campaign, you can say we're just getting starts but you can look at her and say she's tough but she's beatable. >> that does it for us. and our special report, isis, what should the u.s. do now, starts now: this is "the situation room" special report. the war against isis, what should the u.s. do now? >> the most brutal terrorists on the planet are killing the way into new corners of the world. isis fighters are slaughtering civilians, seizing cities and recruiting americans to attack on u.s. soil. our coalition is on the offensive. isil is on the offensive and isil is going to lose. >> tonight, the war against isis, what should the united states do now? some of the best military minds can be in our situation room as a battle unfolds over the president's strategy and what can be done to reverse stunning losses. >> the iraqi fors just showed no will to fight.

>> we are neither degrading nor destroying isis and we have no strategy for doing so. >> how can the u.s. and its allies defeat a terrorist enemy unlike no other, armed with say powerful propaganda machine and creating its own so-called islamic state. and what should america do now to destroy isis? good evening. i'm wts in "the situation room." here in iraq, isis is on the move, scoring stunning battlefield victories and committing atrocities where it goes. tonight we've gathering the top military and strategic minds not to talk about the past but to look at the state of the war against isis as it stands right now and to lay out what the united states and the world can do before isis extends its deadly reach. gathered here in our situation room, retired lieutenant mark

kurt ling, led the first armored division in iraq and later the commander in europe. carter ham, who led a brigade in norther iraq and commanded the u.s. army in europe and headed the u.s. africa command. james spider marks, the senior intelligence commander in iraq. and retired four star admiral william fallon, former head of the u.s. send ral command stretching from the middle east to central asia and flew carrier jets and commanded fleets. and retired four star general wesley clark, who served in vietnam and over saw military operations in the balk ebbens and from the ucla general burkle center and can the u.s. defeat isis without committing more

ground troops to iraq? >> i think the simple answer is yes, we have to find a way to do this. you can't pabbic right now. that is the way to lose this, by americanizing this fight. >> how do you do it without the ground troops. >> you have to have the troops there armed and they have to have the will to fight. >> the 3000 troops there. >> the local people have to fight. this is their fight. we have to avoid losing in order to win. so no u.s. ground troops right no now. >> what about that? can the u.s. with without u.s. ground troops. >> the u.s. can and in my view must win. i don't think we can help the iraqis win without additional u.s. support. perhaps forward air controllers and the like. >> how many? >> i don't know a number. the situation is sufficiently fragile that i think we're fast approaching a point that without the insertion of ground combat forces from the regional partners, u.s. or others and the

situation might become vastly different. >> so it sounds like you want more u.s. ground troops there. >> i think more support, forward air controllers i think are an appropriate first step. i don't think we're yet at a point where we should consider ground combat forces. >> what do you their admiral? more u.s. troops or not? >> no. >> no significant u.s. force increase however with you can be more effective with select forces. we have more air power. special forces second to none, they can be more helpful. but we're not going to win this unless the people on the ground take this fight to isis. >> general marks? >> we must ensure that baghdad does not fall, which means we have to maintain -- even raising that question about the capital of iraq, a huge city falling, that raises all sorts of fears and reminds a lot of people about siagon. there are discussions right now in the national security council that are talking about what are

the options and the options are we can't allow that to fall. that caliphate condition expand and continue to gobble up territory. this has to be contained. more u.s. troops on the ground right now is not the solution. >> you say there shouldn't be more? what do you say? >> we are a supporting actor. this has to be the iraqi government that wins this and later on something different in syria but we have to provide something more than just force and a military approach to this. it has to be governmental and informational and economic and diplomatic. >> you have confidence in this iraqi government right now? >> no. i don't have a lot of confidence. >> so what makes you think the u.s. can win? >> because you have to work that iraqi government and the tribal lead nerz anbar province and pull something together. what general hertling said about a broad approach, it is not just about kinetics. it is much bigger than kinetics. >> we have to force that to

happen with the tribes and the kurds and everything in between. this are 11 different states within iraq and none of them have confidence in the central government. >> the prerequisite is the government of baghdad to convince the sunnis they have a stake in the future. >> hold on a moment. i want to stand by. i want to get a briefing on the current reach of isis,s extraordinary way the terror group has held its territory and has spread. our correspondent jim sciutto is over at the wall. >> this is the map of iraq and syria as of the end of may. areas in red is isis control and the yell is isis support and it extends into iraq and extends down to the border with jordan and general clark mentions the threat to jordan and also threat even saudi arabia. so key question, has the effort of kurdish and iraqi troops made a difference in changing the map.

