so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. good evening. thanks for watching this special extended edition of "360." a lot happening, f-18s from the george hw bush striking what officials say were artillery and conveys, they destroyed a convoy and targeting again and the crew appeared to get to it. judging by the crowd of people is in demand. assistance boosting moore rail. that said, however, irbil, which is refuge for tens of thousands of christians and minorities is practically under siege. ivan watson is there, what's the

situation there? >> according to the kurdish leadership, they lost more than 150 fighters, more than 500 wounded. they are induringed and deeply grateful publicly for the u.s. air strikes seen as an intent to help irbil, according to kurdish officials are 35 miles away. we are hearing reports they could be closer which is deeply disturbing. the hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing the isis advances would get much, much worse if they were able to enter the city of more than a million people. it's almost inconceivable to imagine the wave of humanity

that would have to flee. they say they used this pause that they seem to have gotten from 24 hours to regroup. >> what about the tens of thousands of yzeidis said to be trapped and surrounded by isis forces on a mountain? >> we understand several thousand of them, up to 4,000 were able to escape to syria, with the help of flight ighters pkk. it appears they are leading people on foot but there are still tens of thousands of these yezidis that are believed to be trapped up on the mountain expiring due to dehydration and

exposure to the extreme heat here in august. that's according to kurdish government officials here. people that are in desperate need of help but some positive news fighters managed to get in to help bolster the defenses there and help get some desperate civilians out. >> appreciate it, thanks. back home vice president biden spoke by phone reiterating the commitment last night to protect iraqi civilians and help iraq battle isis. mr. obama took care not to make open-ended commitments and along the lines late today he sent a letter to the speaker. with details on that, jim acost the a is at the white house. >> i'll try not to boar the viewers too much by reading this. it does sort of offer details in terms of what the president is thinking in terms of the scope

and duration of this mission. it says in this letter to john boehner on the president of the senate that the military operations that he has authorized will be limited in their scope and duration as necessary to protect american personnel in iraq by stopping the current advance on irbil by the terrorist group isis and help forces in iraq as they fight to break the siege to prevent or to protect the civilians trapped there. that, i think, answers a couple questions, anderson because people have been saying how long and open-ended will this be? it says it will be limited in durati duration. that is, i guess, a move in the direction of the white house telling congress, you know what? this is not going to take as long as some might fear. the at the same time, this letter also states that the humanitarian assistance that has been initiated will pertain to the civilians trapped on mount

sinjar. what about other crisis that might pop up in iraq? what the president is saying in the war powers letter, something he was required to do in the first 48 hours of launching the offensive, it will be limited to those trapped on the mountain. it's limiting the scope of the mission. i want to dig deeper on a range of issues with distinguished veteran and douglas director with the bush and obama administration. in terms of crisis management, you give the president an a but prevention an f. can you explain that? >> we had a quite deliberate ignoring of iraq, the difficulties that it presented. the problems there on the part of the president and this white house for six years. now in part that's because it's exactly what the american people asked him to do. so we have to grade him on the curve in that sense. since this crisis started, the

president has done almost everything right. he's done well in terms of crisis management. we need to see how we do moving forward in having a strategy for resolving this. >> ambassador, what is that potential strategy? because i mean, it seems like they are drawing a line on protecti protecting kurdish. >> the american president saying help is on the way. they are under tremendous pressure attacking out of the sunni arab areas trying to slaughter our ethnically cleansed regions and knock the kurds out of the fight. this would be a blow. he laid out the long-term strategy on june 19th to work politically and put together an inclusive government to bring in the sunni arab tribes and population, the kurds and the

majority of the country to slowly win back those areas that isis has taken in the past three months. that's a long-term strategy. it has military elements but is also political. >> is it really possible without the corporation of the government in bag thdabaghdad? that is what they would be doing to reach out to sunni groups who had previously been on the payroll frankly in 2006, 2007 but without a change in leadership, is that even possible to peel off some of these groups? >> anderson, we have a new president elected two weeks ago. we have a new sunni arab speaker parliament and within the next few days, the iraqi government and political parties will have to find out whether they will continue with maliki as the prime minister who is not capable of conducting policies towards the kurds and sunnis or find a leader from the religious

parties. i'm quite confident that in the end they will find a ledder and that's a good thing. >> douglas, have you been surprised by some setbacks the peshmergas faced. is it simply they are out gunned right now? >> it's hard to say what the truth is in the north. facts north of baghdad are in short supply and it's hard to know what the situation is. but there is a distant possibility that the kurdish forces, the peshmerga aren't as good as we first encountered them. >> because a lot of leadership who were commanding battle field commanders, they have gone to politics and gone into business in irbil? >> for all kinds of reasons, certainly. when you're being threatened in

1991 becoming a peshmerga is a great thing. so it's not what it once was. but it could also be about a lack of arms or ammunition. in no small part its because isil is extremely capable, has a lot of weapons, some from syria. so this could be multi causal or anyone or all three of those. >> ambassador, do you see the u.s., you know, resupplying fighters with more advanced weaponry? they are facing abbrahm's tanks. >> we have been looking at that. we're resupplying the army. i suspect in the kdays ahead a decision will be taken one way or another to get app in addition -- ammunition and weapons. >> ambassador, you're saying waer we're resupplying the army.

it wasn't that they weren't well-supplied but the leadership core, generals were put in there but maliki for their coneys and corrupt and there was no moral, no real leadership core that was actually leading troops, isn't that the problem? >> that was the most important problem, particularly in the north, anderson, mosul and sunni areas. now you have the iraqi army defending in place to the north, to the west and to the south of baghdad and they seem to be holding, although, what the isil people are trying to do is knock the kurds out of the conflict so they can focus energies on baghdad and it's in our interest to ensure that doesn't happen. >> appreciate you being on. as always, you can set your dvr to watch 360 whenever you want. up next, a film maker takes us into the extremist's brutal part of darkness. ♪

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no doubt you heard a lot of nightmare stories about isis. this might be hard to stomach but vital to see. we have to be careful not to make them seem ten feet tall but the ambition or thirst for blood. a film maker spent time with isis fighters. witnesses the end to and aftermath of a long-running battle with the syrian army unit. again, a warning, this is rough stuff. >> reporter: a few weeks later, there was a large scale offensive against the 17th division. they over ran the base killing at least 50 regime soldiers. their corporations were displayed in downtown, their heads mounted on fence posts.

it sent a clear message that the city is firmly under is control. and the command. >> for the followers, they have global ambitions. frank frank [speaking foreign language][spe >> perhaps more troubling is the appeal it seems to have for some of the very youngest. [speaking foreign language].

