us. even as his mind wandered through the limitless cosmos. rob reynolds, al jazerra cal bass as, california. you don't need to be a genius to find out more news of the day just go to our website. aljazerra.com. question remains: can iraqis defend their own country? i'll ask the man who wrote the book on iraqi forces whether this latest strategic shift will work. a year ago today, i.s.i.l. fighters routed iraq's military and seized the country's second largest city mosul. in the year since, president obama has launched a campaign of air strikes aimed at rolling i.s.i.l. back in iraq and in neighboring syria.

the pentagon has also sent 3100 united states military personnel back into iraq to train and advise iraqi forces, the iraqi forces that americans trained. and earlier today america ordered 450 more american force intees iraq. forces into iraq. four years after american forces officially withdrew from iraq they're back there. iraqi forces have managed to retake tikrit and advance on baiji. as troops get diverted to the west of the iraqi capital, seize the city of emramadi, by i.s.i.l. imran khan has the

story. >> the battle in anbar province for ramadi and fallujah as well is where the battle with i.s.i.l. is really being fought here in iraq. now reasons for that are many fold, you have a number of shia militias who are taking towns and villages and roads for this assault on ramadi. also you have i.s.i.l. who control two of the largest border crossings with syria coming into anbar province. strategically, the iraqis don't have control of the supply line, and you need the supply line if you take control of mosul. particular in beiji. they are great for cutting off supply lines and open territory.

large amounts of civilians they are not that useful. what iraqis are saying, they would like, something that iraqis are beginning to float not just here but in d.c., is the idea of embedding special forces green berets with the front line troops, they can call air strikes much more effectively than any of the iraqis can. that would be a game changer. if they can get the close air support they can relieve i.s.i.l. positions however all of this is paramount on a shift in u.s. thinking. now we've seen a shift in u.s. thinking. they are planning to open an air base in anbar province, they are going to bring in more advisors and more trainers but those trainers have also been criticized. there simply are not enough of them. and they are not really training

all of the iraqi security forces particularly the sunnis who can mount very, very increasingly more difficult tactical attacks on sunnis in anbar province and there's a lot of that going on. sectarianism just mentioned that there, there are a lot of people who are suspicious of tarming arming the shia, they say they are not deliberately arming they want us to be defeeted. so it's a very complicated situation when it comes to why they haven't taken mosul. but at the moment right at this time the fight is in anbar province and the fight is against i.s.i.l. positions there. >> imran khan in bagged there. all begs the question, in the strategy to defeet i.s.i.l. despite america's rue america's renewed commitment, president obama continues

to press iraqi president haider al-abadi to get a grip on iraq's divisive sectarian politics and corruption within the military ranks. gaining military support among experts is to insert a small number of special u.s. forces on the ground to pinpoint locations for air strikes but the pentagon remains dead set against the idea, putting too many in harm's way. confronting fronting i.s.i.l. should be left to the iraqis, jamie mcintire has the story from washington. >> the debate is over jtacks joint static cal enforcers, on the ground in the thick of the fighting and can use laser designators and gps to call in

direct strikes with pinpoint accuracy. even in the most chaotic battlefield conditions. >> good impacts, good impacts, continue to engage continue to engage. >> the three star general running the air campaign in iraq says he doesn't need them. >> would it be helpful? probably, is it necessary? not so far. >> lieutenant general john hesterman says it is too feeble. >> make no mistake, our coalition team is having a profound effect on the be enemy in the history of theism peerl warfare. >> former naval aviator senator is john john mccain. >> we don't have somebody on the ground to identify a static moving target. >> the air force says it is

right, for a dynamic target, waiting for a target to appear. limiting the number of air strikes that can be taken against i.s.i.l, the difficulty of telling enemy fighters apart from civilians in urban areas. >> 02, 057. >> both could be addressed with u.s. eyes on the ground as former commander general david petraeus told an interviewer recently. >> should there be teams of joint tactical controllers on the grounders -- >> should there be? >> i think there probably should be. there is risk of not winning this fight. >> that risk of more american casualties, has stopped martin dempsey

, from assisting in a ground combat role. >> jamie mcintire, many jamie the president said, the u.s. didn't have a strategy for fighting i.s.i.l, kind uf a remark annal statement from the president. >> still drawing unplans to send troops into the air base just outside habanea. there is not so much training as advising. what the u.s. is doing at this air base is trying to whip this rag tag force that was routed in ramadi into a battle force that can go back into battle. they are rearming them reequipping them remotivating them, reinvigorating them and motivating them, the troops that

deserted, ran and never came back. providing the expertise to lead and tell the iraqis how to retake ramadi. one part that won't be a part of it is that ground component of any spotters on the ground. the pentagon continues to insist that that's something they're not willing to do because they would have to put those spotters ton front lines, they would have to be protected by further u.s. troops and it's not just, they say, the risk to the u.s. troops on the ground but also the risk of doing too much fighting for iraqis. the entire u.s. strategy is built on enabling the iraqi forces to take this fight to i.s.i.l. themselves. >> jamie in a moment i'm going to talk with john naugle who wrote the book on training these iraqis on counterinsurgency. that we get right back in there, how did they come up with this number of an additional 450 advisors?

