to combat isil. earlier this week in paris, the french president who traveled to iraq last weekend, hosted a conference attended by the u.n. security council permanent members, european and arab leaders and representatives of the e.u. arab league and united nations. they all pledged to help iraq in the fight against isil, including through military assistance. other key allies, australia, canada, france and the united kingdom are already contributing military support, and other partners have gown make specific offers. at next week's u.n. general assembly we expect additional nations will make commitments across the spectrum of exhibits, building on the strong chapter

seven u.n. security council less he illusion adopted last month calling on all member states to take measures to counter isil and suppress the flow of foreign fighters to isil. also next week, president obama will chair a meeting of the u.n. security council to further mobilize the international community. as you all know, former international security assistant force commander and act be cent com commander allen will serve as envoy for the global coalition to counter isil. general allen will work in a civilian diplomatic capacity to coordinate, build and sustain the coalition, drawing on his extensive experience in the middle east. he will work closely with general austin of cent com to assure coalition efforts of aligned across all elements of our strategy. in his address to the nation, the president outlined the four elements of this strategy to

degrade and ultimately destroy isil. let me now describe how we are implementing this whole government approach. first in close coordination with the new iraq government we are broadening our air campaign against ice sit targets to protect american against advances isil is making and also to prevent humanitarian catastrophe. u.s. military has already conducted more than 170 successful air strikes. these strikes have disrupted isil tactically and helped buy time for the iraq government to form an inclusive and broad based governor coalition. that was one of president obama's essential precondition to say taking further action against isil. because the iraq people, the iraq people must be united in their opposition to isil, in order to defeat them. this is ultimately their fight.

the new, broader air campaign against isil targets will unable iraq forces including kurdish force to say crib oh to stay on the offensive and recapture territory from isil and hold it. the president of the united states has the constitutional and the statutory authority to use military force against isil in syria, as well as iraq. because isil operates freely across the iraqi-syrian border and maintains that safe haven in syria, our actions will not be restrained by a bored their exists in name only. cent com's plan, including its command and control, logistics capability infrastructure, we have approved and spent considerable time reviewing and adopting the cent plan which

general austin briefed to the president in tampa yesterday. the second element is to increase our support for forces fighting isil on the ground, not american forces, but forces, iraq forces fighting on the ground. to support iraq and kurdish forces, the president announced that we would deploy 475 american troops to iraq. part of that number includes approximately 150 advisors and support personnel to supplement forces already in iraq conducting assessments of the iraqi security forces. this assessment mission is now transitioning to an advise and assess mission, with more than 15 teams embedding with iraq security forces at the headquarters level to provide strategic and operational advice and assistance. by the time all these forces arrive, there will be

approximately 1600 u.s. personnel in iraq responding to the isil threat. as the president reaffirmed yesterday in tampa, american forces will not have a combat mission on the ground. in steady, advisors will continue to support iraq and kurdish forces, including the government's plan to stand up iraq national guard units to help sunni communities defeat isil in their area. the best counter weights that to have isil are local forces and local citizens, the people. in june, the president asked congress for the necessary authority for d.o.d. to train and equip moderate syrian opposition forces and $500 million to fund this program. again, we appreciate yesterday's house vote to amend this train and equip program. saudi arabia will host the

program. the saudis offered funding and additional assistance with recruiting and vetting. the $500 million request the penalty made in june for this train and equip program reflects jute com's estimate to doom over one year. this is the beginning of a multi-year scalable effort designed to eventually produce an even larger opposition force. the package of assistance that we initially provide would consist of small arms, vehicles, and baseman equipment by communications, as well as tactical and more advanced training. as forces prove their effectiveness on the battlefield, we would be prepared to provide increasingly sophisticated types of assistance to the most trusted commanders and capable forces. the goal is not to achieve

numerical parity but assure modern security forces are fighters trained by units. our goal is to undercut isil's recruitment and unable the syrian opposition to add to the pressure isil is already facing from the iraqi security forces and the security forces of kurdistan. we want to force isil into a three front battle against more capable local forces. a rigorous vetting process will be critical to the success of this program. d.o.d. will work closely with the state department, the intelligence community, and all of our international partners and in the region to screen and vet the forces we train and equip. we will monitor them closely to ensure weapons do not fall into the hands of isil, the syrian regime or other extremist groups. there will always be risks,