>> right now, isis fighters are outside irbil. knowing when to move fast and when to lie back and consolidate. right now around irbil they seem to be doing both. joining us, martin who was close to the front lines. you were out there today less than a mile from the front lines tonight. what did you see? did you hear? >> didn't see a lot because we couldn't quite get close enough to where we wanted to be. it had just gone night fall. we did hear a lot, though, a couple loud explosions. the clear sound of jets penetrating the night sky. gunfire in the distance, panic at the kurdish lines, as well. there were two or three very loud explosions, several minutes

later, another two or three more. we couldn't see where the jets were but they were very clearly attacking in a striving sort of position doing two or three runs from the north to the south and then from the south to the north. we were told by the kurds at the time that the isis position is about a mile away, 1500 meters were being bombed. >> can the momentum of isis be stopped by air strikes and perhaps just as importantly can the kurdish peshmerga fighters moral be boosted? >> that's certainly what the kurdish peshmerga are looking for. they want to stop advance that have seen isis take so much land. they need the isis momentum to be stopped or there is a threat to the kurdish itself with the u.s. military now back as a player in the skies.

the kurds do think isis will not be able to press forward and advance. that is only if the u.s. are prepared to sustain this attack. if it's symbolism, it's not going to work. if it's a commitment to an ally, it will not turn this around. >> there is still a problem of the rest of iraq and iraqi pi military failure to not only stem advance or reverse gains made by isis and sunni supporters. i'm just stunned at after all the money pourped into forces ad time and training put into them, just how disastrously they performed on the battle field and it particularly seems and i'm interested in your perspective but it seems like the leadership core, the officer core, the upper put in by maliki

which are cronies and put in as patriot positions as opposed to battle field experience. >> i agree with that. it's leadership and moral problem within the iraqi military. it's obvious that in mosul and kirkook gave orders. not to say it would stand in force. moral was so weak but getting back to your point about the caliber of leaders, they were political appointments as generals and many of these leading figures in mosul had terrible human rights records going back to the blood-soaked days, this route to the military in these three cities was one of the most humiliating routes in history. i can't see anyway that the iraqi military can reunify.

it's very difficult to see how they could take any part of the country that they have lost to us. i think a conclusion would be withdraw now, the nation's state of iraq that existed prior to june of 2014 simply doesn't exist anymore and cannot be put back together. >> great to have you on again, thank you. >> welcome. up next, we take you to jerusalem and another seize fire. uh, hi... i'm here to drop off my resume. password? i'm sorry, i'm just... what's the password? uh... synergy? uh, dedification... gamification? with alumni in every fortune 100 company university of phoenix can help open the door to your future. go to phoenix.edu to get started today.

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welcome back, there is no deal to end the violence in gaza with talks in cairo unsuccessful

a few hours before due the to expire. the israeli military carried out strikes. a spokesman for the pal spin gin ministry of health says a strike in gaza killed a 10-year-old boy. jake tapper joins us. even after the seize fire ended, is there any reason to think we are not in for a long drawn out conflict? >> well, the question is a good one, anderson, because i am now hearing that there is concern that this could just end up like the war of attrition as you may recall from 1967 to 1970 there was a low level, not high intensity but low level war between egypt and israel that didn't stop for three years and i think there are questions now as to whether or not that's what this is going to be kind of a low level war where there are casualties and neither side ready to come to the table.

now the israelis say they are willing to come to the table and there are those who say that the fact that the violence today was rather low, five people were killed and that's horrible but compared to previous days and weeks, it's not as bad and the fact that the palestinians are still in cairo, still talking to the egyptians give some people a reason for optimisoptimism. it's an open question. >> is it clear even who needs to happen to get the seize fire talks back on track? >> i think that the palestinians need to stop firing rockets into israel because i think that israel no longer has any sort of military excuse. they are now just responding to palestinian rockets. so if the tapalestinian stops that, they don't have tunnels to destroy and no excuse for the israelis to not be forced and

not feel pressure to negotiate in cairo, but, you know, i don't know that hamas or islamic jihad are ready to do that, although i think the palestinian factions are pressuring them to do so. >> yeah, it's not clear how much influence the negotiators have on the military wing of hamas or jihad or other groups. jake tapper, appreciate the report. gaza again, at least 50 rockets out going in a series of strikes landing in what is in some places practically a moon scape of rubble. joining us tonight is martin savidge. so martin, what is the latest tonight? >> reporter: it's been pretty active throughout the day, and most of it was back and forth. i mean, it began of course with the seize fire expiring, which was 8:00 in the morning local time and then jihad, not hamas but another militant group, there are several of them, it's not all hamas here and islamic jihad fired the first barrage of rockets towards israel.

and then there were a few more after that and it was three hours later israel decided it would respond and been doing so heavily ever since. there is tank fire, artillery but it seems what is being used is jet aircraft and they have been dropping some heavy ordinances, you know that stuff goes off, makes that really loud noise and you feel that in the air. so, it seems that they may be using that to be perhaps a little more pinpoint accurate, the death toll today is lower than other days but we're approaching that horrible 1900 figure of palestinians killed since this operation began. >> martin, the idf says that the two rockets were fired about three hours before the seize fire even officially ended. has anybody in gaza claimed credit for firing those rockets? >> reporter: no, it's -- in fact, actually, hamas and other

groups said that wasn't them at all. somebody was obviously firing something and it's not clear if they were rockets, could have been mortars, as well. it really shows you that this is why it's so difficult to sort of bring about a seize fire because there are a number of different militant groups here and they don't all see eye to eye and they don't necessarily all agree now is the time to fire and now is not the time to fire. so what can happen and may have been the case here was that you had a number of groups that said yes, it's time for a seize fire but there was one holdout and that is all it takes unfortunately. >> be careful, thanks, martin. >> thank you. hamas denies responsibility for rockets being fired before the seize fire ended and says israel is trying to confusion the situation. i spoke with the negotiator a short time ago. you say the palestinians speak with one voice, do you, do the palestinian authority support the fact rockets were fired into

israel two hours before the size fire expired? >> no, anderson. we don't want the rocket to be fired. we want to sustain the seize fire. we want to extend the seize fire and exerting every possible effort to do that and as i'm talking to you now, meetings are on going in egypt in our delegation. in order to extend the seize fire but at the same time, what people shouldnote, anderson, is that the situation is very, very dire in gaza. people expect, you know, an immediate relief as far as electricity, running water, sewage that's not there, shelter is not there for 480,000 people. medical supplies for 10,000 wounded people in the hospitals. so i really urge the international community to start lifting, you know, by air, sea, land through egypt, through jordan and to allow israel to lift the siege from gaza so we can provide the needs for our

people and at the same time, i hope by tomorrow morning a formula will be worked out to extend the seize fire. i hope because to me, a failure should not be an option, on thor son. >> i understand the importance from your position to maintain a united front as a palestinian group, but i mean, are you upset at all that whether it was hamas or islam make jihad or whoever it was that fired rockets, at the very least from a strategic standpoint, i don't understand if you're at a negotiating table with somebody, how holding a gun to their head or even firing that gun, firing rockets at the people you say you want concessions from, how that helps the negotiation. does it upset you at all that this occurred? >> well, you know the whole idea was a 72 hours. it was not an open-ended seize fire -- >> right, but it didn't even last 72 hours -- >> wait, now.

