that's a bigger challenge. >> sharon, thanks so much. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. have a fantastic weekend. i turn you over now to brianna keilar who's in "the situation room." happening now, isis triples in size, stunning revelations from the cia on the terror group's rapidly growing strength. what the u.s. and its allies are now up against. and no ransom allowed. the mother of james foley said she was warned of criminal charges if she tried to raise money to free her son. and a new controversy in ferguson after scenes like this. why no one is happy with a civilian board to oversee local police. wolf blitzer is on assignment. i'm brianna keilar. you're in "the situation room."

after fumbling for a definition, the obama administration now concedes that the united states is at war with isis. but as the u.s. scrambles to put together a coalition of nations willing to confront the terror group, there's stunning new information on the strength of this brutal enemy. u.s. intelligence calculates that isis may have tripled in size to more than 30,000 hardcore jihadists. even america's top military commander warns that airpower alone won't destroy isis, saying the u.s. will need reliable partners on the ground to do the fighting. our correspondents, analysts and guests are standing by with full coverage. and we begin with chief national security correspondent jim sciutto at the pentagon. jim? >> reporter: brianna, a new development tonight. we learned today that the u.s. will begin targeting senior leadership of isis. the spokesman for the pentagon saying this is no longer a defensive operation, it is offensive. it will more aggressive. and as they do that, they now

know that they will be facing a more formidable enemy in isis than they had estimated just a few months ago. the enormous growth of isis is, say cia officials, a product of its enormous success. as isis has swept across syria and iraq, it established an islamic state and attracted defectors from other militant groups. it has recruited sometimes forcibly now local fighters and attracted new foreign fighters. isis can now muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters, up from an older estimate of just 10,000. including hundreds of westerners, among them, a dozen or more americans. now that president obama has vowed to degrade and destroy isis, the new estimate signals a difficult fight ahead. >> presumably, it's a longer fight if you have that many more

fighters to degrade and to destroy. >> we're not just simply about degrading and destroying them, the individuals, the 20,000 to 30,000. it's about degrading and destroying their capabilities to attack targets, particularly western targets. it's about destroying their ideology. believe me, everybody here at the pentagon knows what we're up against and is taking it very seriously. >> reporter: the cia's new assessment makes clear that syria continues to be a powerful magnet for fighters from all over the world. more than 15,000 foreign fighters from more than 80 countries, at least 2,000 of whom are westerners, have flocked to syria. some to join the fight led by this man, abu bakr al baghdadi, the isis leader hasn't been a target of u.s. military air strikes yet, but with the new expanded mission, that will change. >> when you are going after a network like this, one of the things that you also want to go after is their ability to command and control and to lead their forces. >> reporter: intelligence

officials emphasize that while isis is a formidable force in numbers and fighting ability, it is still far outnumbered by the hundreds of thousands of iraqi, kurdish and soon it is hoped syrian forces aligned against it. we learned some more details today as well about those syrian forces. the other leg of this strategy, training and equipping moderate syrian rebels. we're told that the plan and the time line is to train about 5,000 of them, brianna, and hope that those fighters are ready within a year. obviously, a drop in the bucket when you're talking about a fighting force of this size. but, again, officials seins emphasizing that together, they greatly outnumber the isis fighters. >> jim sciutto, thank you very much for your report. after some confusing mixed messages, i will say, on the nature of this counterterrorism conflict and the, i guess,

strategy that the white house is pursuing, both the white house and the pentagon now say flatly that the u.s. is indeed at war with isis. let's turn to cnn white house correspondent michelle kosinski. it was this was an evolution in language that we witnessed. >> reporter: the administration has been getting this question over the last few days. each time, they would say, war isn't necessarily the word to use or shifting it more to it being more of a counterterrorism operation. but suddenly today across the board in the administration, we are hearing this agreement that, yes, the u.s. is at war against isis. the administration hasn't wanted to call this a war on isis. but is it not a war? >> ultimately this international coalition will be responsible for degrading and destroying isil. so i think what you can conclude from this is the united states is at war with isil in the same way that we are at war with al

qaeda and its al qaeda affiliates all around the globe. >> reporter: getting to that conclusion took something of a preamble. the administration clearly wants to distinguish this operation from the u.s.'s prolonged wars in iraq and afghanistan. they're always pointing to no u.s. combat boots on the ground. now today we're hearing virtually the same blalanguage m the pentagon, from the state department. that's a big change from what we were hearing only 24 hours ago from secretary of state john kerry himself and from susan rice who, when asked this very same question, answered much differently. >> is the united states at war with isis? it sure sounds from the president's speech that we are. >> i think that's the wrong terminology. >> is it fair to call it a war? >> well, wolf, i don't know whether you want to call it a war or sustained counterterrorism campaign. >> we all know that words are important. and one senior administration official told cnn the reason there has been some avoidance in

using that "w" word is they didn't want to rev up isis any more. you could say that word could panic americans and make them think that isis is a bigger threat to homeland security than the administration believes it is at this point. so then why now is everyone suddenly agreeing that the u.s. is at war? we don't really know. the administration isn't really saying why there is the change. it could be just they've gotten this question so many times, now they're willing to agree, okay, what it looks like it is, it is. but the administration keeps emphasizing that the policy, the strategy, has not changed. that over time, this will look like a sustained counterterrorism operation with broad international support, brianna. >> michelle kosinski at the white house, thank you. let's go in depth now with a pair of former top officials from the george w. bush administration. i'm joined by steven hadley, who was the president's national security adviser, and former homeland security secretary tom ridge. gentlemen, thank you so much for

being with us. i know you're champing at the bit to talk about what we just heard michelle reporting on. we were told by a senior administration official that this official, not using the war word was because the administration did not want to elevate isis. now obviously there seems to be more comfort or a need to use the word war. do you see the change as a political or a strategic decision? >> i think it's catching up with the reality. what we've seen over the last week is an increase in the rhetoric from the administration, both in terms of what the objective is, which is now to degrade and destroy, and then also in terms of what the threat is. the president's job wednesday night was to convince the american people, this is a serious threat and he's got a strategy to deal with it and that he's got the consistency and commitment to see it through. those, quite frankly, have been in question with respect to

syria where the administration had been reluctant to engage. he's had a heavy lift. you see it in change of rhetoric and in change of discussion of the threat and change in policy. i think it's a good thing. i think the president is finally on the way to where he needs to be. and wednesday night, i think he helped himself considerably. >> is that how you read the change in rhetoric? >> i think there's a natural impulse around the president's advisers to try to protect the political legacy. certainly from the campaign in '08 to today, he never wanted to be seen as a wartime president. his goal was to get america out of two wars. so to the extent, as steve said, he's really accepted the reality, it is a war. but i'll tell you this. the pilots and planes and the advisers and their families think those men and women are at war. so i think it's the appropriate term. we are at war with isis. but there's still one more dimension that the president, in my judgment, has failed to really talk about.

