right now, president obama and the white house finalizing his address to the nation tonight, a speech in which the commander in chief will announce that the united states for all practical purposes is launching a new war. this one against isis terrorists, not only in iraq but in syria as well. hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we begin with a critically important speech by president obama, this on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary. the president addressing the nation, indeed the world, about the new threat posed by the terrorist group isis. here's what we know about the strategy and the speech later tonight. officials say the president is open to conducting air strikes against isis targets inside syria. no details yet on whether he'll lay out a plan -- specific plan tonight for those strikes -- when they will begin. the president told congressional leaders he has the authority to

carry out his isis plan without any additional authorization from congress. but he did ask for congress' support. secretary of state john kerry is on a mission to get help from countries in the region, his first stop today was in baghdad to show support for the new iraqi government. for more on the president's plan to try to defeat, destroy isis, let's bring in our white house correspondent, michelle kosinski, elyse labbette will join us in a moment. the president is asking congress for authority to arm and train what's called the moderate syrian opposition to fight against isis. does that contradict the president's position he doesn't need additional authorization, approval from congress for the overall anti-isis strategy? >> reporter: it's confusing. even in the read-out of the president's meeting with congressional leadership yesterday, he said he has all the authority he needs for the plan as it stands now. but last night, we found out,

wait a minute, they are looking for additional authorization. that seems to be a contradiction. obviously it's something -- a difference between what the administration is looking for in the longer term versus what is going to be laid out in the speech tonight. at least we think. we haven't heard that speech yet. last night, a senior administration official told me that for the longer term, they do want to expand the authority to equip and train opposition rebels in syria. this is the moderate opposition that the u.s. has actually been helping for a year. but this is taking it a step further, expanding it further. also the president wants authorization for money to do that, additional money. that would be about $500 million. so they're seeking authorization from congress, but that's not right now. the authorization has been asked for. but when that equipping and training would actually happen on the level at least that the administration clearly wants it

to happen is everybody's question. we expect the president tonight to lay out his strategy as it stands. we expect that to possibly include expanding the mission in iraq, laying out what exactly is the threat to the u.s., what are the priorities, what are the risks as the white house has explained them? then the president will add to that, what he expects to do in the future. we just don't know when those asks versus when the action will happen is going to be laid out. that's one of the main questions before we hear this speech tonight. >> critically important speech to the nation, indeed to the entire world. michelle, thanks very much. elyse is traveling with the secretary of state john kerry. earlier they were in baghdad. now they're in amman. what did the secretary of state achieve, elyse? >> reporter: wolf, i think first of all he wanted to give a boost to this new government.

government led by prime minister al abadi. it's seen as the linchpin of the u.s. strategy, what the u.s. has been hoping all along is that a new government would be more inclusive. a lot of sunni arabs felt marginized by prime minister nuri al maliki. secretary kerry says he sees a lot of progress but says any government will not be worth the weight that it's written on if it's not more inclusive. he said he heard a lot of positive signals from the prime minister today. but he said there's a lot of work that still needs to be done. tomorrow he goes to saudi arabia where he will meet with gulf stations. and he's going to enlist their support on this new iraqi government. that just doesn't mean military support. it means drying up the finances of isis. it means cutting the flow of

foreign fighters into iraq and syria, which is seen as the lifeblood of this group. >> let me play a clip, what we heard the secretary say earlier in the day while he was in baghdad. listen to this. >> a coalition at the heart of our global strategy, i assure you will continue to grow and deepen in the days ahead. including at the u.n. generally assembly in new york later this month. and that is because the united states and the world will simply not stand by and watch as isil's evil spreads. >> so he's been in iraq. he's now in jordan, on the way to saudi arabia tomorrow. where else is he expected to visit, elise? >> reporter: later in the week -- early week, he'll be going to paris where the french are going to be holding a meeting on this issue on isil on who can do what.

