i'm carol costello. another hour of "newsroom" straight ahead. was it a hate crime? the fbi now on the case of the three muslim students killed in north carolina. the new details in their investigation. it really is getting to the point of cruelty. boston expecting not only more snow but blizzard conditions and brutal cold. what to expect this weekend. the brian williams saga deepens. new questionable statements surface. new stories now in focus as nbc says its investigation is nowhere near done. hello, everyone. great to see you. i'm john berman. >> happy friday everyone. i'm kate bolduan. new details emerging about the shooting deaths of three muslim students in chapel hill north carolina. the fbi is now looking into it trying to find out if any

federal hate crime laws were violated. >> a hate crime. that is what distraught family members believe and what so many in the muslim community fear. police say indications now point to a dispute over parking. cnn's jean casarez joins us live from chapel hill. what's the latest in this investigation? >> reporter: the fbi did announce this parallel investigation, but they used the word preliminary investigation. preliminary versus full forced investigation. at least there will be something separate and distinct. now today the muslim advocate group distributed a letter with 150 faith based and civil rights organizations. they are all writing to the u.s. attorney general, eric holder asking for a full and rigorous investigation on whether this in fact was a hate crime. they believe they are due that and they want the u.s. government to shows that it cares about all groups in this

country. we also have received word that the organizations in this country that had so many vigils around the country last night are uniting together in full force to show dignity. the largest vigil was right here in north carolina. the dignity and pride that they showed i think they want that heartfelt caring to be distributed throughout the country. the question remains was this a hate crime? >> the question still out there. dual investigations into that question. jean casarez, thank you so much. happening now, boston bracing for a blizzard. the last thing it needs. i mean the very last thing it needs. >> you said that last week. >> a possible blizzard on top of the storm after storm after storm that has dumped six feet of snow in some places in the last three weeks. they could get over a foot more. this breaks every record ever sent in the universe out there. >> the boston globe has been asking this. is this the storm that killed

valentine's day? we'll find out by the end of tomorrow i guess. the mayor already announced the shutdown of the subway system this weekend. jennifer gray is joining from us the cnn weather center. this is hard to believe. what's the reality? >> deja vu all over again ruining valentine's day. this will go down as the snowiest february on record in boston. when you look at the entire season we rank number eight. all we need is 10 more inches and you'll break number three as snowiest winter season ever on record. guess what? we could get 10 to 12 more inches of snow in boston. coastal maine getting hit the hardest with 12 to 24 inches. inland locations looking at 2 to 4. cold air in place. windchill values well below zero this morning. we're looking at more snow on the way. this will begin during the day

on saturday. we'll see some good bands set up saturday evening into sunday morning. still going on. sunday morning this is 10:00 in the morning, windy conditions and then it finally pushes out sunday evening. the cold air stays in place and winds stay in place. we're talking about 60 to 70-mile-an-hour gusts around the cape. nantucket, 40 to 50-mile-an-hour gusts. as far as temperatures go this is sunday morning. you can see 4 below in philly new york. boston 1 below zero. that's feels-like temperature. look at these temperatures to the west. buffalo, 27 degrees below zero is what it will feel like on sunday morning. that cold air will make it to the coast by the time we get to sunday evening so temperatures are going to be dangerously cold and we're talking the coldest temperatures of the season coming this weekend to the beginning part of next week. >> the snow is the stuff a lot

of folks -- i would be complaining about if i was in boston. temperatures are brutal. >> offensive. that information is offensive. thank you, jennifer very much. let's turn to this now. happening right now. there is a battle raging near a strategic air base in iraq which also houses u.s. soldiers. the u.s. led coalition says that so far iraqi and coalition troops have killed eight attackers and resecured the facility. there are no plans right now to evacuate they say. >> look at that map. militants took full control of the town of al baghdadi. very close to that base. cnn's phil black is in northern iraq. >> reporter: at this location west of iraq al baghdadi over the last 24 hours and the entire town is under control of isis. another piece of land that they have grabbed it would seem successfully in a region where