this is -- we're really at war against a belief system, a global jihadist movement. isis is probably the latest, greatest and most significant and muscular manifestation of that global jihad. so i'm glad he finally recognized it. this is not counterterrorism. this is not yemen. this is not somalia. this is the real deal. it's a manifestation of a larger global scourge, global jihadism. >> some of the president's supporters might say that he's reticent to use the word war because even though we're seeing support from americans to take on isis, i think there's a concern about whether he might overreach. the country is also largely war-weary. and part of that, a lot of folks will point to the fact that george w. bush went to war in iraq, there were no wmds. do you see in a way some of his reticence to use the war word coming from sort of the lasting effect of the previous

administration? >> i personally think there has to be some point in time in history where the president accepts the reality as what happened under the previous administration cannot always be turned to as the rationale or the cause, justifying the situation you are in now. he did what he said he would do. he pulled our troops out of iraq, much to the consternation of military commanders who wanted 20,000 or 30,000 people there so they could advise the iraqi army that they're going to try to reconstitute. i think america understands that this is a terrible, terrible militant, barbaric, medieval group, september it for what it is. and referring to history constantly, i think americans are beginning to see through that. >> were you surprised by this number that we're hearing, over 31,000 fighters, that isis can

muster? >> the number had been 10,000 to 15,000. this is about a doubling now to 20,000 or 30,000. i'm not surprised it's gone up because in the last few weeks, we have added intelligence assets that we did not have in iraq and looking into syria. so as we make more of an intelligence commitment, the numbers are going to get bigger. the problem with isis is not just the numbers. it has got an ideology and it is operationalizing that ideology because it actually holds territories, something al qaeda tried in iraq in 2007 and 2008. never achieved. these folks control territory. and within that territory, they have banks, they have cash, they have oil, they've got extortion. they're self-financing. and they have the romance of establishing a caliphate which makes them a magnet for extremists. this is a bigger challenge, oddly nufr, than al qaeda. and i think the american people

understand that. the polls say that. i think the president is playing catch-up. and the reason we uses the war word now is he doesn't have to convince the american people he's reluctant to go to war. he's got to convince the american people that he is committed to taking on isis. >> gentlemen, stick with me. we're going to continue our conversation about the threat that is isis in just a moment. ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪ ♪ and there's nothing good around ♪ ♪ turn around, barry ♪ i finally found the right snack ♪ [ female announcer ] fiber one. ♪ i finally found the big day?ack ♪ 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.

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who work with regional experts that's when expertise happens. mfs. because there is no expertise without collaboration. our top story, the obama administration has decided that the campaign against isis is a war and the cia says the enemy has been growing a lot bigger and stronger than previously known. we are back now with steven hadley, the former national security adviser to george w.

bush, as well as former homeland security secretary tom ridge. secretary, you, i noticed during the report where we were talking about the plan to train 5,000 syrian rebels, moderate rebels to take on isis in syria, you seemed to kind of scoff at that number. >> i think the notion that we can just suddenly assemble, according to the president's speech, this ground troop coalition with the syrian free army, with the iraqi army and with the kurds, i think there are some real challenges there. the kurds aren't going to move outside their enclave. the army -- the iraqi army that we're going to have to rebuild, this is going to be a major problem. why? because tehran is a shiite-planted government. they've been at war with the sunnis and the tribal leaders and pulling that together under the new prime minister is critical. and then the syrian free army is a work in progress. the only military that's really capable of stepping in right now

to have an immediate impact is the united states and we're certainly not going to do that. >> is that your assessment? i've been struck by the fact, steven, that i think if someone knowing your role in the bush administration, they might expect you to be more critical of president obama than you've been. you've been reticent to criticize him. >> well, i've been pushing for the last three years saying that syria needs to be addressed and if syria isn't addressed, it will get more violent, more will die, it will get more extremist, destabilize the neighbors and open the door for al qaeda. i've been saying that for three years. that's exactly what has happened. but i want to give the president his due. he has effectively changed the direction of his policy wednesday night. that's a good thing that he's done. the point that tom made earlier is exactly right. you're only going to defeat isis if you've got boots on the ground. and the only boots on the ground at this point really that are serious are iraq. iraqi security forces, sunni militia and the peshmerga. so this is going to start in iraq.

we're going to start rolling back isis in iraq. it will take a year or two, whatever. and during that time, we're going to have to build the capability we need in syria by a much more robust training program and by air strikes that keep the syrian forces at bay. now, that's what the president outlined wednesday. if he's serious about it, if he will continue to talk to the american people about it and if he will implement and execute an effective program, we're going to be on the road to attack isis. so i want to support the president's decision. but at the end of the day, the proof in the pudding will be whether it continues to be a priority and whether he really implements and executes the strategy. >> we've been learning from sources that some of the isis fighters or isis commanders, i should say, were former generals under saddam hussein, pre-invasion. when you look at that, in a way, has the u.s. created this

problem itself? what do you think? >> it is an aftermath of the strategy undertaken many, many years ago. it's only part of it. this is a very -- the ideology of the global jihad is attracting a lot of people in from western europe. and the fact of the matter is that they do have military training. but the fact of the matter is also that they've got a lot of their weapons because the iraqi army that needs to be rebuilt abandoned them at mosul and ran away from the fight. so we can talk a little bit about a few of the baathist generals being involved in their strategy, involved in tactics. but if we think we're going to rely on the iraqi army to muscle up and make a real difference in the immediate future, i think it's somewhat elusive. the kurds aren't coming out of their bubble. it's going to take a long time to deal with the syrian free army.

>> a quick final word from you? >> we are going to have to -- iraq was stable in 2008, 2009, 2010. it is not stable now because of what happened in syria and because of some bad decisions by prime minister maliki. the elements of getting this back on track under the new unity government there, it needs intelligence, training, air strikes and it is going to require u.s. special forces on the ground to knit these forces up that tom ridge was talking about. and that's going to be the next decision for the president. >> we'll see when that comes and what his decision is. steven hadley, thank you so much. and former secretary of homeland security department, tom ridge. thank you. good to see both of you. thank you so much. coming up, no ransom allowed. the mother of murdered isis hostage jim foley tells cnn that she was warned of criminal charges if she tried to raise money to free her son.

and after incidents like this, a new move to reduce tensions in ferguson, missouri, may instead be raising tensions. you're in "the situation room."