it lasted 70 hours, and we are going to hope, we hope it will last and will be open-ended. that's what we're doing. you have to understand the situation under ground is very difficult. i'm not trying to justify anything. i want rockets not to be fired. i want israel to stop bombarding gaza because i think today six palestinians were killed between the west bank and gaza and that's not the point here. the point here is that the balance is between extending the seize fire and not allowing israel to use the medical supplies, food supplies, water, electricity as instruments in its hand to pressure us. >> but again, listen, i know you're in a very difficult position and there are many different factions in many different groups but it doesn't sound like you speak for everybody. there are certainly military actors on the ground in gaza who have a difference of opinion and seem to be acting unlatly no matter what negotiators in cairo

are doing. >> anderson, we're 26 political parties and fankctions and lucky we don't see with one eye, hear with one ear and speak with lips. we have a common paper, hamas, old factions and this paper i help to prepare it last week. >> right, but that's the political wing of hamas. you keep talking about this common paper. a piece of paper doesn't seem to be stopping rockets from being fired from gaza. >> well, we know that rockets were fired and missile -- rockets were stumped from gaza and i think no, the political leaders have a say and have a lot to say, and they are saying a lot now and doing everything humanly possible. look, we haven't reached the level of perfection that we just have a magic stick to have things come down in gaza. we're doing everything humanly possible to get our act together, to sustain and extend

the seize fire and i think it will help us a great deal if the israeli negotiating behavior will not employ medical sup pipes, food supplies, water as immanents for negotiating behavior. >> i always appreciate talking to you. thank you very much, sir. coming up, president obama's decision authorizing air strikes in iraq, support from members of congress but not the formal authorization. we'll talk to carl bernstein about that and what it means for the president's legacy, next. nexium®,is now available, without a prescription

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welcome back. president obama's decision to authorize air strikes marks a turning point in the foreign policy. he did so without authorization but support from lawmakers. carl bernstein joins me now. good to have you here. >> good to be here. >> last fall the president threatened air strikes in syria but deferred to congress for authorization. that didn't come. 2011 he authorized military action without congressional approval and ordered air strikes without formal authorization though he consummited members. it doesn't appear there is a consistent application here or policy. >> i don't think the war powers resolution question is really the important one. under the war powers resolution, as i recall, the president has 60 days in which we can commit

military forces. he has to report to congress and that is what is clearly permitted in this situation. the real question it seems to me is whether or not what he's doing can be effective. he obviously does not want boots on the ground there. he's not going to go to boots on the ground. he doesn't want to be in this situation. and at the same time, there is both a humanitarian crisis and this evil, horrible force of isis, which is moving through iraq with great effectiveness. so he's trying to do two things at once, but we also have to look at our total lack of success in this part of the world. you look at the disastrous war in iraq and what we're seeing now is part of the product of the chaos afterwards. we go back to the iran and iraq war where we supported say dam hussain. we've not been able to do what we want to do in this part of

world and there is no evidence we'll be able to. >> president obama has been getting criticism for the way he conducts foreign policy unlike nixon who was obviously, this is the fourth anniversary of the resignation. >> that's a great question, anderson. the truth is, yes, the opening to china perhaps was brilliant. nixon, the real important thing that happened in the nixon presidency was, as we hear on his tapes, he knew that you could not win the war in vietnam three years before he got out or was willing to get out and 27,000 american soldiers died in that interim and it was scenical and you hear him and kissen jer on the tapes, a grand strategy about china and russia as part of a chess game while hundreds of thousands of vietnamese,

cambodia people died. it's one of the most scenical exercises of powers of the presidency that we've seen. >> you know -- >> go ahead. >> i'm just wondering on this 40th anniversary, has your opinion of nixon changed? >> well, bob wood ward and myself, we say the nixon presidency was worse than we thought. it was a criminal presidency from the beginning. when we hear on the tapes him setting up illegal tappings for wiretappings, break-ins, the president doesn't care when what you do, fire bomb the institution to break into the safe. just get into the safe. the criminality goes from the first days of his administration and the president is the criminal. this non-sense about the coverup

is worse than the crime. the crime huge. you know, subverting the system of free elections in this country. >> and it really went from the very beginning. >> from the first days. you hear it on the tapes and see it in the so-called plan to circumvent the fbi and do black bag robberies, break-ins. >> incredible. >> there has never been anything like it. nixon is big in our history and we had other presidents that abused authority but a criminal presidency like this one, never. >> it's fascinating. carl, great to have you on the program. thanks very much. we have a lot more ahead in this hour. coming up, breaking news in the fight against ebola. it's now officially a global health emergency. the death toll, the numbers in west africa have gone up again even from yesterday. the international community, the question is are they really treating it as the emergency it is?

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the alarm over the ebola outbreak and killed nearly 1,000 people. they are declaring it a public health emergency. a coordinated response is necessary to stop the spread of the disease and to listen to the people on the ground, the fee people doing something about it, seems like the international community dropped the ball with deadly delays in response to the crisis. david mckenzie reports from sierra leone. >> reporter: the world health organization is sounding the alarm saying a coordinated international response is needed to stop the spread. but when we visited doctors without boarders treatment center in sierra leone, the coordinator said they were working alone. you need to stay one step ahead of an ebola outbreak. are you one step ahead? >> i i think they are two steps behind the outbreak at the moment. those who are not, nothing was done and we get new cases. >> reporter: eight professionals we spoke to describe a chi yaao

and delayed response that lasted for months. they say un and government workers lacked funding to do even the most basic tasks like filling the tanks of their cars to distribute flyers but the rep sen thetive says they did what they could. >> to my knowledge, there is no area where i can say we could have taken this route differently. i actually think we did the best we can. >> reporter: doctors without boarders says that statements don't save lives and they urgently need help on the ground because they are completely overwhelmed. they have been warning the world for months. the outbreak began in guinea in march where guinea, liberia and sierra leone meet and where people share a. >> caller: to-- culture. experts warned the virus would

spread despite saying it's doing what i can, the government appeared at first to down play the seriousness of the outbreak. but by then, it was too late. were you unprepared for the level of this outbreak? >> i think one can say we were unprepared for the level of the outbreak. >> reporter: now ebola is in four countries with nearly a thousand victims. one aid official told me many died for nothing. >> the who declaring this health emergency. what's the reaction on the ground from that? >> reporter: well the ground reaction from doctors without boarders and others, anderson, is that statements are one thing but what is needed are boots on the ground, people, knowledge and infrastructure try to stem the outbreak. the latest news we have from here is yet another well-known physician at the main referral hospital has fallen sick. he tested positive for the

dreaded ebola virus, just another number to the scores of health workers who have been affected by the ebola virus in the last few weeks. so a dire situation here and they say, you know, it's good the who is taking this seriously but they need words put into action. >> what is it like being there? how concerned are people in the streets there and elsewhere? >> it's what everyone is talking about, anderson and anything you hear on the radio about ebola at this point is a positive sign and then you see the situation that our hotel is practically abandoned when we've been out on the street, we see ngo and charity workers trying to work their way out of the country in liberia. the u.s. embassy said that family members should leave. there is a sense these countries are being blockaded from without and within, the hundreds of soldiers are blockading the eastern part of sierra leone.

this is a very serious situation, and it's just obvious around on the streets and even for us, anderson, you can't help but feel nervous when reporting on this issue but ultimately, this is a public health issue and the word needs to get out from these countries that are so badly affected. >> you're doing a great up next, a son's fond memories as he and we remember major harold greene who was killed in afghanistan this week. password? i'm sorry, i'm just... what's the password? uh... synergy? uh, dedification... gamification? with alumni in every fortune 100 company university of phoenix can help open the door to your future. go to phoenix.edu to get started today.