officials tell me a lot of countries are raising their hands saying they could do a lot of things. what the u.s. is trying to figure out now is who would be best for a military campaign, who is going to be best in terms of intelligence, who will be strongest in terms of drying up the financing? they're looking for turkey to cut the oil. so right now, the u.s. is in a combination of kind of asking and coordinating how this coalition will take shape. as the secretary said, i think that a lot of this will be hammered out at the united nations later this month. >> elise labott traveling with the secretary. the president faces a nation deeply worried about the threat from isis but also skeptical about whether he's compared to confront that threat. take a look at this new cnn/orc poll. 30% of americans think the president has a clear plan for dealing with isis. 67% say he does not. let's bring in our chief

political analyst gloria borger and dana bash. he's got a lot of work ahead of him to convince the public he knows what he's doing. >> but he does because he's got to find that sweet spot between sort of being very tough on isis and yet having a clarity of mission so he can say this isn't going to go on forever. but he's got to tell the american people what's at stake here for their national security. but i will also say that if you look at where he was a year ago on syria versus where he is now, he had the wind in his face a year ago. now he's got the wind at his back because public opinion has shifted dramatically over this past year. these beheadings have done a lot to move public opinion in this country. and isis may use those videos as a recruiting tape. but it's also solidified american public opinion against them. that will help the president tonight. >> he met with top congressional leaders yesterday. they all went back to the hill.

what's been the reaction? what are we hearing? were they pleased with what they heard from the president? >> sounds like they were pleased in that in a bipartisan way, they have been begging the president to talk about the strategy, to talk about the kind of thing he's going to talk about tonight. of course, we're two months before an election. everything immediately turns political for better or worse, probably worse. and so we did see mitch mcconnell, the republican leader who was in that meeting yesterday, go to the floor this morning and talk about the fact that the president doesn't like being commander in chief and begging him for a strategy and then harry reid saying that republicans are just following the words and the strategy of dick cheney. that partisanship is understandable. but we shouldn't overlook what is at the core here, which is that you did have in a bipartisan way members of congress sitting down with the president, agreeing with him that he is doing the right thing going forward to expand the

military presence and also getting the ask that we were reporting about this morning, for more authority that he needs to arm the syrian rebels. the question that i have is, is he trying to put the genie back in the bottle? this is something many people in congress wanted him to do a year ago. hillary clinton wanted him to do. >> but the public didn't at that point. and he didn't think he could get that vote at that point. what we've seen in the shifting polls is the american public doesn't want war. they were happy to end two wars in iraq and afghanistan. but they don't want to see weakness. they don't want to be shoved around and they looked at those videos and they said, you know what, that doesn't -- >> let's not kid ourselves. the american public is not kidding itself either. for all practical purposes, the president tonight will announce the united states is going to war, going to war against isis, not only in iraq but in syria as well.

u.s. fighter pilots will be endangered as they fly over anti-aircraft missile batteries not only in iraq but in syria as well. this will be very expensive. billions of dollars. this is a war and this will be president obama's war. >> and the big question -- and dana can answer this better than anyone -- is the sort of boots on the ground issue. you see public opinion also shifting about the question of boots on the ground. far from a majority support. but you see that number going up the more it gets shoved in people's faces. i don't know what congressional approval would be for that kind of an involvement. i don't think the president would go near it right now. >> that's a whole different question. and that's a big part of why he's not asking for additional formal authority for the u.s. forces in that region because he's not asking for that right now and that's why he does have the support for this policy even though there's not going to be a vote. but the other thing i think we should look for, i was just

talking to some sources about this whole idea of authorization for supporting the syrian rebels. right now, there is a desire at the white house the pull that into the larger vote to fund the government, so that it's sort of hidden in there but also it's a must-pass bill. it's unclear if republicans in the house are going to go for that. so you might actually see a vote -- separate vote on that in congress. it will be fascinating to see members of congress putting their votes on the table -- >> before an election. >> let's see the case the president makes for going to war tonight against isis terrorist. launching a new war in syria as well. guys, we'll be busy. 9:00 p.m. eastern later tonight. you can watch the president's address to the nation right here on cnn. coming up, we'll get the view from capitol hill. i'll speak with republican congressman ed royce, the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee.