let's look to three months ago. this is february. if you can't tell the difference between the maps, you are not alone. this is may and february. the map largely unchanged. and in fact, during that time, isis gaining some ground in ramadi and the oil refinery and maintaining the key base of support in mosul. and let's look beyond iraq and syria. as they've held ground there they have expanded influence throughout the region. you have presence from libya, in egypt and yemen and support in afghanistan and pakistan. they were able to carry out an attack in tunisia and does isis extend influence into aurp as you have returning foreign fighters and carrying out attacks in europe and crucial concern for america, can they cross the atlantic and you've had a number of arrest of supporters here and the possibility of attacks as well. from this time it goes from a local or regional threat to a international problem, wolf.

>> jim sciutto, thanks and how does the united states and the partners deal with the rapid expansion of isis and it is rapid and continuing. they don't seem to be stopped at all, do they? >> the iraqi ground forces to date have not demonstrated an ability to stay and fight a pitch battle and win and that has to happen if we're going to be successful here. >> as long as isis continues to achieve success, they become an in spiring element for extremists in other parts of the world, as far as africa as jim laid out. so while there is not an ultimately a military solution there is a military requirement i think in the near term to defeat isis at least technically, to contain them, thwart them from expanding the territory. >> but there is a difference between -- >> hold on one second. >> let's be careful, because when they took mosul you thought

the sky would fall the next day. it didn't. they did take ramadi and it was a tough fight. >> it wasn't a tough fight. they simply ran away. the iraqi army. >> they were hit by enormous explosions. >> they were outnumbered in ramadi. >> it was a fight we -- we working together with the iraqis have to get that army able to fight. and it is too early to say that army can't fight. that army can fight. and the militias can find. >> this has to have a neighborhood solution. you have to get sunni arabs involved. the sunni tribes to continue to engage. you have to have the kurds continue to engage. but you have to have -- >> hold on a second, general hurt ling and as you know you all served there, the u.s. spent a decade, army training and financing an army and when the u.s. pulled out they had several

hundred iraqi personnel working and what happened and why did the army collapse. >> you judge an army by two things, will and skill. i think our key contributions to the iraqi army over the ten h-yr period was giving them the skill. and the will is the problem. an it is back to the will of the leading force to treat the soldiers in the right way. and it is interesting on the map jim located were placed where there was fail the governments and failed leadership and will to fight the organization. >> and the president calls you into his situation room and said what is the most important thick to defeat isis and you say -- >> get the tsunami yu tribes fighting. >> ramp up support. >> what does that mean. >> make more precise and more effective air-strikes. >> admiral. >> get to the leadership in

baghdad and tell them to get off their tails and make a difference in anbar province. >> initially keep isis where it is in some form of containment and long-term do everything these gentlemen have said. >> and you have got to persuade and we have not done diplomatically to get the iraqi people supporting their people, all of their people. >> stand by, we have a lot more coming up. >> with few reliable allies on the ground, should we cut off the iraqi government and the enemies for sis. >> and he is known as the invisible sheikh, can the u.s. hunt down and kill the leader of isis?

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welcome back to our situation room special report where we've gathered top military and strategic minds to look at how to defeat isis. there is a major air war under way right now against isis but no one believes air pow ear loan will defeat the terror group. let's look at what the u.s. and its allies are doing right now and what they need to do going forward. barbara starr reports. >> reporter: after months of fighting on the ground and more than 3000 air-strikes over syria and iraq, the question -- how much is there to show for it? the pentagon and the white house are, as they say, fine-tuning the strategy. the u.s. commitment set out last year with problems from the

beginning. >> our objective is clear, we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy. >> it seems to me there was to plan to fully execute a strategy like that to truly get to the destroy part and that is a significant shortfall when it comes to executing a war plan or implementing a strategy. >> for months the u.s. watched isis on the march taking down after town, darka, sin jar, mosul and ramadi but the air and ground campaign was born from the horror of the american journalist james foley and so the love and they warned air-strikes wouldn't be enough.