mr. chairman, there are risks in everything. there are risks in action and there are risks in inaction, but we believe the risk is justified, given the real threat isil poses to this country and to the region, and to our allies and the necessarity of having capable partners on the ground in syria. as we pursue this program, the united will press for a political resolution to the syrian conflict. assad that lost all legitimacy to govern. he has created the conditions that allowed isil and other terrorist groups to gain ground and terrorize and slaughter the syrian population. the united will not coordinate or cooperate with the assad regime. the third element of the president's strategy is an all inclusive approach to preventing attacks from isil against the home lands of the united states an our allies. in concert with our international partners, the united states will draw on

intelligence, law enforcement, diplomatic intelligence to stem the flow of foreign fighters. the united states and our allies have stepped up efforts to identify and counter threats emanating from syria against our home lands. this includes increased intelligence sharing, working with d.o.d.'s partners at the national counter terrorism center, the department of homeland security, the f.b.i., and across the intelligence community. our terror screening and analytical databases now have special threat cases linking together known actors and potential foreign fighters, making it easier and faster to update them regularly with new information. department of homeland security secretary jay johnson has directed enhanced screening at 25 overseas airports with direct flights to the united states, a step that the united kingdom and

other countries have already taken. the departments of justice and homeland security have launched an initiative to partner with local communities to counter extremist recruiting. in the department of treasury's office of terrorist and financial intelligence, he is working with partners to disrupt isil's financing and expose their financing activities. >> the final element of the president's strategy is to continue providing humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians displaced or threatened by isil. alongside the government of iraq, the united kingdom, canada, australia, france, u.s. troops have already delivered life-saving and thousands of threatened iraq civilians on mount sinjar in the iraqi town of amile.

the united states is the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance for the millions of syrians affected by the civil war. since the start of the syrian conflict, the united states has committed almost $3 billion in the humanitarian assistance to those affected by this war. all four elements of this strategy require a significant commitment of resources on the part of the united states and our coalition partners. this effort will not be easy. this effort will not be brief. this effort will not be simple. we are at war with isil, just as we are at war with al-qaeda. destroying isil will require more than military efforts alone. it will require political process in the region and effective partners on the ground in iraq and in syria. as president obama said yesterday in tampa, we cannot do

for the iraqi's what they must do for themselves. we can't do for them, but this is an effort to calls on america's unique capabilities and abilities and responsibilities to lead. as the congress and the administration work together, we know this effort will take time. the president has outlined a clear, a comprehensive and a workable strategy to achieve our goals and protect our interests. mr. chairman, members of this committee, thank you. thank you for your continued support, your partnership and what you do for our men and women in uniform who protect this country. >> secretary hagel in front of the house armed services committee, he did make news, announcing a new bradder air campaign against isil tares. this has been expected, the president pledging to take the fight into syria. he said cent com's plan includes

command and collage san francisco capability and infrastructure. joining us is retired army mike lyons. what are we to understand about that targeting they're planning of syria. >> this is about cutting off isil in syria. from me a military perspective, we want to create that boundary as fast as possible and keep the soldiers that are there inside of iraq unfed and not able to resupply themselves and eventually have a military campaign against them. >> american troops will be on the ground serving as advisors. what will there role be? >> oversight primarily. they will conduct recons with maps, translating on the ground for iraq security forces. they'll be well behind battles. i don't think they'll be anywhere they're the combat zone. they'll have a great influence

over the command and control of the battle. >> before we take a break and get on with hagel's questions by the committee, this is a map that shows the areas that islamic state force control in syria and iraq. it's the area in red. again, you were pointing out to me they are going after key towns and highways. >> isil controls the northern part inside iraq. the key is to create the border using air power so they cannot rein nears. they'll constrict them and contract them back inside iraq themselves. encircle, surround and destroy. >> secretary of state john kerry is testifying in front of the house committee. we will go through news secretary hagel is making.

our coverage continues after this, right here on aljazeera america. @

>> i'm david shuster, al jazeera america headquarters in new york. and you continue to look at testimony this morning, that is the chairman bud mccain questioning chuck hagel about the administration's plans for fighting isil. the secretary of defense announced that the air strikes are being expanded and there has been a plan approved by the president to go after isil targets in syria. the secretary of defense is still getting scepticism and request from lawmakers that t