they maintained momentum against the iraqi army and local sunni tribes. concerning because it's so close to the iraqi capital. when it comes to this particular town it's also just ten miles from the al asad air base which is where hundreds of u.s. military personnel are involved with training the iraqi military the iraqi army. what we are now hearing is even more concerning this morning from iraqi officials and that is not only have they taken the town of al baghdadi but moving toward the al asad air base. iraqi officials say that isis sent eight suicide bombers in that direction toward the air base. they say so far they have killed that number eight. it's clearly still very much a fluid situation. one where that base is under it would seem some degree of threat. u.s. military has said that it's often consistently come under rocket fire. nothing serious. nothing damaging. we can hear gunfire and we've seen at least one air strike

today and seen two fast moving aircraft overhead. as i say, for the grip that isis has on this town is still very firm. it shows that for all of the progress that's been made against isis in this region the kurdish fighters from around here have rolled back thousands, 5,000 square miles they estimate of territory that isis once held. isis still holds key pieces of real estate here. the town behind me and the major city of mosul. >> phil black, thanks so much. the fighting at that air base and city ongoing right now. >> and at that air base remember there are almost 400 u.s. personnel there that have been working with iraqi forces and so this is a very real concern that they are looking at and it's an ongoing situation as we speak. >> we'll address some of the questions this raises in a little bit. this just in. dozens of militants aligned with al qaeda in arabian peninsula have attacked a key prison in southern yemen freeing six of their imprisoned fighters.

this attack comes a day after militants seized and looted all of the weapons from the 19th brigade in that prove sense. saudi arabia and germany shut down their embassies in yemen due to the situation there. the united states britain, france they've all done the same thing. new revelations in the brian williams investigation. nbc's investigation widens as new stories surface. we have the latest. a high-speed chase takes front and center at the american sniper murder trial. the video of the suspect fleeing police and what he then told them has shocked the courtroom. you just got a big bump in miles. so this is a great opportunity for an upgrade. sound good? great. because you're not you you're a whole airline... and it's not a ticket you're upgrading it's your entire operations, from domestic to international... which means you need help from a whole team of advisors. from workforce strategies to tech solutions and a thousand other things.

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that's what some at nbc are saying about the investigation into "nightly news" anchor brian williams. his take on even more stories in question beyond how he described taking fire during the iraq war and also seeing a body float by in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. >> under the microscope now stories he has told about the berlin wall in the 1980s and stories he has told about meeting the pope pope john paul ii in the 1970s. most controversial the way williams has described a long relationship with mysterious s.e.a.l. team 6. >> reporter: may 2011 mh-60 blackhawk helicopter is engulfed in flames after navy s.e.a.l. team 6 successfully killed osama bin laden at his compound in pakistan. the special ops team set fire to the stealth aircraft after it crashed in this courtyard. in an interview with david

letterman in january of 2013 brian williams had this to say about a piece of the burned out wreckage. >> about six weeks after the bin laden raid i got a white envelope and in it was a thank you note unsigned and attached to it was a piece of the fuselage. the fuselage from the blown up blackhawk in that court yard. i don't know how many pieces survived. >> sent to you by one of -- >> one of my friends. >> reporter: those friends, according to williams members of the highly secretive s.e.a.l. team 6. that relationship is being questioned by members of the special operations community and could be one of the things an internal nbc investigation is focused on. in 2011 williams described a long relationship with s.e.a.l. team 6 when talking about the bin laden raid in another letterman appearance. >> we have some ideas which of our special operations teams

carried this out and it happens to be a team i flew into baghdad with on the condition that i would never speak of what i saw on the aircraft the aircraft we were on what they were carrying and who they were after. all of of it was shared with me. it's common when covering a war because to reveal that would be to endanger americans. >> reporter: in 2012 during yet another letterman appearance that perhaps raises the most questions, williams goes further. >> i have a throat cutter on my desk at 30 rock which is helpful in staff meetings. it just sits there. it was sent to me by a member of s.e.a.l. team 6. i flew into baghdad invasion plus three days on a blackout mission at night with elements of s.e.a.l. team 6 and i was told not to make eye contact with them or initiate any conversation. it was like horses in the gate right before a mission. this guy had a wristband with his human target that he was