>> there is no solution to isil, in iraq or in syria. >> reporter: the tactics to carry out the strategy and when, build a coalition, conduct air-strikes and train local forces on the ground to do the fighting. from the beginning, most of the effort was in iraq. the u.s. believing it could work with the iraqi government. but when isis took over ramadi, that stunning statement from defense secretary ash carty. >> the iraqi forces just show nod will to fight. they were not outnumbered. in fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. we can give them training, we can give them equipment, we obviously can't give them the will to fight. the people who live in that territory, particularly the sunni tribes, they're the ones who have to get in the fight and win the fight and then hold the territory saver isil is defeated. >> reporter: and ash kartder will also tell you he is not

recommending u.s. troops on the ground in a combat role. wolf. >> at least not yet. thanks very much barbara for that. joining our group of experts, philip mud and the fbi's senior intelligence adviser. and they bought off the troops in iraq and should now the u.s. be arming the moderate sunni forces fighting isis directly or should it still have to go through the government in baghdad. >> no. we have a simple problem here. when we are dealing with the counter insurgency, we have to not provide governance. if you are a sunni tribe, you have to be saying, are you kidding me. so the question is do we depend on the shia led government to

provide support to the sunnis and so far they haven't been effective and do we make the end around. >> make the end around but don't let the government in baghdad fall. >> but they hate directly arming the sunnis or the kurds for that matter because they feel the threat. >> right. and that is where you are going to political side of it. and when you say when, what does it mean. and you have now a sectarian situation that is so hateful and fearful in iraq that the idea you can put this back together again if isis will go away, that is a hard sell to the people. >> and if you were still head, what would you do? would you arm the sunnis or the kurds directly or go through baghdad. >> but the reality is you have to deal with both sides. i would be interested in putting equipment into anbar because the sunnis have to be the guys to fight and they are the guys that have to have the will. >> but the primaries of iraq --

the prime minister of iraq says that, i'm moving along the lines of al maliki as predecessor and what would you say. >> fine, i'll leave. and what happened in tick rid, it seems the shia militias didn't do well and the combination of iraqi sores and u.s. support took the town over. so these guys are not as good as they claim they are. and the reality is we can help them, but there has to be support coming out of baghdad. and that is what is really lacking. >> admiral, i don't disagree. but when you look at this emerging caliphate. >> if you are in iraq and in syria. and they are ambitious. they want more. >> the key is this is intergenerational. and there can be a lot of things done as to what the the general's point, and we tend to have a discussion of what is

what can we do now. >> there is no immediate. these guys are getting support from around the world. >> which guys? >> isis? >> and why? >> they are on a role. the impression is they are tough guys and look at all of these gory things, they are greet recruiting tools. they get bunked on the head a couple of times, i think that will back away. so go back to 2007 in iraq, al qaeda was on a role. >> that was the surge. >> and then things happen. what happened behind the espns? it wasn't just the surge, it was what we were doing and the reality that the support that they got, tacitly or otherwise, went away. >> the u.s. was buying off the sunni tribal leaders. >> they were paying them. >> hundreds of millions of dollars, giving the tribal sheikhs cash, right? >> i think the key thing was the troopers actually got cash. they got paid for their service. they didn't have any other jobs. >> they were in the cia. the cia was funneling money to

the cia sunnis in the province. >> were they paying them off. >> no. they were cia on the ground. we talk about isis versus the government if you look at where counter insurgency succeeds it is like somalia because the local insurgency gets tired of getting their heads cut off. >> we have to find a way to again help the sunni tribes in an bar particularly moeshlize and -- mobilize and help the central government convey to the sunni tribes that hey, this is one iraq. we're in this together. >> stand by. we have a lot more to discuss. we're only just getting started. coming up in our special report. isis has been changing its tactics in the face of recentless air-strikes. can military defeat fighters happy to die for their causement