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new questions are being asked about whether the united states should pay ransom for hostages held by isis. today, secretary of state john kerry among others is weighing in about a shocking claim by the mother of jim foley, one of the pamericas beheaded by isis terrorists. in an exclusive interview with cnn, diane foley says, u.s. officials threatened her family

with criminal charges if they gave in to the terrorists' demands to pay ransom for her son. cnn justice correspondent pamela brown is here. you've been speaking to obama administration officials about this. what are they telling you? >> u.s. officials who were directly involved in the foley case say that essentially they were shocked by this idea that any government official would threaten the foley family as they were trying to get their loved one back. in fact, today secretary of state john kerry said he was taken aback by the claims. in her new interview with cnn, james foley's mother says she was threatened by government officials, that she would be prosecuted if she raised money to free her kidnapped son. >> we were told we could not raise ransom, that it was illegal, we might be prosecuted. >> threatening someone with a criminal prosecution when they're trying to save their child is not only in my opinion reprehensible, it's also counterproductive. >> reporter: today, secretary of state john kerry says he's unaware of any official

suggesting criminal charges. >> i am totally unaware and would not condone anybody that i know of within the state department making such a statement. so i don't know about it. >> reporter: brian cunningham is a former prosecutor and cia officer. he says government officials are supposed to help advise families of hostages. >> in my experience, not actually tried to criminalize the process of private citizens paying ransom. no prosecutor in their right mind, no matter their motivation, is going to bring that case. >> reporter: but overnight, the national security council said, the law is clear that ransom payments to designated individuals or entities such as isil are prohibited. doing so would only put more americans at risk of being taken captive. diane foley says the u.s. needed to do more to rescue her son. sources say it wasn't the first time foley had been kidnapped. a few years ago, libyan captors

released him. >> the president was so convinced that this was a priority, that he ordered a high-risk mission. unfortunately, despite the way in which that mission was executed, that is to say successfully, it did not end in the release of mr. foley. >> reporter: while diane foley says she is not blaming the u.s. government, she says the fact that her son is now dead is proof something needs to change. >> he was sacrificed because of just a lack of coordination, a lack of communication, a lack of prioritization. as a family, we had to find our way through this on our own. >> and part of the challenge for law enforcement officials with hostage situations is that they can't share everything they know with the families of hostages.

but that's little solace for the foley family who were just trying to get their loved one back. >> no solace at all. pam, thank you so much. let's get more perspective on this from tom fuentes, former assistant director of the fbi and most importantly in this case, tom, you actually ran the fbi program that is in charge of personnel recovery or would be in charge of recovering people like jim foley. you hear this claim from diane foley where she's saying her family was threatened with criminal action if they were to try to raise a ransom. i think some people have even talked in certain cases about almost -- i don't want to say crowd funding but trying to fund-raise from other places to do this. when you hear that, what is your thought? is that possible that it came from the fbi? >> no, my thought was that possibly the policy changed from the time i left because when i was there, it was the policy of the fbi to not interfere. if a family wanted to pay the ransom or raise ransom money,

they could do so and the fbi would not obstruct it. it took a neutral position with the family with regard to that. now, we know it's u.s. government policy to not pay ransom. but that's different for the family. they can pay it if they want to or are able to. so i checked with executives today to verify that that policy had not changed and that in this particular case, that they were involved in -- that the fbi did not threaten. that's an important distinction to make here, not to throw stones at another government agency. but the fbi takes a lead in a case like this, needs to have the lead, needs to have the trust of the families, needs to have the trust of the people out there, to work with the fbi. and if this is misconstrued that somehow if you get involved with the fbi, they're going to threaten you with prosecution, that's just not true. >> hewe're hearing from both th foley family and the sotloff family. steven sotloff was beheaded after jim foley by isis. they say the administration

hasn't done enough. how much of this is do you think a family grieving, which they are, the loss must be unbearable? but how much is it maybe the u.s. not using all the resources that it could? >> the sad part of this is that there is so much going on behind the scenes -- i was directly involved in this. there is so much going on that nobody's ever going to see, they're not going to methodology employed to try to get people back. if we look at the curtis case being held in syria and being released by al nusra, in that case, you see the extensive involvement of the fbi behind the scenes, the government of qatar, other governments involved, working with partners in the region to try to get him released. and in the case of foley and sotloff, the government tried to rescue them. so there's a lot going on that unfortunately the family is not going to see. >> tom fuentes, thank you so much for your insight. next, we are looking beyond today's argument about whether the u.s. is at war with isis.

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30,000 fighters. let's go in depth now with cnn political commentator peter beinart as well as paul crookshank here with us in washington and nicholas christo christoph. nicholas, you wrote a piece, it is called -- the headline, it grabs you "critique from on obama fan" is what it is. you talk about obama's syria policy being a, quote, mess and that he's been painfully passive. do you think that he can recover from here and sort of move on in a productive way? >> i don't know. we'll see. frankly one of my concerns is that he'll go from excess passivity to excess engagement. and there are real risks ahead at every step of the way with air strikes, with arming various factions in syria. so i think that that prudence

that has held him back, i hope that he continues to follow through with that and that he doesn't get kind of pushed by a lot of the critiques that he's getting into being too engaged. i think he's right to go after isis. but he needs to do it with eyes wide open. >> did you read from his speech -- and sort of just the tone we've been seeing coming from the white house has changed from saying it's not a war to it is a war. are you reading that as from your perspective sort of overdoing, overengaging? >> i think the right prism through which to see this is a counterterrorism initiative. so he made the comparison of what they're doing in yemen, for example. i think that is what we're likely to be able to do. we may be able to degrade isis. when he talks about defeating it, when he talks about war, i'm a little concerned he's going to raise expectations and get

engaged in a way that we really can't deliver. the bush administration started an effort against a little group in the philippines and they tried -- we haven't defeated the taliban yet. it's a lot harder to do these things. and isis is in an area the size of the uk. if we try too hard, we can create a backlash and create more harm than good. >> peter, you've been looking at this threat that isis poses. give it to us in real terms and tell us as some people are saying that this may be overhyped. >> well, there's a striking discrepancy actually between the words that obama used in his speech and a lot of what we're hearing out of congress. obama said, we don't have any evidence of plots from isis so far and he said, used the word "could" twice. he said some of the western fighters gone there could return and launch attacks.