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welcome back. we wanted to make sure that all the news out of iraq and israel and gaza tonight does not eclipse the deadly attack that occurred this week in afghanistan. u.s. army major general harold greene was murdered by a uniformed gunman at a military academy in kabul. america's highest ranking casualty in wartime since vietnam. >> today our troops continue to serve and risk their lives in afghanistan. it continues to be a difficult and dangerous mission, as we were tragically reminded again this week in the attack that injured a number of our coalition troops and took the life of a dedicated american soldier, major general harold greene. our prayers are with the greene family, as they with all the gold star families and those who sacrifice so much for our nation. >> the pentagon says the shooter, an afghan soldier, was

shot and killed. tonight we don't want to focus on the gunman in this program. instead we want to honor and remember general greene. i spoke earlier with his son, lieutenant matthew greene. lieutenant greene. >> i'm so sorry for your loss. what do you people want to know about your dad? what kind of a guy was he? >> my dad was a loving father and loving husband, as well as a brother and a mentor. he was known for being extremely approachable. you know, over the past couple of day, people have really come to me, talking about how approachable he was and how much they really liked being able to just sit down with him and have a conversation. and have it be easy and free. and they could really get to anything that was really on their mind, you know. he really tried to reach out to people. >> one of the things you and i talked on the phone, and you were saying that he loves

spending time with his troops, with soldiers. not necessarily with other generals and stuff. but he wanted to go and talk to -- talk to as many people as he could. >> he would sneak away from his office and away if his, you know, little posse of colonels and get back to where the soldiers were hiding out, and he would try and have conversations with him. everywhere he went, he really tried to sneak away from what they wanted him to see and really try and get down to the younger guys and get a feel for what was really going on. because he thought that was really important. and, you know, checking on his people, even at the lowest levels was what was most important to him. >> did you ever talk with your dad about the risk? obviously, a career in the military is not without risk. did he ever talk about that? >> so when i was young, we -- when i was about the age that we could have that conversation, we did. and when i was originally

talking about going into the army, we had that conversation about myself. and how, you know, the army had been good to us and the military had been good to us, and that there was a risk there always is a risk. and, you know, the american people reward soldiers and other service members accordingly. but there is always that risk that, you know, you may have to sacrifice for the greater good of the united states. and that was something we always talked about, and it was something that he was very adamant and proud about, that he was able to do that. and i think it was a big part of his job was just serving people, both, you know, in his final tour, both serving the people of the united states and the people of afghanistan. >> i know you were saying your dad was always focused on mission first, people always. and as we remember him, you were saying that he would want us also to remember those who are

still deployed, the contractor, the humanitarian workers, those in the military who are still in harm's way. >> certainly, certainly. the military gets a wonderful treatment in terms of when one of our brothers or sisters makes the ultimate sacrifice. you know, the entire military family really took care of my wife and i. we were approached immediately by fort sill, oklahoma, where we were stationed at the time in fort hood. and they worked together diligently to take care of me. and the pentagon took care of my family. and, you know, it's really important that we continue on with that tradition because our soldiers are most important asset. but right behind them is the families that support them. and that's each more important because there is the base for the soldiers and sailers and airmen and marines. >> yeah, the sacrifices that families make i think is often overlooked when somebody is deployed. it's not just the person who is

serving who is deployed. it's really the family as well. and i'm glad you brought that up. and, again, i'm sorry we're meeting under these circumstances, but i appreciate you taking the time to tell us about your dad and about his extraordinary life. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> lieutenant greene also wanted to thank the uso and the fisher house and a lot of other organizations which reached out, gold star families which have reached out to their family in this time of their grief. and after our interview, i spoke to lieutenant greene on the phone. he realized there was something he had forgotten to bring up that he wanted to. he wanted us to know, he wanted everybody to know, even though his dad was a general, he was a soldier, just like any other soldier, any other fallen soldier, and this is not just about him. lieutenant greene wanted us to know and you to know that even in such a difficult time for he and his family personally, as far as they are concerned, every life lost in a war zone is a family's tragedy and a nation's loss. every loss hurts us all. that does it for us. thanks very much for watching from beginning here and around the world. it's been quite a week, for better or worse, thanks for letting us bring to it you.

for all of us at 360 at cnn, have a good night. "cnn tonight" with alisyn camerota starts right now. this is cnn breaking news. >> good evening, everyone. this is "cnn tonight." i'm alisyn camerota. breaking news. more u.s. air strikes on isis in iraq. the u.s. hopes the bombs will stop the terrorists' momentum. and the humanitarian aid dropped has reached some of the desperate people. is it enough? and what does mission success look like there anyway? also, inside the terror group isis, we have one of the most vicious videos we have ever aired, and isis considers it their calling card. and a president who ran on ending the war in iraq finds himself making the case for military action there. he faces tough questions for ordering the airstrikes. why iraq and not syria? we'll ask our panel of experts. plus, gaza resumes rocket fire and israel responds. can anything save the peace

process? so let's begin now with iraq. let's get right to the latest on the mission against isis. cnn's chief national security correspondent jim sciutto joins me. what is the latest on the air strikes, jim? >> a second air strike earlier today. that's two over the course of the day, or two groups of air strikes. the first this morning, which was the first air strike that struck artillery position, isis artillery positions just outside of the kurdish controlled areas in the north. later in the day, there was a second strike on a military convoy carrying fighters and weapons. this staying within, alisyn, the confines of what the administration has said. the two main goals of u.s. military action are at this point one, protecting the religious minority, the yazidis who have been trapped on that mountaintop. and two, protecting americans, both american military advisers, but also diplomats who are in erbil in the north. those are the two main goals, protecting them from isis advances.

>> jim, has the pentagon released any information in terms of how many isis fighters may have been killed? >> the pentagon has not. the iraqis have released some numbers. they claim that dozens were killed in some of these strikes. in my own experience covering the war, you have to take some of the numbers with the grain of salt. it's just impossible how they confirm those numbers. reasonable to conclude that many isis fighters were killed. but hard to quantify. >> do we know if isis fighters have a way to shoot down our airplanes? >> we don't know for sure. i think it's reasonable to assume that they would have anti-aircraft weapons, guns, surface-to-air missiles. that's an open question. the syrian army certainly had them. and we know that isis has captured some weapons from the syrian army. we also know they have captured weapons from the iraqi army which are, alisyn, american weapons, ones that we supplied to them, certainly armored personnel carriers. there were reports today from kurdish fighters that they had m 1a abrams tanks. we don't know if they have

surface-to-air missiles that can take down a jet. >> let's talk about the humanitarian air drops. we understand we were able to drop 72 pallets of food and water. do we know how much reached the people on the mountaintop? >> 63 of the 72. so a pretty good percentage there. above 80% made it to those people in need. how do they know it? they've got drones flying over this area. and they were able to identify from the drones that the people who needed those pallets got that aid. the pictures you're seeing there now, this is when iraqi military helicopters brought in aid. and you get a real picture there of just the desperation. people fleeing, crowding around those iraqi helicopters, just to get some food to eat, some water to drink. and some children who were apparently taken away by this helicopter, desperate parents just trying to get them out of harm's way. >> oh, my gosh. what a video of desperation we saw there. jim sciutto, thanks so much for the update. >> thank you.