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and bottom line save more money. together, we're building a better california. we're back with our situation room special report. top former military and strategic thinkers are here in "the situation room." stand by. i want to go straight to iraq where isis has its own version

of shock and awe. ferocious attacks and followed by bloody atrocity. we have covered this war from the very start. we are in baghdad with a close look at the terror group's strategy. >> reporter: these are among the chaotic final moments for the battle of ramadi, captured a cell phone. minutes later shouts of "no ammunition." and the unit is ordered to re treat from the command. the domino like collapse of iraq is under scrutiny but the battle shows how isis evolved its tactics. for weeks sending wave after wave of vehicles laden of explosives driven by suicide bombers. its weapon of choice. and unlike the days of the u.s. occupation here, often the ones

deploys with unstoppable. isis has plenty of fighters willing to volunteer to deliver the deadly load. and iraq's security forces trained by the u.s. are plagued with logistical and leadership failures, unable to face-off against isis tactics. >> translator: isis are well organized fighters and well trained and they have a doctrine in training that is difficult to fight. they are fighting to die. to get into heaven. and we are fighting to live. so the next generation can live. >> isis is relying heavily on former regime army and continue tell jens oifrps that joined isis and closer to the inner regime, he says. isis fighting ranks swelled

quickly and the organization easily capitalizing on the sunni population grievances and broken pledges of the shia led government. he said the an bar counsel and tribal leaders asked for air-strikes last summer and pleaded back then for the u.s. and the iraqi government to arm the tribes against isis. >> the americans are not honest, he says. they lost an important ally in the region and did not take advantage of this opportunity. >> iraqis will tell you, the u.s. strategy is not failing here simply because isis is formidable foe. the u.s. strategy is failing because america never understood the region or succeeded in iraq to begin with. >> and wolf, the u.s. grossly underestimated isis capabilities up until the fall of mosul. and as one former senior iraqi official was telling me, he is

concerned that once again the organization's capabilities are being underestimated and not knowing an enemy like isis could potentially have devastating repercussions beyond anything anyone could ever imagine. >> i know you've been listening to the military experts here in "the situation room." what are they missing? >> here is how desperate the situation in anbar is. first of all, the people, the tribal leaders, do not want to see the shia militias fighting at this stage. they are welcoming them. they know there is going to be a price to pay but they have no other choice because they feel as if america has abandoned them already and america has abandoned them in the past after they turned against al qaeda and fought alongside u.s. forces. not because of money because they did not want to be ruled by al qaeda. if he feel as if the u.s. abandoned them when they withdrew and them left to the

shia government and they feel as if america has abandoned them by not coming to their assistance when they requested it in the past. and for america to rebuild those ties, that is going to be vital moving forward, if the u.s. is really concerned about iran's influence because the sunnis are willing to make a deal with the shia and the iranians would save themself from isis. >> and arwa, thank you. and a commander from the army in europe and also joining us, the united states ambassador in afghanistan and in iraq and at the united nations, ambassador, the isis fighters, these are no ordinary fighters these are fanatics and what do you need to do to defeat these fanatics? >> they are fanatics but a number of them are professional

military people that used to be part of saddam hussein's apartmenty. to contain them so they don't move out of anbar into baghdad, you need a political deal. and sometimes in a crisis that heats up, there is an opportunity and the opportunity is to -- for diplomacy for our senior diplomatic people to engage to get a settlement between sunni and shias in iraq so the sunni can be armed ultimately they have to defeat isis. >> but can regional partners of the united states, the jordans, can they help. >> they have to be at the table. you have to have the iranians, the saudis and the turks at the table for a settlement of iraq and syria because isis is not only in iraq and being very threatening right now, but also syria is a sanctuary for them. and as long as that sanctuary is

there, iraq will remain stable. >> general clark, are these regional partners and not partners like iran or syria, al rashad's regime, are they going to help the united states. >> they are going to help themselves. and they'll put together the right regime to help themselves. and we are not going to defeat isis all by ourselves and with military power. and so let's get the sunnis engaged and the others in the region engaged and put the right diplomacy and the weapons in to contain isis and squeeze it down. >> and you heard arwa and she came back from meeting sunnis in her words who have lost all confidence in the united states and so ho how do you regain their confidence? >> time is one of our enemies right now. every day that goes by that isil is able to advance to take

another town, take another village, conduct more suicide bombings, contributes to this myth of isil's invincibility, and it is in our best interest, america's best interest, again to help iraq. in this case, the sunni arabs of anbar to at least styme that advance. >> we have a lot more to assess. coming up, could isis be beaten without the help of two of america's biggest adversaries. iran and syria could hold the defeat of isis and the leader of isis, known as the invisible sheikh. if the u.s. can find him and take him out, can it defeat the terror group? leave early go roam sleep in sleep out star gaze dream big