that's very different from what some senators have said that it's a greater threat than al qaeda was before september 11th. there's a big discrepancy there. and what's happened, since the beheadings, some in congress have escalated the rhetoric beyond where any credible terrorism expert that i've heard suggests that it is. i'm not saying we don't have something to be concerned about, vis-a-vis, isis, we do. but i think the greater threat is to the region and to the people of iraq and syria than to the american homeland. >> let's talk to a credible terrorism expert, then. paul, when you see -- what do you see the real threat of isis being? >> it's a potential future threat, not a current threat. they haven't launched any plots against the west. they haven't even explicitly promised attacks against the west. but this is a group with frightening capability. 1,000 european recruits in its ranks, some americans, training camps on a scale last seen in taliban.

bomb makers who could potentially train western recruits. there's a lot of concern that down the road, they could plot very major terrorist attacks. from a european point of view, it's sort of intolerable to have a potential terrorist state on the southern shores of the mediterranean. >> is there a case to be made for getting ahead of the threat? >> absolutely. getting ahead of the threat, being more intensive in the action to prevent them now from trying to launch attacks in retaliation. >> what do you think about that, nicholas, getting ahead of the threat? >> it's certainly better to be ahead of it. i do think that there is some legitimate threat to the u.s. and europe from terrorism. there may be as many as 300 americans as jihadis in syria, many of them with isis. and we have to be concerned about them coming back. little promising that isis seems to be deploying them on the battlefield and willing to let them get killed there rather than wanting to send them back. but that's the potential threat.

the much greater threat is that isis is slaughtering people in iraq, in syria. it's engaged in mass rape and attempted genocide against the yazidis. so this is a humanitarian catastrophe that also has a real security and terrorism risk. >> and do you get a sense, peter -- i know you said you supported the iraq war the first go-around. and you were wrong, you say. are you worried, knowing that, and do you feel like there's any possibility that that could be happening here where a lot of people are supporting this and maybe it's not the right move? >> i think it's very unlikely that we would get sucked into anything of that scale. and i think that's partly because public opinion has shifted so radically from where we were back then. and i also think it's because of president obama. i think that president obama

retains that caution that nick was talking about. although he's move to a more aggressive posture than he had a few weeks ago, partly because i think he genuinely believes it and partly because of very changed political climate, my guess is we're going to see a much more aggressive campaign on the iraq side of the border where the u.s. actually has some real allies. and a significant degree of caution, at least in the beginning, on the syria side. not to say there won't be strikes in syria. but i would be really surprised if the united states starts going willy-nilly into syria until we have a much better sense of the free syrian army and our allies. >> we'll be looking certainly to see if that is the case. a lot of questions, gentlemen. peter, nicholas, paul, thank you so much to all of you. next, why experts are condemning a new proposal to heal the anger and distrust between the people of ferguson, missouri, and their local police. and later, it's more than a flash of light. we'll explain why a huge

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an important new effort to ease tensions in ferguson, missouri may be doing just the opposite. in the wake of incidents such as the ferguson policeman pointing his gun at demonstrators using profanity, or perhaps the heavy handed use of tear gas and stun guns on crowds protesting the michael brown shooting, citizens demanded some kind of police oversight and now the los angeles times is reporting that ferguson city council is studying such a proposal.

but here's the thing. the paper quotes experts who say the board would be so weak, it's insulting. joining us are naacp board member john gaskin and the huffington post's ryan riley. john, what's your reaction that the police oversight is insulting? certainly i think you have -- there's both perspectives. i'm sure police are not thrilled about the oversight, and then some people feel as if it's too little. what are you thinking? >> right. so as i've mentioned, and i'm very familiar with that article in "the l.a. times." it is a step in the right direction. but i can also understand where many people are coming from. it is very weak. there are a lot of details that need to be sorted out in terms of how these types of complaints will be filed, what that process is. at the meeting, very little details were given regarding this board as to who can sit on

it, what type of qualifications they will need, how these people will be elected. as we talk with people that are familiar with these types of boards, for example in detroit, will there be a charter for this type of board so there's some type of written regulation or written authority so that they have some type of authority in terms of oversight to repeal these types of measures. because like i mentioned, there are an awful lot of questions on how this board will function, and how they deal with complaints and will they have the power to actually reverse anything or change policies and truly deal with complaints that people bring to the forefront. >> is there going to be teeth in this? ryan, you saw it firsthand in ferguson. what do you think about this police board, what needs to be done and what's being proposed? >> sure. one of the issues is it only effects ferguson. there are a number of small police departments in that area and there's also the county. so in order to hold police accountable for their action,

it's going to have to extend beyond ferguson. and in general, the civilian review boards run the gamete. in new york city, they fade people on the board and they have subpoena power and investigative power. but often they won't take the recommendations that those boards come up with. ferguson is a small town, so they won't have any sort of paid position. but lit be interesting to see how this plays out. >> the huffington post, for which you work, has done something that is very unique, which is essentially crowd funding a reporter position of someone from that area to keep this story, i guess, really sort of in the forefront, to continue to cover this story for a year. you've raised $40,000 to pay for the salary and huffington post kicks in the insurance. tell us about this effort and how you came to sort of be a part of get thing done.

>> yeah, this is a very important project i think we've seen readers show a lot of interest on. i don't know if there could have been a ton of commercial benefit, but this wasn't something maybe in our normal editorial budget. everyone has a limited budget, but this is a special edition we thought was very important to cover this, because there's going to be so much happening in that community over the next year. >> all right. we'll be talking to you, john, as we continue to see really how the community there also keeps this issue and the police oversight and just wanting to be heard there in the forefront. john gaskin joining us from ferguson, as well as ryan riley with the huffington post. if your favorite electronic gadgets start acting squirrely tomorrow, it may not be their fault. blame, uh-huh, the sun. earth is about to be hit by the

fallout by not one but two solar flares. the huge eruptions on the sun seen and measured by satellites this week. all of that energy is heading straight for us. earth's magnetic field will deflect most of it, but there is a chance it could damage satellites, interfere with gps, airliners, radio and knock out entire power dprids. if the power goes out, we have warned you. coming up, george zimmerman is allegedly involved in a road rage incident. te is jump-starti business with startup-ny. an unprecedented program that partners businesses with universities across the state. for better access to talent, cutting edge research, and state of the art facilities. and you pay no taxes for ten years. from biotech in brooklyn, to next gen energy in binghamton, to manufacturing in buffalo... startup-ny has new businesses popping up across the state. see how startup-ny can help your business grow at startup.ny.gov