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and it is important for the president to clearly explain that to our fellow americans. >> that was senate republican marco rubio on the senate floor talking about what needs to be a critical part of the president's speech later tonight. joining us from capitol hill, california republican congressman ed royce, chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. mr. chairman, thanks very much for joining us. what's the singlemost important thing you want to hear from the president tonight? >> i think it's probably the buy-in of our allies and other arab states to make certain that the united states is not going it alone with these air strikes but that you see the nato participation of their air forces and that you see with respect to the saudis, the other gulf states, their support financially and frankly the infantry on the ground, kurdish forces, that should be iraqi security forces, free syrian army forces, not u.s. infantry.

>> the free syrian army forces are relatively weak right now. they really can't get the job done, can they? >> what they need are the weapons that they've been waiting for several years to obtain. and i think that will be another vote in congress, whether or not we go forward and give them the weapons they need. frankly, this is something congress has to step up and do just as we need to get the weapons to the kurds. the kurdish foreign minister let me know they did not have the anti-tank missiles, the long-range mortars they needed to turn back the isis attacks. these things need to be discussed and supported by congress. >> how worried are you? i know the administration is worried. that's why they haven't done it yet, that weapons provided to what's called the moderate opposition, the free syrian army, could eventually wind up in the hands of terrorists, whether al nusura, especially in

the south, not far from the golan heights or may end up in the hands of isis, just as so many u.s. weapons in the hands of iraqi army ending up in the hands of isis. >> that's why you vet them and we need to provide the air support. these units, such as the peshmerga, they will run away if they don't have air support up against a well-armed group like isis. the other element of this is support from the united states, from france, from the uk, from australia, our partners in this, to bring air support into play. because infantry on the ground when they're up against forces like isis have a tendency not to do well. with air support, there's no question we can defeat 17,000 insurgents. but it's a critical part of the plan. we need to hear the whole strategy. >> because it's not just a bunch of terrorists. it's, for all practical

purposes, especially in iraq, an army that isis has created. a lot of those, sunni iraqi generals and colonels who worked for saddam hussein who were kicked out are now battlefield commanders for isis, isn't that right? >> that is a big part of it. and a lot of this training comes out of southern russia. the 50% of the combatants come from around the world, recruits off the internet. and they learn explosives and infantry strategy on the ground. at the end of the day, they're an army. but only an army of 17,000. and air power can do a lot of damage to an army of 17,000. >> some intelligence analysts say it could be 15,000 to maybe

as many as 30,000 isis forces. but that's just a number i've heard thrown out. i don't think there's a specific number, right? >> the longer we wait, the air forces grow. and this is why seven months ago when they broke out of syria and began that long trek city by city, that's when they should have been hit from the air. that would have basically built up the resolve or the spine of the peshmerga forces and other forces. but now we must act because frankly it's a critical mass. they are sending out this message that they can't be defeated. those who are joining their ranks need to see that, yes, they can certainly be defeated and we should take this battle to their base, the training base because that's their sanctuary. you never want to allow that sanctuary to remain for the next generation of trainers. that has to be taken out in counterterrorism. that will probably be par of the plan expressed tonight. >> we'll see what the president

has to say, 9:00 p.m. eastern, when the president addresses the nation, live coverage here on cnn. mr. chairman, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> ed royce, the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee. president obama opened up about his take on isis at a private white house dinner earlier this week. one of those guests, a former national security adviser during the bill clinton administration, sandy berger, was invited to the dinner. he's standing by live to discuss. choice. take 4 advil in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. honey, you did it! baby laughs!