after when we landed. it was one of the members of the deck of cards. one of the leadership targets. they are amped. this is the best we have. and until he reached into my box of wheat thins, my last remaining american food it could have been a wheat thin commercial. this hand the size of a canned ham goes in. i lost half of my net supply of wheat thins but then i chatted him up and admired a knife as part of his utility belt. darned if that knife didn't show up at my office a few weeks later. >> reporter: whether brian williams will be allowed back at that office is now being decided by nbc. >> an investigation is nowhere near done which is what sources at nbc are telling our brian stelter. interesting and important to note. >> sources also say to cnn analyst peter bergen there's no way those stories are true. we'll talk about that with a

military analyst and brian stelter next.

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nbc news tells us their investigation into brian williams is nowhere near done and it has to be said his stories about s.e.a.l. team 6, these new stories that have surfaced they will be shocking if it's proved it's not true. >> sources in the s.e.a.l. community have told cnn's national security analyst peter bergen about williams' account of flying into baghdad with s.e.a.l. team 6. his sources said we do not embed journalist with any element of that unit. bottom line no. and the story of getting war

memorabilia from s.e.a.l. members say it doesn't pass the sniff test. brian stelter is here along with our retired army general. brian has been doing legwork in trying to find out where this investigation goes. colonel, this last point what peter bergen is hearing about s.e.a.l. team 6 story or tale if you will. do you believe the brian williams could have gone into baghdad invasion plus three days as he puts it with a s.e.a.l. team element? >> i find it incredible to believe that s.e.a.l. team 6 or really any special operations forces would have carried a live reporter with them on a highly classified classified mission. they are going behind enemy lines to get high profile targets and you'll bring a major anchor from one of the big

networks with you? i don't think so. it's on mr. williams to provide information he was on that flight. i find tinit incredible to believe. >> and that he was sent a piece of a helicopter blown up after they left the scene at the osama bin laden raid and he was sent piece of the helicopter as a gift does that strike you as possible? >> perhaps someone claimed it was a piece of the helicopter. i find that hard to believe that it was. the s.e.a.l.s are too busy with the mission to collect memorabilia while they're on the ground. then to -- the piece of helicopter that did come back to u.s. possession after it was destroyed was given to us via pakistan and it was part of the stealth technology. i doubt the military will allow people to strip pieces of that off and send that as souvenirs

to tv anchors. as the s.e.a.l. says it doesn't pass the sniff test. >> brian, you have been told from sources within nbc that this investigation is nowhere near done. you have the s.e.a.l. team 6 story coming out and a story in 1979 brian recalling meeting the pope in person when the pope came to catholic university. it feels like there is piling on of these tales. what do you hear from nbc in terms of why they are saying the investigation is nowhere near done? >> it's because these stories keep coming up. this one was reported yesterday about s.e.a.l. team 6. these things have been in some ways hidden in plain sight. these comments are on youtube. they're advisable. i recall at the time hearing brian williams tell that story about the chopper and getting this piece of the chopper allegedly. if it's true very easy to prove. he can take a picture of it and show it to people today. some of these claims should be provable or disprovable easily. flying into baghdad maybe harder

to disprove. we heard them come out and deny it. williams is not able to speak and not allowed to speak by nbc. he's under a contract and suspension. there's no imminent plan for him to speak but he would love to apologize. a tension between what he would like to do and what the network would like him to do. we're seeing that play out. >> these stories were hidden in plain sight. you mentioned earlier. at what point does nbc have to take responsibility for allowing this to go on if he was making things up? we still don't know to a certain extent if or how much they knew this was going on for years. >> we're past the point where we have to ask the questions about responsibility of management and some of the leaks we're seeing we've seen them in "the new york times" and "the washington post" and elsewhere, feels to me like folks are trying to pin the blame just on brian williams when there may have been a systemic issue here. consider the apology said on air last week. apologizing for something he said on "nightly news" the prior