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happening now, declarations oh of war. u.s. officials scramble to clarify their muddled message about america's newest fight against terror. >> the united states is at war with isil. >> make no mistake, we know we are at war with isil. >> plus, george zimmerman's new run-in with the law. the man who killed trayvon martin is accused of threatening to shoot a driver. we have the 911 call. and sarah palin making headlines with her family at a party. she and her family reportedly were involved in a brawl with booze flowing and fists flying. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is on assignment. i'm breanna keeler. you're in "the situation room."

first this hour, u.s. forces are scoping out isis targets in iraq and syria with new authority to take out leaders of the prosecutal terror group along with their army of fighters. the cia estimates isis forces have troubled, maybe tripled in size. this is 48 hours after president obama launched a new offensive against isis that u.s. officials are now openly calling a war. we have correspondents and analysts standing by to bring you all the new developments here in the united states and around the world. first, though, to our white house correspondent michelle kaczynski. quite an evolution today in what administration officials are call this conflict. >> right, especially since this administration has been so careful to be sure to not call what the u.s. has been doing and planning a war. now today we heard it for the first time that, yes, the u.s. is at war against isis.

it looks like a war, sounds like a war. on the ground, if not in the messaging lately. except for today. >> the administration hasn't wanted to call this a war. >> we are at war with isis the same way we are with al qaeda. >> reporter: virtually the same words from the pentagon today. >> make no mistake, we know we are at war with isil in the same way we're at war and continue to be with war with al qaeda and affiliates. >> the state department. >> so we are at war with isil the same way we are at war with al qaeda. >> reporter: but a day ago we heard this from the secretary of state. >> is the united states at war with ice snsiisis? >> i think that's the wrong terminology. >> reporter: the president made no mention of it, though he

said -- >> we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil. >> is it fair to call it a war? >> i don't know whether you want to call it a war or sustained counterterrorism campaign. i think frankly this is a counterterrorism operation that will take time. >> reporter: one senior administration official told cnn the reason they've avoided saying the w word is concern it would only rev up isis even more and the administration wants to distinction this operation from the u.s.' prolonged wars in iraq and afghanistan, always pointing to no u.s. combat boots on the ground. >> this is not the united states against isil. the fact is, isil has indicated that they're ready to go to war against the world. and this president, as is expected of american presidents, is stepping up to lead an international coalition to confront that threat and to deny

isil a safe haven. >> reporter: but one the administration says will look like over time a sustained counterterrorism operation. do the words matter? of course they do. they affect things like support and public opinion. the administration so carefully chooses its verbiage and descriptions and repeats it. right now they're not staying why the change. but they say the mission, the strategy, has not changed. >> michelle kaczynski at the white house, thank you. we're learning more about america's war against isis and the strength of the terror group. let's bring in our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. when we hear about the, i guess, taking on the threat of al qaeda, it's been conquering core al qaeda or taking out the leadership. so when it comes to isis, what is really the plan here? are we learning new things about this? >> in a way big picture wise in the scale of war and war

fighting, we're somewhere in the middle between the iraq and afghan invasions and the anti-al qaeda war you've seen since then. air strikes, drone strikes in afghanistan, al qaeda core, pakistan, al shabab in somalia, aqap in yemen. it's going to be more robust than that but not a ground invasion. one thing we learned today is that they are going to talk senior isis leadership, which is a tactic that they've used against al qaeda and al shabab through drone strikes. you're also going to have a more sustained air campaign. in the last month, you have had 150 something air strikes in iraq against isis. that's more than you've had in a number of years in yemen or somalia. but it's far from an iraq-like invasion. >> we just heard from the former secretary of homeland security, tom ridge, under george w. bush during the iraq war. he was talking about how at some

point there needs to be some boots on the ground, because from air strikes, if the goal is to destroy and not degrade, you can degrade from the air he says, destroy on the ground. when you're talking to administration officials, what do they say about that? >> you have the line from the former cia director who said, it's like casual sex. >> he said gratification, but there's no commitment. >> this is part of the reason secretary kerry is in the region. whose boots on the ground will it be? they may want jordanian special forces want to take part, but you haven't seen that commitment yet. i'll tell you what others say to me, they say one, you do already have forces on the ground in iraq. you have 200,000 iraqi military, 20,000 peshmerga forces.

but inside syria, we learned from the pentagon, both the scale and the timeline of this train and equip mission, so these moderate syrian rebels they're going to train and arm et cetera, it's going to be about 5,000 over the course of a year. that's a drop in the bucket. >> we've heard that. it is not much. jim, thank you so much. an isis recruiter is revealing some of the tactics being used to lure hundreds to the fight, including americans. >> new information tonight from that'sis recruiter who tells a chilling story. isis is "the hottest ticket in the jihadi community." he's a 30-year-old with dangerous networking skills. said to be a key recruiter for isis. he's a french national, just handed over to the french by

turkish officials. >> translator: he was on the ground from july 2013 until this august. >> reporter: in an interview, he talked about the people he lured to jihad. two young ones from taluse. a 16-year-old girl and many others. how do they get teenagers to join groups like isis? >> they look for teenagers who are unsatisfied with their life and they're unsatisfied with their prospects. they offer a sense of belonging. the whole idea that you are a jihadist, that you are part of this heroic community. >> reporter: a cia source more than 15,000 foreign fighters have joined various jihadist groups in syria. of those, hundreds of westerners are fighting for isis, including a dozen or more americans. videos showing other westerners who have joined a powerful draw. this video shows a man identified as an american.

saying, join the fight. sg >> please, all believers, come, come as soon as possible. >> reporter: officials tell cnn isis targets disgruntled sunni muslims and kids from poor neighborhoods. are they paid to night >> after you pass their vetting and they are convinced that you are a genuine recruit, then you formally become a member of isis and you do get a salary. >> reporter: once in the fold, part of the experience can be oddly civilized. one smuggler for isis said he would pick up foreign recruits at the airport like a chauffeur. >> he would stand in the arrival staal and hold a sign with a jihadi's name on it and drive them to the border to be smuggled in. >> reporter: one reason groups like isis have advanced recruiting tactics is because they have a hard time holding on

to foreign recruits. many end up leaving. a key reason is they get worn down by the infighting. they just get tired of the infighting between those groups, always battling it out. >> some of them can't handle it, they panic. >> one anecdote we got, the smuggler he talked to talked about one recruit who became convinced he was being kidnapped and he hid from them before they brought him back. an american panicked when a syrian town came under attack. this american wandered off aimlessly in the town in hysterics and they found him and brought him back. it was this holy cow moment when they get there and realize what they're up against. >> yeah, because it's very serious. maybe it's more than they bargained for. brian todd, thank you.