>> let's go now to iraq and the city of erbil in the north where cnn's ivan watson has been talking to hundreds of people there fleeing for their lives. ivan, tell us what your day has been like? >> well, the estimates that the kurdish government here is saying is that there are hundreds of thousands of iraqis that have fled to this area who all basically fled their homes within the last 48 hours. so it's a tremendous wave of people who have no place to go. so today, for instance, we went to -- i'm sorry, it's yesterday, because the sun is coming up. saturday here now. but friday we went to a church that was just packed with people sleeping amid the pews there, and spilling out into the grounds of the gardens and adjoining buildings and across the streets into unfinished apartment and office blocks. and that's a scene that repeats itself all across this city, alisyn. as really hundreds of thousands

of people have been made homeless overnight and don't really have much hope of going home. take a listen to an excerpt from this conversation i had with a man holding his young son in that church full of refugees. this is a bad situation. this is very bad. >> very bad. food, water, yes. >> and no future? >> future? u.s. aid can be help all people to go to usa. >> you cannot stay in iraq? >> no, no. no, no. >> it's too dangerous? >> no like in iraq. >> and alisyn, some of these people, it's not the first time they've fled isis. recall that in mid-june, that's when this movement was able to capture iraq's second largest

city, mosul. so many of these christians directly encountered the militants and were basically told leave town or you'll be killed. they fled to neighboring towns, christian towns that were under the control of the kurds. and it's those towns that fell wednesday night and into thursday. so those people already knew what fate lay in store for them if isis came in. and that's why they all came in such vast numbers here into kurdistan. alisyn? >> your video is really striking of all of the babies. and you also tweeted out today a picture of a toddler just sort of strewn on the floor. what is the story behind this? >> i was walking around this church and kind of a bit personally overwhelmed and trying to wrap my head around what is clearly the beginning of a humanitarian crisis here. and almost stepped on this little child, which was deeply

disturbing for me that i didn't notice the child on the floor there, and just seemed to illustrate just how big this problem is. what we're seeing here in erbil, just me anecdotally traveling around, seeing clusters of these refugees, it is a far bigger problem because in the province to the west here, i'm being told this are more than half a million of these people, iraqis who have had to flee their homes and have very little hope that they'll ever be able to go back to their homes. and whenever you are in one of these situations where so many people have been made instantly homeless, are so terrified, petrified with fear that they would just gladly run into a church or something and start sleeping on the floor, it's -- it's not a sight that you get used to.

>> ivan, you're doing a great job. you're doing a great job out there. and you're understandably moved and shaken by what you have seen. you're in a danger zone, isis at last count we've heard was 18 miles away from where you are. and we really appreciate you bringing those pictures to us so we can see how desperate the people are there. thank you so much. >> thanks, alisyn. >> all right. we want to go to israel now where the air war appears to be raging again in the skies over gaza. and my colleague jake tapper is live in jerusalem. jake, what's the latest? >> well, the latest is there are a lot of people still working very hard behind the scenes in cairo, trying to get that ceasefire together. there is reason to have some optimism in the sense of the palestinians are still in cairo. they have not left cairo. and those who are looking for silver linings in this bad day,

the end of the three-day ceasefire can also look at the fact that today's violence, the rockets going into israel, the air strikes that israel waged against hamas in gaza were relatively low level. that's not to dismiss the five lives lost in gaza today. but compared to previous days and weeks of violence, it was not as bad. but i have heard for the first time, alisyn, some concerns among some of the players here that this is settling in to a war of attrition. if hamas is not willing to come to the bargaining table and agree to an indefinite ceasefire, if israel is not willing to make any concessions at all, will this just end up a low level military conflict like was seen in this region between 1967 and 1970 when egypt and

israel fought the war of attrition, which was basically just a never ending war, not high intensity, but just constant, constant fighting, alisyn. >> it's interesting, jake. just about an hour ago, saeb erekat, he is a palestinian negotiator, told anderson cooper on the air, he said that he hopes that by this time tomorrow, that some formula will have worked out to extend another ceasefire. is he living in a fantasy world? >> no, he is not. he is working hard. he is one of the players. the plo is one of the players in cairo, and they are pushing hard. they are presenting a unified front in front of the cameras, talking about how all of them are together. behind the cameras, fatah, plo and others are trying to pressure hamas, trying to convince them that look, breaking the ceasefire, going back to fighting didn't do anything, didn't accomplish anything today except five

palestinians, including a 10-year-old, lost their lives in the israeli strikes after extremists in gaza started firing rockets at israel again. so it's always possible, it's always possible. but there are so many issues and competing agendas going on behind the scenes. you the fact that the military arm of hamas is ascendant, and becoming more intense in its belief that they might as well fight. they have nothing to lose. and the political arm of hamas. there is concern that they are losing energy, losing prominence within gaza. so i don't know. obviously everybody in the region, especially the innocent civilians are hoping to an end -- for an end of the violence. so perhaps mr. erakat's desires will come true. but it seems very difficult to envision the end of the tunnel right now, alisyn. >> be careful.

we'll check back with you at the end of the program tonight to see what else transpired this hour. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> isis raging through iraq, air war over gaza. how much can the white house do to contain a region in turmoil? joining me now is fareed zakaria. he is the host of cnn's fareed zakaria gps. great to have you here. >> pleasure. >> it seems like the middle east is on fire. can you give us some perspective what we're seeing tonight? >> you know, fundamentally what is happening if you look at the entire region from libya through egypt, through syria, through iraq, there used to be an order in the middle east. it was an old repressive order. all those countries were ruled by dictatorships. the dictatorships were supported by the superpowers in the old days. what has happened is the whole order has collapsed. from libya to syria to iraq, even egypt, what you see is the old structures of authority fail. and what people realize is there is no there, there. and it wasn't just the state broke down, the nation broke down.

and so people are now grasping for whatever old identities they have that can give them some sense of security. sunni, shia, kurdish, arab, it's not the nation state. it's older identities than the nation state. so what you're seeing is a battle among tribes, a battle among identities. and the borders don't matter. civilians don't matter. it's not a regular war. and as a result, a huge mess. and i wish i could tell you that there is an end in sight, but there isn't. >> so it is because the withhold stability broke down and that order broke down that there was a power vacuum and isis was able to have this insurgense that we're now seeing? >> the new government of iraq has proved to be very sectarian. so iraq just quickly remind people is basically comprised of the shia majority, the sunni minority and the kurdish majority.