>> well you know it's a little misleading they're sending 450 troops to this area, it's not 450 advisors, because of the security situation, the bulk is probably is mostly security and less than half are actual advisors. telling soldiers how to shoot straight. what they're doing is looking at all that the iraqis did wrong in ramadi, to secure their defeat. how to mowrnt a credible mount a credible campaign and essentially overseeing the operation in an advising role to try to rack up a victory against i.s.i.l. where they had i said embarrassing defeat. >> jamie mcintire at the pentagon thank you so much. coming up next, is it too little too late for military advisors

in iraq. i'm going to ask the platoon leader who wrote the insurgency's field manual. hear it next.

shortly after it captured the iraqi city of fallujah. anybody who thought the i.s.i.l. was going to be easy didn't listen to john nagle. even then, he wasn't sure the u.s. was prepared for it. with no end in sight to the fight against i.s.i.l, nagle foresite is proving prophetic. he's an author and co-wrote the army and marine counterinsurgent

field manual. he understand counterinsurgency. he joins me from philadelphia. john, reports say the u.s. is sending more military trainers 450, aol jamie mcintire says many will be security for the advisors, they are considering opening up a base in anbar province. but on monday president obama indicated the u.s. had no particularly strategy for fighting i.s.i.l. what do you think has changed in the last 24 hours? >> the president was incorrect. we have a strategy. it's actually the right strategy. the president has chosen not to resource that strategy. and the 450 advisors being sent to tq air base, where i spent 2003-2004 are laughably insufficient to do what the president has correctly said needs to be done, defeat and ultimately destroy i.s.i.l. the president at some point is going to have to jump into the pool and pay the price to

accomplish his strategy to defeat i.s.i.l. >> he seems to be getting into the pool the way i do often sometimes, a little bit at a time because it's cool. what happened apparently that the iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. they failed to fight, withdrew from the fight and that says to me and i think to most of us that we have an issue with the will of the iraqis to fight i.s.i.l. and defend themselves. john when you wrote the counterinsurgency manuel, i don't know if you were taking in the will to fight, but the way in which to fight, the use. do you believe the iraqis will fight for their country? >> the iraqis have fought for their country for the last ten years and more. they need help . and there's a whole chapter in the manual to enable and empower host nation security forces like

the iraqi army and police to give them the help they need to defeat their enemies on the counterinsurgency battlefield. so they need advisors, they need people who can call in close air support, the jtac teams communications and intelligence support, americans embedded inside their unit will provide that support, will enable them to beat i.s.i.s. without those american advisors they will continue to lose i.s.i.s. will continue to grow stronger and it will continue to recruit nor jihadis and recruit for generations to come. time is wasting, time to resource this strategy. >> iraqii parliament speaker sale rvetionmleem al jabari, as he said just like you said, only if washington gets serious about doing it.

iraq seems the feel and imran suggested this, it doesn't have a full commitment from the united states anymore. that seems to be what you said there is a strategy that isn't resourced, is america really committed to getting this done? >> so the united states has the right strategy of using the iraqi forces to defeat i.s.i.s. what the united states has not done is put the resources behind that strategy that are necessary. and so the iraqi government is right. the united states is not -- the united states government is not committed to this fight. and it's very interesting, i was just in the pentagon yesterday to hear military people say that we don't need american advisors on the ground with iraqi forces to call in air strikes to provide combat advising support. that's not what my friends in uniform are telling me. instead the white house has made it very clear that they don't want that to happen and the

military is hearing what they're supposed to say. but everyone, everyone knows that if we want to defeat i.s.i.s. as the president has stated he wants to do, we have to put american advisors on the ground with the iraqi units. the president is going to have to pony up and pay the price to fight his war in iraq which happened only because he withdrew american troops from iraq at the end of 2011 against the advice of his entire security team. >> in your book knife fight, if we forget the lessons we have learned about counterinsurgency over the past decade of war, what are those lessons? >> those lessons are many. they include the fact that only preliminary solutions will ultimately defeat an insurgency, but to accomplish those solutions, america will need help for

decades, when america fights a war it keeps americans on the ground to set the conditions for long term stability, political progress and economic growth. we failed to do that in iraq. we are currently planning to make that same mistake in afghanistan. it takes long term commitments to defeet insurgents and to provide long term political stability. we have not yet accepted our responsibility to do so and that failure is going to come back to haunt us for decades to come. >> tell me about that. when you say that failure is going to come back, what is the consequence of not making that commitment in iraq, not living up to it not resourcing that commitment you said we were about to do it in afghanistan. what in the end will haunt us? >> according to press accounts there are over 5,000 jihadis currently fighting with fighting with i.s.i.l. in

iraqi and syria with american passports. that mistake, the failure to continue to support afghanistan after we helped defeat the soviet union this that country led to the two attacks on the world trade center in 1993 and in 2001. by failing to 9 nip i.s.i.s. in the bud, by failing to put combat advisors with iraqi, we have allowed i.s.i.s. to become the most successful terror organization in history. it controls more ground than any terror organization ever has in human history and it is kicking our butts in social media and on the internet recruiting americans canadians french germans, people all over the world inspired by the idea of jihad, to attack the united states and our friends around the globe.