secretary of state john kerry is sounding confident that the u.s. will be able to form a broad coalition against isis, but is a key u.s. ally holding back? our correspondents are traveling with kerry and we're joined live from the capital of turkey, which tells you a little bit about the country we're talking about. catch us up. >> reporter: today, secretary kerry announced that retired general john allen will be serving as the coordinator of this international effort to combat isis. he played a big role in the sunni awakening in iraq and he really knows the leaders of the region. but just who is doing what in this global coalition is far from clear. secretary kerry came to turkey seeking support from a pivotal partner in the fight against isis. >> in the coalition, there are many ways turkey can help in this effort and we'll continue our conversations with our

military and other experts spending time to define the specific role that turkey will play. >> reporter: bordering iraq and syria, turkey would be an ideal place to base u.s. strikes. but with isis holding 49 turkish government employees hostage, the foreign minister spoke only about "challenges and threats in the region." on thursday, kerry met with ten arab nations. the u.s. wants them to join a global coalition to go after isis. after the talks, the country's "agreed to do their share in the comprehensive fight against the militants but few made specific commitments." neighboring jordan already hosts a small cia program to train syrian rebels. but has been silent about requests to stage war operations there. u.s. officials say availablia, which hosted thursday's talks, has volunteered to train syrian

opposition on its soil, but when asked, the foreign minister was vague. >> saudi arabia has always taken initiatives against terrorists. so there is no limit to what the kingdom can provide in this regard. >> the u.s. also wants arab states to cut financing to isis, which secretary kerry said was a focus of the strategy in an interview with cnn. you call saudi arabia a great partner in this coalition and praised the work of the kingdom. yet saudi support and financing for radical islam over the years is widely seen as part of the problem. >> have they supported certain idealogical point of views? sure. that's different from supporting overt terror and the kinds of activities here. >> reporter: syria wants to take part in the coalition, even though the u.s. faults president assad's bloody crackdown on his people as a root cause of isis rise. >> we are ready to be part of

any coalition against terrorism. >> reporter: and it's unclear what role iran could play. there's been some talk that perhaps iran could take part in this conference in france next week. countries that will be working in the coalition, secretary kerry said with iranian troops in syria and the role it plays in sponsoring terrorism around the region, iran should not be in this conference. he's also trying to balance other issues with iran. he's trying to push through that nuclear deal and trying not to antagonize congress. >> elise traveling with secretary kerry. thank you. let's bring in cnn military analysts retired lieutenant general mark hurtling. general, when you hear that, a country like turkey not allowing the u.s. to use their air basis, how damaging is this for the

u.s. to be able to call this a coalition? >> it's frustrating. the comment made about general john allen, one hell of a marine, a great intellectual and a guy that has a lot of experience in this region, not only in iraq, but he commanded the international security assistance force in afghanistan. >> and you know him well. so tell us a little bit -- tell us about your personal experience with him and why you think he's the man for the job. >> we were both in the national war college together. he's a great guy, super guy. huge intellect. we were also together in iraq. he was in the west where the marines were and i was in the north. we coordinated a lot of border issues and took the fight together against the enemy. but what's interesting. when he commanded an i-staff, he was linked to nato. he was spending a significant amount of time in europe getting the partners that contributed forces to the international security assistance force in

afghanistan to contribute more, to continue with their efforts, to build the isaf coalition. so he knows the middle east. he's going to be the guy that talks to the governments, talks to the militaries, and then he has the additional added benefit or knowing what's needed on the ground. so when alliance partners offer things, he'll be able to determine are these the right things we need or do we say, how about some special forces or some intelligence. so he's able to dilute that. >> so he's the guy to certainly coordinate a coalition, that seems clear. but you need to form the coalition first, and there needs to be buy-in. president obama, this is his main goal right now and what secretary kerry is doing. one contributor said so many of these count tries are sitting around happy for the u.s. to do the heavy lifting. how does secretary kerry get past that?

>> what will be interesting to watch is secretary kerry will use state department language. jon allen will probably use marine language as they go into these various countries. there's going to be a dual effort of different pressures from both the diplomat and the military guy. both of them wearing suits and applying pressure to say you've talked the talk, now let's walk the walk. i think that will be powerful. the coalition will be tough to build. there's also the issue, as it is built, who is going to command it and what forces are going to be placed where. coalition or alliance warfare is an extremely difficult thing. we have a lot of experience with it over the last 10 years and more experience throughout our history. but it's tough and it's going to be tougher here, because you have european members, members from other continents, members from the middle east. it's going to be a tough coalition to put together. then you have to act once the coalition is together. >> the arms are twisting in the middle east, i will say. general, thank you so much.

>> very welcome. still ahead, george zimmerman is accused of violent behavior, again, more than two years after he killed trayvon martin. stand by for if 911 recording of a man saying zimmerman threatened his life. sarah palin's family went to a party that got out of control. we're digging into allegations with a drunken brawl with one of the palins throwing a punch. you'll be surprised who. (vo) if you have type 2 diabetes, you may know what it's like to deal with high... and low blood sugar. januvia (sitagliptin) is a once-daily pill that, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar. januvia works when your blood sugar is high and works less when your blood sugar is low, because it works by enhancing your body's own ability to lower blood sugar. plus januvia, by itself, is not likely to cause weight gain or low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). januvia should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes

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well, she's not officially a candidate, but she's doing everything that a white house hopeful should, and that includes an appearance this weekend at a key event in a critical state for any democrat who is running for president. hillary clinton is returning to iowa. hillary clinton has been a

presidential candidate before. nowadays, she's laughing along with the joke. at a friday service for poet maya angelou. >> next i would like to thank the amazing speakers and some decision dignitaries. first and foremost, madame pr -- excuse me. >> reporter: this weekend she returns to iowa since her stunning defeat to barack obama in the 2008 caucuses. >> we're going to get up tomorrow and keep pushing as hard as we can. >> reporter: the hark and steak fry, posted by the democratic senator, is a must on the checklist for any democrat with presidential aspirations. but for clinton, iowa is the state that hobbled her white house ambitions right out of the gate. >> she is as commanding a front-runner as we've had in the primary system. but a lot of democrats don't want her to take it for grant

it, and iowa is a reminder of the risks if you do. so she has to begin to show democrats that this is not something that she's expected to be handing to her. >> reporter: clinton last spoke here in 2007, along with the rest of the democratic presidential field. >> what we're doing today is building a new field of dreams for the country we love. >> reporter: this time she's headlining with her husband, paying homage to harken and his final steak fry after three decades in the senate. to public life this summer with a book tour and many stumbles. >> we came out of the white house dead broke and in debt. >> reporter: a new cnn poll has her going into iowa with a huge lead among registered democrats.