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people his specific plans for dealing with the growing terror threat from the group isis. joining us here in washington, sandy berger, form national security adviser to president clinton. you were at that private dinner that the president invited current and former officials to, bipartisan dinner. you emerged from that dinner thinking the president would or wouldn't announce there would be u.s. air strikes against isis targets not only in iraq but syria as well? what was your impression? >> i think the president understands that there's one isis that cannot have a safe haven in syria, there needs to be a broad, comprehensive strategy to deal with isis, with our allies building our support on the ground, comprehensive approach which includes syria and iraq. >> because for all practical purposes, isis controls a big chunk of syria and a big chunk of iraq. there really is no border there.

these guys are going back and forth. the syrian government is out of it. >> syria is a harder proposition than iraq. we don't have elements on the ground to work with, so i think it's a longer-term proposition to build some moderate forces in syria while perhaps we take -- >> is that realistic, though? the free syrian army as i think a lot of these guys -- they have great intentions but they don't have the capability -- there's other terror groups, not only isis but al nusura. >> i think the long-term proposition, we have to start to do that. in the meantime, we can go after targets after opportunity. certainly can't let isis simply sit there and retreat to syria. i think the initial focus is going to be primarily on iraq, building with the iraqi security forces, trying to bring the sunnis back into the game.

they threw these guys out. they are so angry at maliki, that when they came back, they were more afraid of isil -- >> do you think this new government in baghdad is any better than the old government? i've spoken to a lot of kurds and sunni muslims, iraqis, they have very low expectations about al abadi, the new prime minister. >> this is iraq. you don't start with high expectations in any case. i think he has an instinct to be more inclusive. we'll have to see, work with him -- >> comes from the same party as nuri al maliki. >> but he has a different background. we don't need a jeffersonian democracy in baghdad. we need somebody who can work with everybody, who can work with the sunnis and the kurds and can enable us to convince the kurds that they have a sake in joining us to expel isil as they did once before.

>> for all practical purposes, the president of the united states tonight is going to announce that the u.s. is going to war against isis, not only in iraq but in syria as well. this is a new war. this is the president's war. >> it's a long-term undertaking. i don't think it's just the united states. i think isil is a threat to the region. i think we'll have partners from the region -- >> like who? >> i think we'll have partners from the gulf. isil is not just after us -- >> will turkey allow u.s. jets to take off from turkey to bomb u.s. targets in syria? >> i don't know the answer to that. there are discussions going on with turkey. >> turkey's a nato ally -- >> we'll have allies -- turkey has an immediate problem. it has 49 hostages that isil is holding. so it has to deal delicately with that immediate problem in terms of the optics of how they can support. >> turkey is being held hostage by those -- >> no. i think they'll help us.

how they cast that in the short term may be tricky. i think they certainly share our interests. i don't think this will be us alone here. this is a long-term problem, a fight for the future of islam between sunni moderates and sunni extremists. and i think increasingly moderate sunnis see this as a struggle for their future. and i think we have to make sure that's the way it's cast. not the united states against sunnis. >> all right. sandy berger, thanks very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> hope the food was delicious at the white house. they have good food there, we all know that. thanks very much. up next, deep concern in canada right now as citizens from north of the border go overseas to become fighters for isis. we'll take a closer look. and just how big a threat is isis to americans? we'll discuss the terror group, the president's plan to defeat it. senator bob casey, the democratic lawmaker, standing by to join us live. ok, if you're up there, i could use some help.

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in the middle east and right here at home. that's something the former u.s. ambassador to syria and iraq, ryan crocker, is also talking about with cnn's christiane amanpour. >> they are better armed, they are far better financed, they are better experienced and perhaps most critically, there are several thousand of them who hold western passports, including american passports. they don't need to get a visa. they just need to get on a plane. if we don't think we're on their target list, we are delusional. >> a colorado woman entered a guilty plea in court today for trying to help isis, she was accused of providing material support to the terror group. she was arrested in april at the denver airport after admitting to fbi agents she was going to syria to marry a tunisian man fighting with isis. she faces up to five years in prison. that leads me to this cnn/orc