and they ruled in a aught or thetarian way. they repressed the sunnis. so the sunnis found themselves marginalized. isis comes along and says we're going to represent you and we're going to fight the shia. and they have managed to take some of the disaffected sunnis and fight pretty effectively. they're very, very well-organized force. and as they fought, they have found money and arms, often american arms, of course, this is stuff we gave the iraqis. and that's part of the explanation for what is going on which is the politics broke down. the majority started oppressing the minority. the minority decided to take up arms. and that's why president obama is right when he says, look, we can do some military stuff here. but fundamentally, the politics of iraq are broken. and if you don't fix those politics, military strikes won't do anything. >> let's talk about what president obama said last night in ordering those air strikes. isis as we know is barbaric. they were engaged in genocide. that's the word that the president used. in terms of all this complexity,

was it a relatively simple decision to say let's just stop the convoys of isis? >> i think it was. because as you said, they are really bad guys. this is about as evil as it gets. it's also, you know -- it's heartbreaking, because these are some of the oldest christian communities in the world. these are christian communities from the time of the bible, really. and so to see them almost on the verge of extinction is horrific. there is another piece to this, which is, you know, you always want to do good, but sometimes it's just not clear how you would do it. do you have local allies? would your efforts make a difference? that's one of the things that has stopped the president from doing something dramatic in syria. you could just be adding fuel on the fire. here you do have local forces, the kurds who are very tough, very strong, very pro american, and have managed to carve out a kind of oasis of stability in this region. and so in a way, all this military effort is going to

bolster the kurds, because the kurds are now the guys fighting isis. i know it gets very complicated. but remember, three communities, the shia, the sunnis, the kurds. the kurds have been the strongest american allies. they're now under threat. so i think it's a very smart and appropriate that we bolster them. because if they fall, that would be a pretty dangerous situation for the region and a catastrophe for the united states. >> but it sounds like there is reason for hope tonight. if we are able to beat back isis with air strikes, because i hear that there are 20,000 strong? is that some of the estimate in terms of the fighters of isis. if the air strikes were to work, and if we were to arm the kurds and help bolster them, it's possible to get rid of isis in iraq. >> i think it's certainly possible that you kind of cripple them. get rid of them i think really does depend on that political solution where you bring back the sunnis so there aren't a lot of disaffected sunnis. but you're absolutely right. the kurds have been very -- they

have been a very tough fighting force. the kurdish army is called the peshmerga. this has been generally regarded as probably the best strain and most importantly, the most fearless, the most loyal. these are guys who want to fight. they believe they have a cause to fight for. they believe in kurdish independence, autonomy. so one of the struggles in american foreign policy is often we try to help locals. but if they don't want to fight, there is only so much you can do. well, these guys want to fight. they're deeply pro-american. they have managed so far to hold out pretty well. they fell back because isis managed a lightning strike with american arms with new money they had gotten from that bank raid in mosul that isis had done a few months ago. this can be reversed. and you're absolutely right. we might look back even two weeks from now and say isis hits high watermark and is now in retreat. that would be wonderful. very quickly, let's talk about gaza. there are rockets flying at this hour. is the peace process null and void?

>> the peace process is null and void. i think you can have a ceasefire process. you can have a crisis management process in place right now. but the peace process was fundamentally a process that was designed to end -- to deal with the kind of long-term solution to this problem. two-state solution. palestinian state and israeli state. and the problem is we're just not even close to that. where the israelis are nowhere near ready to do that. the palestinians are divided, as jake was saying. hamas seems to be gaining strength among its militants because the militants are the guys who are willing to fight. and so we can hope for a ceasefire, but i think the idea that we will get any kind of long-term solution now seems years away, if not decades. >> fareed, it's great to have you give us context tonight. >> a pleasure. >> thank you for being here. when we come back, isis deliberately displayed its brutality to the world. how it is using fear as a weapon. wait until you see this video. also, tough choices for the

white house. will air strikes be enough to accomplish the mission against isis? and in gaza, is it one step forward and two steps back? can the peace process or even ceasefire be saved? life with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis is a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if? what if i suddenly have to go? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisadvocates.com to connect with a patient advocate from abbvie for one-to-one support and education.

tonight we're learning more about how isis has been so brutal and successful on the battlefield. they're using psychological warfare to terrify their enemies. and we warn you, some of the images in this story you're about to see are disgusting. cnn's brian todd has more. >> reporter: they're ferocious and relentless, capturing huge swaths of territory at a time. isis is unlike any other terror group on the battlefield.

>> this is not your father's al qaeda. >> reporter: the old militant tactics hit and runs, ambushes, road-side bombs. when other terrorist groups went to battle against well-trained armies, they were often wiped out. iraq combat veteran douglas olivant says isis is much more disciplined with good unit commanders, better tactics. >> but for the black flags, this could be a platoon of american army soldiers or marines circa 2004 or 2005. again, moving in formation, soldiers throughout the column. we can see the weapon, the machine guns in the vehicles. they can use to establish a base of fire. >> reporter: training is a big difference with isis, analysts say. they're getting help with that from outside. >> they also now have been bolstered by a significant number of chechen fighters who have joined their ranks, also foreign fighters from across the arab world, some with significant experience in urban

warfare. >> reporter: what also makes isis dangerous on the battlefield, the way they get the most from their arsenal. >> some of it is more primitive, like this tank. but perversely, the more primitive equipment they capture, the more likely they are to be able to use it, to maintain it. simpler is better in their case. mobile artillery pieces. other pieces captured armor vehicles. >> reporter: experts say while the new tactics, training and weapons have been indispensable to isis on the battlefield and a crucial reason they have capture in order territory, there is another weapon they use, a psychological one that also also been very effective. a warning. you're about to see some disturbing video. isis units often win before they get to the battlefield because of this. horrific propaganda videos show isis militants summarily executing captured opponents, shooting them in ditches, displaying the severed heads of their enemies on poles in the middle of city circles. >> when it comes to icy, it's

not about what they're capable of, but it's what people fear they're capable of, which gives them this advantage. and they've had a very deliberate strategy of terrorizing the iraqi military. >> reporter: experts say iraqi soldiers who have seen these videos often quit and run before the battle starts. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> by the way, there are far more gruesome and disturbing images in those videos than we even showed you. i want to bring in now cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank. paul, we blurred some of those images, obviously. but you can see in the raw footage them just executing their victims, execution-style, there in the head. what is the point of them releasing these videos? >> well, some of these images are truly horrendous. and the point is to terrorize their enemies, to terrorize the iraqi military, to terrorize the peshmerga kurdish forces. and this gives them a big

advantage on the battlefield, because we have seen many of these forces actually turn and run before actually confronting isis. so this tactic of fear and terror has beavan more effective than all the armor that they have captured and all the weapons they have captured, alisyn. >> of course. who could blame their victims for turning and running after they see things like this. but then i want to contrast that sickening and hideous video we just showed with another propaganda film that they put out that is completely different in tone. let me show you some pictures of this other one that is sort of this soft music playing. it shows men after prayer services smiling and hugging each other in greeting. it shows them with little children in their arms. perhaps we can show a piece of this. let's watch this. >> where you will have such safety in the world? because when the lives review, they feel there is no better place to be. look, my children. this is my fifth daughter.