friday. that script had to be approved by someone and vetted the same way our scripts here at cnn are vetted and approved and if shown to be wrong, that apology would have had to be vetted and seen by executives beforehand. you wonder where there isn't supervision of executives at nbc. it seems very strange. that may be why and i'm told they are considering bringing in a third-party investigator to pursue some of these claims and allegations. they may feel that they need to for their own credibility bring in someone from the outside because their internal investigators are doing a lot of hard work and fact checking and finding a lot but there are questions about inside management as well. >> brian, thank you so much. colonel, thank you as well. one of the most interesting things is a lot of these comments that are getting him in trouble right now were not said on nbc news broadcasts. they were said on david letterman most of them that we're seeing that are tripping him up now.

i don't think that makes it any better or worse. it just is. >> good point. coming up for us the fbi is now looking into the killings of three muslim students in north carolina. was it a hate crime? the families say yes. the fbi will now investigate. [rob] so we've had a tempur-pedic for awhile, but now that we have the adjustable base, it's even better. [alex] when i put my feet up on this bed my stress just goes away. [evie] i go up...heeeeyyy... [donna]our tempur-pedic is the best thing in our house, 'cept for my husband. [lauren] wait,wait,where are you going? [announcer] visit your local retailer and discover how tempur-pedic can move you. when it comes to good nutrition...i'm no expert. that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me

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happening now, the fbi is looking into whether federal hate crime laws were violated in the shooting deaths of the three muslim students we've been following very closely at unc. >> police say craig stephen hicks attacked the victims over a parking space dispute. family and friends say they believe it was a hate crime. it was because of their faith. >> let's bring in cnn law enforcement analyst and former assistant director of the fbi to help us through this. tom, great to see you. when we hear that the fbi has launched a preliminary investigation to take a look into if federal hate crime laws were violated what is the fbi doing? what is the process under way in north carolina? >> good morning, kate and john. first of all, i think some of the terminology that's been used can create confusion in the case. because north carolina has a state hate crime statute, which can be applied in this case they're investigating it. chapel hill police department investigating it as a triple homicide and the possibility

that the homicide was convicted as a hate crime as well. when they prove motive for the homicide they may add that he may have hated them because they were muslim but the hate crime elements they'll be required to prove that what he was thinking that somewhere he's going to have to have expressed to someone that he hated them because they were muslim and that's why he killed them even with a parking dispute, that may have been a trigger. >> tom, how difficult is that? what do you need to prove that thinking? what are the key pieces of evidence that as an investigator you need to find? >> you would need to find something where he has given statements to other people friends, colleagues family members, that he had that degree of hatred. he's posted things that were more specific than what we've seen already. his e-mails to other people. he would have to have expressed it out loud because you can't read his mind. he may very well have hated them because they were muslim.

killed them because they were muslim. and that may be all true. but to prove that is going to take more than just reading his mind or what appears to be the case. as far as the fbi involvement in this chapel hill police invited the fbi to provide assistance to them immediately, which they didn't automatically have to do. under the federal statute, the federal government has to show that either the state does not have a law that applies, or if they have it they are underinvestigating it or choosing not to prosecute it or in some way negligent in their process and then the government can say, okay since you won't do what's obvious, we'll do it now. chapel hill police really helped themselves a great deal by saying the fbi has the experience and your civil rights investigators from the fbi have experience in these kind of crimes please help us now because there will be many many leads way beyond the immediate case of the homicide. as i said you'll have to

interview almost everybody that's ever talked to this guy in the last couple of years. >> and of course they also knew a lot of scrutiny would be on this town and on this police force especially so hopefully this is a good example of local and federal authorities in good coordination to try to get to the bottom of what motivated this horrific crime. >> the first press release the chief gave we recognize what this looks like beyond just the homicide. we will be looking at it as a hate crime. some of the media reporting that implies there was no active investigation into it as a hate crime or that the fbi should be brought in when they were already in is a little bit misleading. i think that's contributing to the worldwide outrage that makes it look like the united states process, criminal justice system is not addressing it the way it should. it's interesting to hear criticism from people and countries that don't have anywhere near the due process that we have here in the u.s.