poll that shows 71% of americans now believe isis has terrorists already inside the united states. only 27% say no. last week, the defense secretary, chuck hagel, acknowledged there are more than 100 americans fighting in the middle east right now with isis forces. and as cnn's senior investigative correspondent drew griffin reports, there are similar concerns in canada. >> reporter: this city best known for a booming oil business, early september knows and its gateway to the canadian rockies, is reeling with news two more of its sons have joined forces to fight with the radical islamic group isis. brothers gregory and collin gordon, disappeared in 2012 and now through disturbing tweets, collin gordon confirms he has taken up jihad as an isis fighter. on august 21st, two days after james foley was beheaded, collin tweeted out under his new twitter name.

the video of james foley losing his neck is the perfection of terrorism. how seemingly formal canadian teenagers grow up to something 20-something islamic radical fighters is a question that is becoming a national emergency, even more urgent as they show up like calgary's on youtube videos burning passports and vowing to bring their fight home. >> this is a message to canada and america, we are coming and we will destroy you. >> reporter: canadian police estimate 130 canadians have gone overseas for terrorist activities. 30 of them to fight in syria. and families of local muslim leaders in calgary say five are connected to just this one downtown calgary apartment building with a mosque on the ground floor. it's where a recent convert named damian clairmont began worshipping in 2012 before he, too, disappeared.

what did he sound like? >> just normal, just as if he wasn't in syria. >> reporter: justin tebow last talked to his childhood friend on december 23rd. less than a month later, this former catholic, nova scotia-born 22-year-old would be killed on an isis battlefield in aleppo, syria. >> i would be lying if i said i didn't see it coming because i knew damian and what he was like. if he was there for reasons he thought true, there's nothing that could have stopped him. except death. >> reporter: damian clairmont's mother says her son tried to commit suicide the day after his 17th birthday. he was troubled when he began converting to islam in 2011. and suddenly he began to drive. the religion grounded him, she said but that all changed when he began attending calgary's moderate downtown mosque. damian clairmont joined a secretive prayer group. five members of that prayer

group would eventually head to the isis front lines, three of them are now dead, including the man who burned his canadian passport on youtube. what is most troubling of all, especially to the muslim community here, which has been outspoken in its opposition to radical theology, is why these seemingly normal canadian youngsters are going to fight as terrorists in foreign lands. the honest answer from muslim community leaders, these three men, is scary. they don't know. >> that's the same thing people say when somebody well off commits suicide or when somebody -- when good people do bad things. they always say, why? they had everything they need. we need to understand the mindset. but rig >> reporter: but what you're saying to me and to everybody is, we don't know what is going on sfl. >> we don't understand it fully.

and this is why this is something that we're trying to address. >> reporter: this week, these community leaders will stage an unprecedented summit in an effort to stop what they call the criminal radicalization of calgary's youth. any solutions will come too late for justin tebow, his lifelong friend is dead and tebow will never know exactly why. >> it could be anybody's kid. it was my friend damian. the last person i would ever expect. it could be anybody. >> reporter: drew griffin, cnn, calgary. still ahead, the fight against isis, will the u.s. go it alone? will there be an international coalition of support? we're getting reaction from around the world. and secret files found on an isis laptop in syria. a closer look at what the u.s. may now be up against. get 4 lines for just a hundred bucks a month. with unlimited talk, text and now up to ten gigabytes of 4g lte data. no overages no contracts we'll even buy you out of yours.