these mistakes we've made will continue to haunt us for many, many years to come. international jihad is here to stay. >> john nagel is the head master for hammerford school the author of knife fights. up next, northeastern states have some of the toughest gun laws in the country, yet too many firearms end up in the hands of criminals. we will look at how states are trying to shut down the gun-running.

pped... >> this is what's left of the hospital >> is a crime that's under reported... >> what do you think... >> we're making history right now... >> al jazeera america weapons. fueling the iron pipeline on the east coast, bringing guns from southern states that have lax regulations to northern states where laws are tougher. one state central to the iron pipeline in georgia where robert ray has this report. >> good, how are you? >> this is little's bait and tackle shop in the small town of perry, georgia, one of 4,000 licensed gun dealers in the state, clarence little is the owner. the source of the gun that was

used to kill a new york city police officer in may. this cctv video caught the guys who robbed the store. >> you never knew who robbed your store? >> they were in hoodies and masks and gloves. >> the guns make their way up what's known as the iron pipeline, an illegal firearm trade route that runs up i-95 from southern states to new york. in spite of attempts by lawmakers and police to shut it down, the pipeline remains open. and georgia is ground zero. >> freeze present halt. >> two new york city officers ambushed in their car in december were also killed by a georgia gun. purchasing a gun in georgia is

simple. you need a georgia driver's license or you can obtain a gun online with no background check at all. georgia leads the country as a source of firearms used in other states. 20,000 guns purchased in georgia were confiscated outside the state by police, according to data from the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms. we reached out to the atf but they didn't respond to our request for interview. >> i was shocked when i heard it was one of our guns. >> perry georgia police captain heath dike says, more enforcement needs to be done for gun running. >> what the heck can be done? it's an enforcement issue.

>> we have drug interdiction units on the interstate that stop cars and try to deter drug trafficking and people transporting large amounts of money and factors back and forth. those same units are looking for weapons, not just focused on drugs. >> is there enough of them? >> in my opinion there's not enough police officers. >> georgia state representative rick jaspers is the author of the safe carry production law which passed in april of 2013, it allows any person to obtain a gun. people call it the guns everywhere law. >> people compare the gun trafficking to drug trafficking, do you think it's that prevalent? >> i haven't ever been to new york city,

i haven't investigated or look at what's going on in the northeast corridor. my bills have all been around georgia how we can strengthen our law, make it fair for individuals. but most of them make it effective that the law we have is it easy to understand and effective? maybe that's what they need, a little state legislature up in new york to work on theirs too. >> and georgia law does not require the reporting of stolen guns, making it easy for people to buy guns, sell them to criminals and later claim the guns were stolen, making the iron pipeline even more difficult to clog and shut down. robert ray, al jazeera, perry georgia. >> then i'd like to share you some responses i got to my article that i wrote for linkedin. mistrust of the news media and tv news in particular.

head to my facebook page or look at me on twitter, @alivelshi. here are some of the helpful comments i've received so far. johnd writes, shut down 24 hour news channels and reintroduce news programs, lasting no more than one hour no more than twice a day. the information amounts to drivel, of all stripes. any news source anymore they all seem to be driven by agendas. when all you want is the news where do you turn? and here's the no nonsense response from sean c. sorry ali a great article but i disagree. the problems are money and ignorance. news is simply one more way to attract eye balls and sell advertising. that's why anchors are good

looking glib plastic phony interchangeable and about as much journalists as my cat. >> to sean, i love to read the next story your cat writes but i do appreciate being called good looking. what we do to earn your respect and attention i'm be watching. there's no argument that today's tech like this smartphone turns out to be tomorrow's trash. we'll look at the cost of keeping up with technology tomorrow. >> the cops is a legalized gang... it makes me scared for everybody >> fear and distrust in baltimore... >> they've just been pepper spraying people at very close range... >> years of tension between the community and police erupt... >> she was on her way home to her kid,

and she never made it... >> a former cop speaks out... >> if you had taken steps when a man was assaulted, maybe freddie gray didn't have to die. >> is there still a blue wall of silence in american cities? >> did somebody get shot? fault lines baltimore rising only on al jazeera america hope no greece, bolts athens and top e.u. officials say a debt deal could be just and the corner. hello there welcome to al jazerra. we'll be live in athens in just a moment. also coming up reports from around the world including in northern iraq, we meet the sunnis ready to fight isil but say they need weapons now. taking action, pope francis sets up a panel to hear cases against bishops accused of covering up child abuse. pollution getting in to the named of a genius, albert