>> let's get more now with gloria borger, ryan lizza, and washington correspondent for "the new yorker" and maggie haberman in new york. the wheels came off for hillary clinton in iowa in 2008. >> she hasn't been back in more than 2,000 days. she had a phobia about iowa in the 2008 campaign. it was very problematic for her. this has been discussed at length that that is where she lost the primary. she does need to show she's willing to work for it. this weekend is where the whole issue about her front-runner status stops being theoretical and becomes very in practice. how she sounds, what she says, how hard she leans into the idea of running or does she basically do the minimum? i think that she's going to have to show some leg, so to speak,

about either acknowledging she's had a tough time in iowa before or she's seriously learning towards running or something. but just keeping it safe and about tom harken is going to be tough. >> doesn't she need to go in with humility here, right? >> she will. i bet she will. she has to sort of drop the veneer. that's what iowans did not like about her the last time around. she's now, as you know, talking more about being a woman and the difficulties women politicians face. so she's trying to kind of do that. i think just by going to iowa, obviously they want to honor tom harken, whom they've known for decades. by just by going to iowa means that something and it means that she's a candidate who is going to take it seriously. >> i think the question for her is the expectations. frankly, the last cycle, the

first trip to iowa, there's a lot more hoopla. the way she's trying to enter this race is a little more gradually, not to -- the bigger she is, the sort of harder she will fall as a candidate. the big disadvantage she has is she really doesn't know who her opponent is or if there's going to be a credible opponent. i think she doesn't know -- that means she doesn't know where her messaging is. she doesn't know if it's an anti-war challenge or someone who will challenge her from the left yet. so everything is in a holding pattern right now. >> how important is this appearance? the folks close to her will say she's there to honor tom harken. but to maggie's point, this is a big deal. >> it is, because as maggie pointed out, she didn't do well here last time around. this was a real problem for her, and these people all feel hike they knew her and now they're

getting reintroduced to her and they have to like her more than they did last time around. the quell the last time around was not whether she was smart enough or she was competent enough. the question is whether they liked her and they didn't. >> this an opportunity for everybody in the press to remind everyone about her faults. iowa was the place where all of her faults came out. it was the place where obama beat her. so she's going to have to deal with that every time she goes back there. >> isn't part of it, she needs to connect. this is one speech we expect she may just be in and out in iowa. but one of the things that then senator obama did is he just put in a little more time to get to know people in a real retail politic kind of way that she didn't. >> no question about that. to another point made earlier about how she doesn't know how to craft a message because she doesn't know what she's running against yet. she also has not -- doesn't have a campaign yet.

i'm not saying that as a euphemism. i expect she's running and i believe everything she's doing indicates that. but she does not have any kind of a messaging, large campaign style apparatus around her. she's not had a message this book tour, so i don't think we're going to have that for a time. what's going to be helpful to her, she's going to introduce her husband and i think that's going to help enormously to the point you're making about connecting. i think that it eliminates questions how she relates to her husband and it's going to sort of ease into the person who is a better cam papaigner and that i bill clinton. >> bill clinton, he is a better campaign, but he was a liability for her in 2008. >> he was a liability for her. he's learned a lot since that time. he will's the great explainer, as we know, from the way he helped barack obama. to maggie's point, he's going to

be the message chief in iowa at least. and if hillary clinton doesn't give the political speech, i guaranty you bill clinton will. >> i know i said jump in, but there's one topic i need your input on. that's mark sanford. he wrote let's call it a diatribe. this is on facebook. he's ranting about his legal battle with his ex-wife, buried in the most. we learned he's broken up with his mistress. he's in congress now. what do you guys think about this? this is a little crazy, right? >> maggie, gloria? >> thanks, ryan. so nice of you. >> i think he's in the market for a new soul mate. he's broken up with his last one and his wife is suing him again. i don't think we all need to know about it. >> he's a very modern person. we live in the era of sharing. >> oversharing. >> 2400 words is a lot.

>> you know that, maggie. >> 2400 words is like double a news story. it definitely has an overshare feel to it. however, he has gotten elected against some pretty amazing odds. so i wouldn't bet against him. but this just continues to be such a drama and playing out so publicly. >> i don't understand why he feels that his constituents absolutely need to know about his ex-wife's third law suit against him or the fact that he broke up with his soul mate. >> they may not blame her for that lawsuit. >> i was about to say. >> all right, ryan, gloria, maggie, great conversation. thank you so much. >> thank you. just ahead, another run-in with the law for the man acquitted in the death of trayvon martin. you'll hear the 911 call accusing george zimmerman of

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>> reporter: the palin's reality show on tlc features the family dog. target shooting. and caribou hunting. but according to blogger amanda coyne, who broke the story out of alaska, reality may be a lot more interesting. >> i would describe it as a big brawl, as a lot of people and other people were there describing it as a big brawl. >> reporter: it allegedly happened here at a joint birthday party in this neighborhood. sarah palin, her husband todd and children bristol willow and track, pulled up in a stretch hummer limo together. it was todd's 50th birthday, so he was one of those the party was celebrating. >> track approached one of willow palin's ex-boyfriends and got into some sort of scuffle with him. then todd palin somehow got involved in that scuffle. that was broken up. willow and bristol started

approaching the family of the ex-boyfriend. bristol, witnesses say, began to punch the owner of the house in the face. >> reporter: coyne talked to self-eyewitnesss, including eric thompson who said this -- >> bristol just reached back and started clocking him. she reached way back here and caught him in the chin. i counted at least six times. >> sarah palin herself, according to witnesses, got involved and tried to get into the middle of the brawl and was screaming and yelling. >> reporter: cnn cannot independently confirm that the palins were involved in the melee. but the police say the family was there, telling us just before midnight, police responded to a report of a verbal and physical altercation, taking place between multiple subjects outside of a residence. alcohol was believed to have been a factor in the incident.

some of the palin family members were in attendance. the palin family has not commented on the alleged incident, despite cnn's numerous attempts to reach out to them. sarah palin did post on her facebook page the next day, but made no mention of the party. she says, i was traveling yesterday, so i'm posting todd's 50th birthday greeting a day late. which is fine, because he barely looks a day over 50. police tell us at the time of the incident, none of the involved parties wanted to press charges, and no arrests were made. just ahead, another run-in with the law for the man acquitted in the death of trayvon martin. you'll hear the 911 call accusing george zimmerman of road rage. so what we're looking for is a way to "plus" our accounting firm's mobile plan. and "minus" our expenses. perfect timing. we're offering our best-ever pricing on mobile plans for business. run the numbers on that. well, unlimited talk and text, and ten gigs of data for the five of you would be...