brothers and sisters, i don't have the words. i don't have the words to express myself about the happiness to be here there is no word which can describe it. because is -- this war is a wish of all muslim. >> paul, that's a different kind of recruitment video. who is that supposed to be appealing to? >> well, that is trying to appeal to people who live overseas, trying to tell them come over here, come and join us, come and fight with us, come help us build the islamic state. because what we can offer here is an absolutely idyllic jihadist lifestyle. of course, the reality is different for people who happen not to agree with isis. they end up getting crucified and beheaded and so on and so forth. but this is to bring in foreign recruits. and they've been very, very successful at this. around 2,000 europeans have traveled to syria. around 100 americans, and thousands more from the arab world. and all around the world have travelled to join this group to

fight with it, and to try and help build up this islamic state, alisyn. >> paul, it's so shocking to hear you talk about those numbers. 100 americans have been lured there by videos like this. but what is the appeal? what do they have to offer americans? >> well, it's this idealized jihadist lifestyle. but it's also that these people feel that it's their religious duty to go and fight, to go and fight for this caliphate, for isis to try and build up this islamic community. they see it as this is their islamic destiny. >> and are they are religious group? is that what they do? or are they just barbarians who are bent on violence? >> well, they're both. but primarily, they are a religious group. they are motivated by their belief in god that really propels them. they have this fundamentalist interpretation of the islamic text, which is completely distorted. but that is what is motivating

them, alisyn. >> and paul, quickly, how big is isis? >> it's difficult to tell there have been estimates of 10,000 or even 20,000 fighters. this is not a huge group, but it is active obviously on both sides of the iraq-syria border. and in syria in recent week, it's become increasingly active, increasingly taking on the syrian military, really building up its force there. this is not just a story about iraq. it's also about syria, alisyn. >> all right, paul cruickshank, thanks so much for all of your expertise on this. >> thank you. tonight president obama finds himself entangled in iraq again, ordering air strikes against an enemy that will stop at nothing to get what it wants. but can this mission get the white house what it wants? we'll debate that next. if you wear a denture, touch it with your tongue.

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president obama of course ran on ending the war in iraq. now two years into his second term, he has ordered air strikes in the northern part of that country. joining me to discuss this are david gergen, cnn political analyst and adviser to presidents nixon, ford reagan and clinton. robin wright at the woodrow wilson center, and joe reider, former undersecretary of the army. very impressive panel. thanks to all of you for being with me this evening. i want to remind all of you and the viewers at home what the president said about getting into iraq again now in terms of air strikes against isis, and what his rationale was. listen to the president last night. >> when we have the unique

capabilities to help avert a massacre, then i believe the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. we can act, carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide. >> robin, let me start with you. is it the united states' moral obligation when we can to prevent genocide? >> i think every american feels any time you can save a life, it's worth considering what you can do about it. i think for the president, this is -- this was an immediate response to a grave humanitarian challenge. but i think it also opens up a lot of questions about what do you do about a lot of other populations in the middle east that the united states has not done anything about. in syria, there are more than a million refugees. there are about a quarter of the 22 million population has been displaced. there are humanitarian crises now across the region because of growing instability. and this is one in which there was an immediate appeal, an immediate need. but there is -- the political

debate that is likely to play out in washington is likely to center on a lot more than just what the president opts to do in iraq. it has to do with the broader question of who the united states saves, how much do they do to protect stranded and vulnerable populations, how much do we spend, whether it's in military leverage or financial treasury. >> david, do you think the president made a compelling enough case last night? >> i do. i think in my judgment, the president did the right thing with the humanitarian action to prevent a slaughter of as many as 40,000 innocents. and to order the air strikes to protect americans, as fareed zakaria just said, to work with a long-time ally of the united states, the kurds, and also to recognize that the kurds are sitting on top of a lot of oil. not mentioned, but true. having said that, i think robin is right about this raises new questions about what our overall strategy is to the middle east. it also raises serious questions about where we go from here

after these bombings. what becomes our strategy in iraq itself. and on that one, i think the president has opened the door to a lot of new pressure to defeat isis all together. not simply to protect the kurdish capital, but to lead the forces who are defeating it. it's not only republicans are calling for that, but two major newspapers in the united states, the "washington post" and "usa today" have editorials coming out tonight both urging that we have a strategy that leads to the defeat of isis because it's such a destabilizing force in that part of the world. >> joe, i know that you think that we cannot air strike our way out of this problem. what do you mean? >> well, the -- you're facing terrorists, alisyn, on the ground, but and you're going to have to face them with boots. >> but do they have to be our boots, joe? >> they do not. >> can we arm the kurds? and in fact i think we are sending small arms and ammo to

the kurds. will that work? >> well, i think we need to fully supply them and a lot more. i may be a little more simplistic than david and robin. i don't see this as raising a lot of big issues because i think this is easily distinguishable. all of the minorities, the reason the yazidis are there, and they have been there for centuries is because the kurds are basically a live and let live people. it is a democracy. they have three different parties there that do politics against each other very similarly as we do here. they've been our friend. they've been beside us. they are the point of the spear. and they're the ones that are facing down isis. and isis is an enemy of this country. david is absolutely right. the president did the right thing. i think there is a lot more that he can and should do. and i think he ought to be supplying equipment. what you got here is you got

isis fighting with u.s. equipment against us because they seized it from fleeing iraqi soldiers. >> yeah. >> and you've got the kurds fighting with obsolete equipment and weapons and almost running out of ammunition. >> so the answer is, robin, to give the kurds more equipment? >> well, i think that's one of the options. the challenge is can -- without air power, what can the kurds do on the ground. and just to give you a sense of the scope, the -- george h.w. bush during operation desert storm unleash in order than 200,000 bombs over a 38-day period. president clinton over a four-day period unleashed 600 bombs and 400 missiles. president george w. bush unleashed 30,000 bombs. and this was all against the iraqi army. it's going to take a lot more than a few 500-pound bombs to actually make a dent on isis. this is the toughest military

fighting force in the middle east today, even the iranians are afraid of them. this is -- these guys are willing to die by the dozens in suicide bombings. they embrace martyrdom. they are prepared to take any action to -- any action justifies the end. >> yeah. >> and so it's going to be really tough to find a formula that is going to defeat them, or even contain them, i fear. >> yeah. robin, david, joe, stand by. when we come back, israel, gaza, ukraine, russia, syria. it's safe to say president obama has his hands full. but how is he doing at handling these hot spots around the world, and how will all of this affect his legacy? stamps.com is the best. i don't have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps.com you can print real u.s. postage for all your letters and packages. i have exactly the amount of postage i need, the instant i need it. can you print only stamps? no... first class. priority mail. certified. international.