>> we'll be following the facts of how this unfolds very closely. tom, great to see you. thanks. >> thank you. new for us this morning, a controversial police takedown lands one alabama police officer on the other side of the law. officer eric parker is facing an assault charges after forcing a 57-year-old man to the ground who was visiting from india and he's now partially paralyzed and in speed of spinal surgery. this happened after police approached him during his walk through his family's neighborhood. officers were responding to a call of a suspicious man peering into garages. minutes later he was face down on the ground. the family filed a civil lawsuit against that police department. >> and this. l.a. police are warning about the dangers of toy guns after one of their officers shot a teen in the back. "the l.a. times" is reporting that nicholson was walking through an alley to school when police shot him. police meant to hit the boy next to him pointing what they thought was a gun at a another

person. it turns out it was a realistic looking replica with an orange tip. police say the person did not follow commands to drop what they thought was a weapon. no arrests have been made in the case. clearly the case is under investigation. on a much lighter note now -- >> which we need. >> she wasn't snoozing. she's been boozing. >> not talking about me this time. >> thanks for that awesome line. ruth she appeared to nap through some of the president's state of the union. >> the audience is awake because they are bobbing up and down all the time. we sit there stone faced. sober judges. i wasn't 100% sober because we went to the state of the union we had dinner together and justice kennedy -- >> that's the first intelligent

thing you've done. >> so it was not cheap wine by the way in case you thought ginsburg drank cheap wine from a box. >> justice kennedy brought fancy california stuff. she couldn't resist. there's one group of people i want to party with it's the supreme court justices. >> she's so slight. if you have ever been -- >> that's 42 pounds. >> with her robe on. so a small amount will set her over. if they don't figure it out soon we could be headed to a partial shutdown of the department of homeland security. there's fierce fighting in a part of iraq very close to where 400 u.s. troops are now based. will those u.s. troops these ground troops get in the fight. that's coming up.

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the clock is ticking on capitol hill. what's at stake? funding the department of homeland security. the agency that helps keep all americans safe in the face of global terror threats. the money is going to be running out at the end of this month. >> so congress is butting heads on a multibillion dollar funding bill for homeland security. why are they butting heads? because the house attached a measure that would kill some of the president's executive actions on immigration. house speaker john boehner used some stronger language. >> we won the fight of funding homeland security and stop the president's unconstitutional actions. now it's time for the senate to do their work. you know in the gift shop out

here, they've got these little booklets on how a bill becomes a law, right? the house has done its job. now ask senate democrats when they're going to get off their ass and do something other than to vote no. >> i do not think that word appeared in the constitution. >> it may have been scripted. >> some republicans are saying that republicans in the senate need to give up this fight. republican congressman from pennsylvania joins us. thank you for being with us. you have said we need to pass a bill pull the bandage off the scab and get it done. what is your message to senate republicans who keep putting this up for a vote on the floor and keep failing to get it passed? >> first, let me say that i think that senator reid should allow for the house pass bill on homeland security funding to proceed. they may change the bill. they can amend it any way they want and send it back to us. it's inexcusable that senator reid is not allowing

consideration of the bill. that said if he persists in this behavior at some point we the house republicans, must be adults in the room and come february 24th or 25th, we'll have to send over another bill to the senate and i suspect at that time it will be a clean department of homeland security appropriations bill or a continuing resolution. i would prefer the clean bill. continuing resolution would be short sighted. it would prevent us from getting to other business. >> we've seen this movie over and over again. why are these types of fights in your view still worth it? in the end, it threatens it seems to the american public that republicans put a poison pill in this must pass funding bill with security of our country at risk. >> let me be very clear.