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on this the eve of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, terrorism and the threat of another strike on the homeland certainly the central focus both on capitol hill as well as over at the white house. the president now preparing to address the nation tonight on his strategy to deal with the isis terror group, 9:00 p.m. eastern. we'll have live coverage, of course. members of the house and senate are holding hearings on the severity of the terror threat. joining us from capitol hill is democratic senator bob casey of pennsylvania. senator, thanks very much for

joining us. how much of a threat does isis really pose to the homeland, to americans right here in the united states? >> well, wolf, i think it will be a threat that will play out over time. i don't think at the present stage -- we may learn more tomorrow in our classified briefing. but at the present time, i don't think it's an immediate or proximate threat. but i think over time, it's a substantial threat and it will be a lot less of a threat if we take action now. >> so what kind of action do you specifically want the president to take? >> wolf, in addition to what he's already done, which is -- i think this will require more air strikes beyond the more than 150 or so. but those air strikes or any kind of kinetic action has to be based on intel. so good intel is important. secondly, he has to continue the effort he's undertaken and secretary kerry to build a coalition that has to grow beyond the nine countries so far. he should also outline and we

need to have implemented a strategy to cut off their funding. that's going to be very important. that might be more important on some days than any kind of military activity. >> do you support expanding the air strikes from iraq into syria as well? >> yes, because i don't think we can assume that somehow the geographic borders between the two will allow us to stop. if the goal -- and i believe the president has set forth the right goal, to degrade and destroy isil, if you're going to do that, you have to per sue them as you would a terrorist organization that happens to be an army and also happens to be, in my judgment, an international criminal organization or criminal syndicate. >> do you agree with democratic senator tim keene that the president needs congressional approval to expand this war? >> not at this stage. but it would be important for

validating the role that congress plays to have a larger debate about the question of the authorization more broadly. now, i think the way to do that is to set aside a block of time, a week, two weeks, to have a full and candid debate. not enough members of congress are prepared for this right now. we need more intel. even folks like me that have followed this very closely. and we also need more oversight, more hearings and more engagements. we should set aside a substantial period of time within which to debate these issues not just the near-term question about whether the president has authority to go into syria, whether the president has the authority for continual air strikes but the larger question of the authorization for the use of force, the scope of that in the context of the war powers and the constitution. but that's a big debate that we should take time to do and not have a one-day debate or an afternoon before some kind of a

vote. >> the former vice president, dick cheney, was up on capitol hill yesterday briefing republicans. and today he spoke out about this threat at a speech at the american enterprise institute. listen to what he said, among other things. >> after years of saying that america had lost its way, abandoned our values in building up the security apparatus, now he's invoking it to give assurance that we are prepared. i know something about the apparatus. i was one of its architects. and president obama seems willfully blind to one of the key facts about the post-9/11 security apparatus. it is not self-sustaining. those programs and policies must be kept strong and current. the obama administration has failed utterly in that task. >> want to get your reaction, senator. what do you think? >> well, vice president cheney's continuing what he's done since the day the president took office, making wild charges that

are baseless and being very categorical in a way that's not helpful. what we should do is get back to the time when these debates ended at the water's edge. there's no question that people in both parties care deeply about our national security. the president as commander in chief has discharged that responsibility with a lot of focus, a lot of attention and a lot of determination to not just hunt down osama bin laden and have him taken out but also to hunt down other terrorists. so i have no lack of confidence in the president's ability to take on this fight against terrorists, whether it's isil or any other terrorist organization, nor do i have any lack of confidence in his determination to make sure that our national security interests are always protected. i know the president. he takes this very seriously. i think his actions demonstrate that he takes it seriously. and i think he's got some good results to prove that he knows how to fight terrorists. he knows how to defeat them and

he'll put forth a plan as it relates to isil that will do that. >> senator bob casey of pennsylvania, senator, thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. just ahead, looks like a simple laptop but it reportedly holds a treasure trove of information on the terror group isis. stand by. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