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george zimmerman has had another run-in with the law more than two years after he shot and killed trayvon martin. a man told police zimmerman threatened to shoot him, and we have the 911 call as well as the details about the incident in florida. what happened? >> reporter: the caller told 911 zimmerman threatened to shoot him dead, and even though the man says he did not see zimmerman flash a gun, he was still threatened enough and worried enough to call police. >> i was in my car, rapping to myself with my windows up. i looked over and it's george zimmerman was the driver. and they were threatening to kick my [ bleep ] and to shoot

me. >> reporter: that 911 call made to police by a man who says george zimmerman threatened him from his car tuesday. two days later, police stopped zimmerman after that same man called 911 to say he thought he saw zimmerman near his office. this dash cam video shows an officer taking zimmerman's gun. the 30-year-old appears relaxed, at times smiling, while he talks to officers. the police report says zimmerman told him he was in the area for an appointment. he also admitted to being involved in a verbal incident earlier in the week but denied threatening anyone. >> we the jury find george zimmerman not guilty. >> reporter: this is the late nest a string of incidents involving zimmerman since his acquittal last year in the shooting death of trayvon martin. in november, zimmerman walls arrested and charged in florida for allegedly pointing a gun at his then girlfriend samantha shooify during an argument. charges were not filed.

last year, police in texas and in florida stopped zimmerman for speeding, and in september of 2013, zimmerman's estranged wife, shelly, called 911 saying zimmerman had threatened her and her father. no charges were filed in that case either. now, as you saw in the video from this week's incident, police did talk to zimmerman, but he was not arrested. they say because the alleged victim does not want to pursue any charges. >> thank you so much. we have breaking news next. an nfl star charged with felony injury to a child. we're learning details of a new nfl scandal. but first, impact your world. here's how one hollywood star is doing it. >> it's so basic. water is the only thing that everybody needs. >> actress kristen bell says she was alarmed to learn that

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impacting someone you don't know is such a next level karma of paying it forward. my mom taught me you had two hands for a reason, one is yours, one is to help. (woman) the constipation and belly pain feel tight like a vise. how can i ease this pain?

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his lawyer has just released a statement saying that adrian disciplined him "in the manner that he was with police.

>> and this is another big problem for a league that had huge problems. >> and the vikings have deactivated peterson, whatever that means. we're still i guess trying to figure that out. >> it means he won't play this week. >> he won't play this week. >> but that is so -- what happens in the long-term. there will be something, i imagine and do you think he will face tougher legal consequences

because of what we've seen with ray rice. >> this just happened this afternoon and i think it is certainly appropriate for him not to play this weekend. and everybody has to figure out what is going on. i think one of the problems is that the nfl has a sort of general policy, but it does not have a specific policy of what happens if you are charged with a felony, what happens if you are charged with a crime of violence? what happens if you are convicted but have a conviction on appeal? these are situations where some people are playing, some people are not. as we have discussed, there are several people with pending charges of domestic violence against them who are playing as we speak. so the nfl needs to inform the fans and certainlyin form the players of what the standards are. in the meantime, it is certainly appropriate that adrian peterson, for, by the way, for people who are not sports fans, is the best player in the entire

national football league, he will not play in the league. >> he is certainly one of the best running backs in the league. and you make an excellent point about the arbitrary standards and that is the problem roger goodell got into with the ray rice situation. and for years they have said they need more consistency and roger goodell set himself up at george and -- himself up as judge and jury. and then his judgment has come into major question in the ray rice case and will come under scrutiny here, depending on what happens coming forward. >> i want to go on further. rachel, you did a great interview with floyd mayweather. he will make more than $40 million this weekend despite domestic abuse problems. >> why should fans root for you with this kind of history, you

went to jail for the mother of your three children showed some bruising and the children gave them a detailed description of the abuse. there is documentation. >> once again, no pictures, just hearsay and allegations. and i signed a plea bargain, so once again, not true. >> are we really supposed to believe all of these women are lying, including the incidents when there are witnesses like your own kids? >> everybody is entitled to their opinions. when it is all said and done, only god can judge me. >> that is not a contrite person at all, assuming something happened here. does the whole sports world have these issues and we're ignoring them until we see some horrible video that makes everybody pay attention? >> it is not fair to paint everybody with a broad brush. the vast people who operate in sports are law-abiding, up

standing citizens just like the vast majority of people in a workplace, but what does happen is the fame and fortune and the reward that still goes to these people even after the charges -- or in floyd mayweather's case, in that interview, it is not just a charge, he went to prison for two months. and according to the police report, he dragged the month of his three children by the hair, punched her repeatedly in the head. this is a professional boxer punching a woman in the head over and over again and threatening to kill her in front of her children and then threatening to kill the children if they call police. the children ran out into the yard any way and did manage to get the police to come to the house. he went to prison and came out and was not suspended by the nevada boxing commission the way ray rice has been suspended by the nfl and is making pay day

after pay day and now there is new charges from an additional woman of domestic violence but it doesn't matter. and there will be people who plop down $70 for his fight tonight. i would urge you to take into consideration who this man is. >> and real quickly, i have 20 seconds. and there is some preferential treatment going on here. >> celebrities or not celebrities, it is a factor. but celebrity is not the only factor. this is a bigger problem than just the sports world. >> and i will say, it is horrible watching this video. these are horrible things that are happening. it is a great conversation to have and i'm certainly glad we're having it. rachel nichols and jeffrey tubbin, thank you. and you can watch unguarded

tonight at 10:30 eastern. and you can tweet the show and tune in on monday and you can watch us live and dvr so you don't miss a moment. thanks for watching "the situation room". erin burnett is up next. >> mcchrystal's opinion on terrorists. >> and a new information on roger goodell why he didn't charge ray rice for more. and another nfl player charged, this time for hurting a child. let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, the man who led an international