i discouraged our leadership from separating the homeland security appropriations bill from the broader omnibus package back in december because i knew we would get into this situation. >> what did they say? >> well it seemed to me that they were going to have a tough time getting a vote for the rule that we might not have gotten the other 11 bills. my view is i'm on the appropriations committee. we passed 11 of 12 appropriations bills. that's progress. i would have preferred to do 12 out of 12. i'll take 11. here we come into the new year. i knew for a fact that we were going to vote on a clean or cleaner homeland security appropriations bill. it just is a matter of when. i would prefer we do it before february 27th rather than after. >> congressman, let me ask you to step back and not look at this as a member of congress but as a political analyst here. if this does not get passed and if there's no funding measure, who will get blamed do you

think? >> i think the institution will be blamed. i suspect republicans will probably take a greater hit on this than the democrats. i have to say that senator reid has done his level best to make sure there's no vote on a homeland security bill in the senate. i suspect -- >> that's how the senate works. that's how the senate works. you know that. rules are there to protect the minority. that's the more deliberateive body. that's the way it worked when mitch mcconnell was the minority leader and harry reid was the majority leader. >> every day is the same in the united states senate. doesn't matter who is in charge. they start slowly and wind down from there. under senator reid they never bothered starting. so i agree with you to the extent that senate moves slowly and this is a bigger problem for the senate. the senate needs to get on to do other things. it takes them longer to do everything. the bottom line is we do have to pull the bandage off the scab. a clean bill is a good thing. i helped put that together.

i'm on the appropriations committee. i was on the subcommittee that drafted that. it's a good bill. let's pass it. let's get on and we need to stop setting up these artificial cliffs because once we do that that sucks all of the oxygen out of the capitol and prevents from us dealing with issues like tax reform trade, transportation cybersecurity, all of the things american people expect us to work on. >> amen on that congressman. >> welcome to your world. thank you for letting us join you in your world today. appreciate it. still ahead for us we have compelling new video in the dramatic "american sniper" trial. we'll tell you why this police dash cam video could be key to the defense. in my world, wall isn't a street. return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members

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some dramatic video was revealed in the trial for the alleged killer of american sniper chris kyle. all of this as testimony continues right now in the case against eddie ray routh. jurors were shown dash cam video of routh taking place on a wild chase hours after he shot and killed kyle and chad littleton. >> also some body cam video of a 30-minute standoff between routh and officers where routh says i don't know if i'm going insane. want to bring in cnn legal

analyst. the insanity defense that lawyers are trying to say he wasn't in his right mind when he killed these men. he was insane. they have this video which shows him driving like a madman no pun intended and after this sound of him saying i might be insane. how does this play to the jury? >> good morning, john. good morning, kate. this is fascinating video because it puts the jury right at the scene and remember this is a case where this is all going to come down to whether or not the defense can prove by a prepond rans of the evidence that he can is mentally ill. he's been diagnosed with all kinds of stuff. the question is he legally insane and what's interesting here guys it's not a matter of whether or not he knew right from wrong. it's a matter

of whether he thought society would see what he did as wrong. this evidence is key for the jury to consider to say, hey, wait a minute. somebody in a state of psychosis doesn't flee because they don't realize what they're doing is wrong. if somebody is fleeing, talking about more souls to kill if somebody's talking about whether or not he's not sure that he's insane that's somebody that's telling us he kind of knows what he did and he knows that it's a problem. >> then -- now you have two kind of conflicting pieces which happens, of course in a trial like this. you have the piece of the text message from chris kyle's phone saying this guy is straight-up nuts and this element of routh leading police on a wild chase. how do you think so far it's playing to the jury? i have heard really a kind of split take on what -- how they think it will turn out.