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i ran for this office in part to end our war in iraq and welcome our troops home. an that's what we've done. as commander in chief, i will not allow the united states to be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. >> that from president obama last night, trying to assuage the fears of war weary americans. tonight air strikes over northern iraq are in their second day. and a second humanitarian air drop has taken place tonight, delivering more than 28,000 meals and 1500 gallons of water to the people stranded on mount sinjar. i'm bag with david gergen, robin wright and joe reeder.

joe, it's ironic that his president in his first term ran in opposition to the iraq war, tonight finds himself embroiled in a conflict in iraq. >> it indeed ironic. he is certainly the reluctant warrior, as so many have called him. and i think we have to say that president obama and the united states are not responsible for all of the conflicts and the hot spots and the fires that have spread across the middle east and into ukraine. these are old ancient hatreds that have been revived that are out and displayed now. brutality that has come from within that we're not responsible for. but there is a lesson here over the last few years that just if you use excessive force and it leads to a bad end. if you use no force at all, if the united states begins to withdraw from the world stage, and that's what president obama has wanted to do in many ways, he has wanted to pull back from afghanistan and iraq and some of

these other trouble spots in order to rebuild at home, if there is a lack of american leadership, a lack of american resolve, others will take advantage of that and will exploit it. we've seen that with putin in ukraine. we're seeing that to some degree now in what has playing out in iraq. >> yeah, it's a tough line, obviously. and joe, there have been a couple of editorials today that suggest that this threatens the president's legacy. the president who got us out of an unpopular war. do you see it that way? >> well, i mean, you do put soldiers at risk, airmen at risk when you're over a flight. you don't do that, alisyn, when you arm the peshmerga. and, you know, the kurds are the best friends we have in the middle east save israel. 35,000 dead and wounded in iraq. the kurdish region of iraq not one dead or wounded. if that doesn't say it all. that's where the christians go,

the minorities go. so if we arm up the pesh, that coupled with our air power, i think we can make all the difference. >> robin, obviously stopping genocide is a good justification. but of course the president didn't use his own rationale in syria for stopping genocide where more than 100,000 people have been killed. what is the difference? >> well, i think that's one of the questions that is likely to be brought up as this debate takes root in washington, particularly in an election year. this is a tough moment for the president to have to take action. it may well become an election issue, what the united states does next, how does this play out. this is not likely to be something that is a short-term mission. if we're really trying to prevent a genocide, rescue the fort,000 -- 40,000 yazidis. it's assault in areas where u.s. personnel is based.

the president unfortunately faces very limited options in the world right now. this is a moment that's not just about whether he has shown leadership. it's also about others who have not shown leadership. the europeans have been rather rudderless addressing these issues, relying heavily on the united states. and the fact is there are many powers in the world that want not just democracy within countries but among countries. and they think they should have more of a say in determining their fate. and so there are a lot of different factors that are limiting the president's ability to act, including the war in the united states. there are not many americans keen whether it's boots on the ground or engaging in a major financial operation that would arm whether it's the sunni tribes or the peshmerga. >> david, i want to make your point attend. i thought it was an interesting one. you said it's hard to conduct a

coherent foreign policy when your secretaries, your cabinet are always on the road. why is that? >> well, you had to conduct and then construct a coherent foreign policy, you need people around the world. you need the heavyweights. i can tell you in the white house there is a feeling sometimes when they call national security council meetings, the heavyweights aren't there because they're gone. secretary kerry is on the road all the time. secretary hagel is in india and moving on from there, just as the president was making decisions. john kerry needs help at the state department. there are so many fires around the world. he needs a team of envoys and people that can go in and be in these areas so he doesn't have to be on a plane all the time and can be there with the president, putting this together. i think it's been very tough. i admire secretary kerry. i think he has been very persistent. and he has put in an enormous amount of energy. one man cannot hold the world together when there are seven at least major fires burning around the world. >> excellent point. thanks to all you have this evening. >> thank you. >> we really appreciate it,

robin, david, joe, great to see you. as iraq spirals out of control, in gaza the ceasefire is broken and the rockets are flying once again tonight. is peace out of reach? jake tapper is back with a live update from jerusalem. when a pro at any 2014 pga tour event sinks a hole-in-one, quicken loans will pay your mortgage for an entire year. that is how it's done. truly amazing! get in the hole-in-one sweepstakes. enter today at pgatour.com/quickenloans and you could have your mortgage paid for an entire year.

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the idf says hamas broke the ceasefire by firing rockets from gaza into israel. hamas denies that. but either way, the ceasefire is over. let's go to jake tapper. he is live in jerusalem for us. what's the latest, jake? >> it's interesting, alisyn. as the sunrises here in the middle east, it's been almost eight hours since any rockets were fired from gaza into israel. that's obviously potentially significant because israel has said it would match quiet for quiet if hamas and the other extremist groups in gaza stop firing rockets into israel, they will stop responding with air strikes. so it has actually been a relatively or entirely i should say quiet evening. and that makes me wonder if the other factions that are in cairo

with hamas and the palestinian islamic jihad are making headway in trying to convince them to stop firing so as to not bring israeli strikes on the palestinian people and actually trying to get them to agree to some sort of ceasefire proposal. so i guess we'll see. we heard, as you mentioned it earlier in the show, saeb erekat, the palestinian negotiator telling anderson cooper that they were hopeful that this day, saturday would bring news in terms of progress on the ceasefire. and i'm wondering if the quiet this evening is indicative that that is to come. i guess fingers crossed. >> absolutely. but it does look like a good sign. and so if the ceasefire were being extended, and if the peace process were moving forward, would that mean that somehow they're making some progress on the blockade being lifted or lessened? >> well, you're -- you're getting very -- you're getting very ahead of the process. right now i'm just expressing

gratitude that nobody has been killed over the last five or six hours. those more complicated issues about demilitarizing gaza, as the israelis want, lifting the blockade as the palestinians want are much more complex and difficult. and then that doesn't even get to the two-state solution and ideas of actual long lasting peace. we're just trying to get it through the night here. but that would be theoretically, alisyn, the next step. yes. >> so you're suggesting i should contain myself? >> i'm just saying nobody died in the last six hours. that's all i'm saying. >> okay, i got it. what is interesting, jake, we had fareed zakaria on, and he said he believes, you know, secretary kerry has left cairo, and fareed believed that it meant that the peace process was null and void. but that's not what you're saying? >> i think that there is perhaps more potential. we've heard positive signs from the plo and other representatives. i think there is potential that work is being done in cairo.

and i hope that that's right. >> i hope so too. jake tapper, thanks so much for being there. stay safe. it's always great to get your reports. >> thanks, alisyn. >> we'll be right back. is a daily game of "what if's". what if my abdominal pain and cramps come back? what if the plane gets delayed? what if i can't hide my symptoms? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisinfo.com to get your complimentary q&a book, with information from experts on your condition.

that's it for us tonight. feel free to tweet me your thoughts about all we've discussed. you can find me on twitter @alisyncamerota.

thanks so much for watching. stay with cnn all weekend for the latest on the crisis in the middle east. have a great night, everyone. "the sixties" starts right now. we must open opportunity to all our people. >> we feel that women will work just as good as men and better. >> the husband is the guy who is in charge and should be all of the time. >> the latest threat to the status quo is the women's revolt. >> it is a pleading for social change. >> even the fear of imprisonment forces most homosexuals to camouflage their identity. >> kids grow up conservatives. >> the public did not have the whole picture. >> what we are talking about is a revolution and not a reform.