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containing files on how to turn on the plague into a weapon and brian todd is digging into this story which is worrisome. what are u.s. officials telling you? >> we are told they are aware of the capture of this laptop but they don't have a lot of other detail on it. what we're hearing from them and from other experts is there's no evidence necessarily that isis has the capability of dispersing biological weapons. it takes a lot to do that. what we do know according to foreign policy magazine, they accessed this computer and talked to the person in a moderate syrian rebel group who was with that group when they captured this laptop in an isis safe house in northern syria. the house was abandoned. an isis fighter that joined syria and studied chemistry and physics had this on his laptop and he took off and left but they got the laptop and files in it. in the files as you mention

there were instructions on how to make biological weapons and how to weaponize the plague from infected animals. one says the advantage of biological weapons is they don't cost a lot of money while human casualties will be huge. they have at least thought about this. they have maybe some designs on possibly doing this. but again, what we're told by experts is it takes a lot of technical know-how and money and facilities, labs, things like this to weaponize on this material and disperse it over a wide area. no evidence that isis has that capability. >> it reminds me of a magazine put out by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and an article entitled how to build a bomb in the kitchen of your mom. >> they do that all the time. these instruction an manuals. these were detailed files on how to make this stuff. how to make ricin. this was, again, a jihady who

studied chemistry and physics. this was a guy with some scientific and technological know how. another thing that is disturbing is in big cities in iraq like mosul and erbil, erbil is not captured by isis but mosul is. they have universities and labs. they are under the control of isis. could they get into a lab and explore this stuff? sure they could. that's what's concerning. >> mosul is the second largest city in iraq under control of isis terrorists and an army, if you will, nearly 2 million people there. a lot of sophisticated potential to do damage coming from mosul. it also shows this laptop. the progression of someone being radicalized. >> it talks about -- it shows pictures of this guy that is called mohammad s. they don't have a last time about how he was a normal guy up until about 2011. he was kind of a college student type wearing western clothes listening to western music and

things like that and then around 2011 he changed. what happened in 2011 was the arab spring in tunisia and he came under the radar of the government and they were worried about him. we don't know where he is now. it did show the progression of how he became a radical and how he changed a little bit. we'll look into this stuff in "the situation room" at 5:00 and laptop and what it shows and things they could have designs on that are disturbing. whether they have technical know how, they're a long way from that. >> thanks very much. still ahead, islamic state is not only a threat to the united states but many countries around the world. we take a closer look at the global fight to stop this radical group. eenie. meenie. miney. go.

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>> the u.s. stressed it wants to build an international coalition to fight isis. we have reports now from around the world on the reaction to the u.s. intervention. let's begin with reza sayah and

a closer look at iran's response. >> reporter: iran's official position is that it is against any kind of military intervention in iraq. iran has long had a nonintervention policy and it has used that policy to crittize past western military intervention in places like iraq and afghanistan. suggesting that the crisis in these countries only started after western military intervention. however, what makes the current crisis in iraq different is the fact that the so-called islamic state poses a threat to iran. iran's population is mostly shia. the so-called islamic state claims to be a sunni group and is across the border for iran. there's been speculation that maybe tehran and washington can team up in iraq against the islamic state. iran has rejected those claims. the fact that they remained relatively silent about recent u.s. air strikes in iran suggests that perhaps there is

tacit approve in tehran for some kind of intervention. >> there are few areas these days where russia and the united states see eye to eye but emergence of isis put them both on the same side. moscow condemns the group as ev evil. for russia, however, that common interest has its limits. moscow has warned that u.s. air strikes against isis inside syria, a key russian ally, would be a shock and escalation. >> in the fight against isis within iraq but hasn't committed to air strikes even though a recent poll suggested that the public would support that. david cameron is acting

cautiously. a year ago he tried to take military action in syria and parliament blocked it. he doesn't want to make the same mistake again. so the phrase you keep hearing is there won't be a knee-jerk reaction to isis although air strikes do remain an option. >> wolf blitzer, thank you so much. hi, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for staying with me on cnn. we begin with this. we are now one day out before september 11th. we have the president of the united states, president barack obama, preparing to tell the nation and really the whole world how he plans to hunt down a group of terrorists considered more extreme than al qaeda. i'm talking of course about isis. these militants who are carving this bloody path through the middle east and in a speech you can see here on cnn live at 9:00 eastern tonight, the president will be speaking. he'll be outlining his plan outlin a