>> well you know one of the thenlgs i keep thinking about are the ten women that are on the jury and all kinds of jury research shows that women tend to consider mental illness when they're -- you know like really have empathy and sympathy towards it. so i don't know how that's going to play with it. when i look at this i find the text messages to be extremely compelling. when you have chris kyle texting chad littlefield and chad in the backseat saying this guy is straight-up nuts and chad is saying, hey, watch my six slang for watch my back they're telling you in the present moment this guy is nuts. now, let's get back to the real legal issue. he may be nuts. that doesn't mean he's legally insane. and therefore not guilty by reason of insanity. the defense here has to prove

beyond a preponderate of the evidence that he was legally sane and didn't know right from wrong and the fact he fled, had a standoff with officers a 25-minute conversation with his neighbor through the split window who was also a detective telling her that he basically knew what was wrong and telling her that there were more souls to kill that tells me that this is somebody that may have been mentally ill, for sure but knew what he was doing wasn't right. >> mel, thank you so much. she lays it out so well. that's difficult. may be nuts but might not be legally insane. >> does the jury understand the distinction? that isn't clear. >> mel, thanks so much. coming up for us isis fighters are closing in on an air base housing hundreds of military personnel. fight between the militants and coalition forces. talking about that next. nearly 2 million people have been forced from their homes by the fighting in iraq and syria. half of those are children. you can help them. head to our website at

cnn.com/impact. we have a list of charities, good charities that are helping the kids there. pass pass i'm louis, and i quit smoking with chantix. i told myself for so long that i needed to quit smoking. i would quit then i'd go right back to it. chantix absolutely helped me quit smoking. along with support, chantix (varenicline)

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battle raging with isis militants firing rockets and mortars a few miles from a base that houses hundreds of personnel. we are told it's secure at the moment. >> the base about 10 miles from the town of al baghdadi which isis took control of earlier to. this is happening in realtime. joining us is paul crookshank and colonel peter mansoor. colonel, let's get to what they're facing at the air base. this sounds very dangerous. they have had -- taking rocket mortar fire and also had eight suicide bomb attempts going at that base. but they have also said they're not vaek inguk evacuating. what do you think is happening? >> the base is surrounded by open desert and very difficult for isis fighters to close on the base and stage the kind of complex attack that would be needed to penetrate the perimeter. more dangerous is the rocket and

mortar fire which could land on the base and potentially kill or wound u.s. service members and iraqis as well. but i think the base as long as they want to defend it and stay there can be secured. >> yeah the question is though, do they want to actively defend it? affirmatively defend it. would that necessarily, colonel, put them in conflict with isis fighters? >> i think we want that base. it's a key strategic position in the province. to give it up would be giving isis something that they really haven't earned. and it's a great launching point for counter offensive once troops are trained and ready to go and perhaps reclaim al baghdadi and the nearby towns. >> and, paul how important is this bags? the colonel is getting to it a little bit. not only how important to the coalition, but also then on the flip side, how important would be taking the base to isis? >> isis won't take this base.

it's a very well protected, big, sprawling base that there's really no chance that isis are going to overrun it any time soon. but it makes them look strong to be able to atmpbt to do this and trying to take more and more territory in anbar province. they control 8070% to 80% of the province. they went to stretch from the baghdad area all the way back into syria and take control of more and more tounls in anbar. the high point is probably around october and only 8 miles from baghdad international airport at that point. there's been some back and forth since then. they're still very strong indeed. >> paul colonel, thank you very much for being with us. we do note that there are battles ranging, both at this air base key air base and the nearby town of al baghdadi and isis essentially now we're told

controls. >> so far not evacuating the base and say it's secure. something cnn is following throughout the day for us. happy friday for you. >> "legal view" starts now. fbi agents now on the case in the execution style killings of three north carolina college students. did muslim head dresses and hatred of their religion motivate a killer? also dramatic dash cam video in the american sniper trial. jurors get a front row seat to the accused killer's police chase and hear his haunting words questioning his own sanity. in the moments just after the shooting. and if you like brian williams iraq war stories, you're probably going to love his tales about the mission with the s.e.a