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we're back with our military and strategy experts. also joining us again, the former cia counter-terrorism phil mudd. should we work with bashir al assad to defeat isis. >> absolutely not. we should work to get the sunni and the kurds and the shia to work together. they don't want that and that is

why they are pressing to go into shia cities. and we want to destroysal nusra and isis and not to keep in power a man who used chemical weapons against his own people. >> we cannot fix iraq and syria so that conditions for growth of isis or successors will not be there and for that we need the regional players, we need and saudi arabia and turkey and we need a settlement, a compact among the internal players, the tribes and the occurs and the regional players and that is the part that is missing that, has to be our long-term objective in order to defeat isis for the long-term. >> because admiral fallon and you headed the central command and the great fear that u.s. experts have, is yes, iran will

help the syrians and iran may em eshlg and be in charge of iran and iraq and maybe into lebbenan and u.s. loses and syria wins. >> and iran has a lot of chag enks on its plate and the idea they will come in and take over isis is nonsense. >> but they are in there. they are there. >> sure they are. but look at the record on the battlefield. they came into tikrit, flags flying and we're going to fix this and they didn't. and the iraqry army had to bail them out with strong support from the u.s. so they have to be a player. >> you want them to work with iran to defeat isis? >> no. it is one of the reasons that a multi-cultural and multi ethnic iraq is so important because that does ploe vied an -- provide an element of balance in the region which is no necessary. >> what do you think snrks i

don't think you want to work with iran or syria but i think you have to use diplomacy in this and whether you reach them indirectly or not, you have to somehow make them believe that our objective is their objective to some except. we have to figure out what we are trying to do here. now we started with this talk, what is winning. winning is not just getting rid of isis, winning is stabilizing this. so isis right now is like a cork in the bottle. if you pull isis out immediately what you'll have is the iranian threat, the turks will come in and the saudis are in danger and so how do you pull this together? i like the idea of working with the sunni tribes and telling baghdad we're going to have like a national guard in the sunni areas and they'll have to live with it until they can strengthen the national forces and then the iranians have to accept it but we're not going to accept al assad or a regime in the area.

>> and there is going to be a problem especially with a presidential campaign and we're agreeing we don't want to cooperate with iran and we might conflict we don't want to cooperate and we can't walk into baghdad and say you have to get the iranians out. we're 10,000 miles away and the irans are there and on the ground -- >> and not only that, we're good to make a nuclear arrange. s with iran which is going to -- first it will give them a lot of money right away to cause mischief and secondly, it will be, as it has been explained to me, it sets a time table in which they could break out with nuclear weapons so it is very dangerous. >> this may be a time that irans make be concerned this is getting out of control. saudis have reacted to them in yemen. there is a potential for an escalation there because of shia-sunni. and iraq is unraveling and iran controlling iraq is very difficult to sustain.

>> i want to take a quick break. much more coming up. coming up, cutting off the head of the snake. the u.s. has a $10 million bounty on the head of isis. how big of a blow would it be for isis to lose its leader? fact. advil is not only strong it's gentle on your body too. no wonder doctors and patients have trusted advil... for their tough pains for over 30 years. relief doesn't get any better than this. advil. wheall i can think abouthit,

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welcome back to our situation room special report where we gather top military and strategic minds to take a close look at how to defeat isis. account united states and its alleys deal a major blow to isisdy taking out its chief. we take a close look at the secret and enigmatic leader who thinks of himself as a modern caliph. >> he spoke softly and sent chills down the spines of intelligence and military officials around the world. >> you should take up jihad to please god and fight in his name. wearing signature black and flashing an expensive watch, his sermon at a mosque in july of 2014 was an emergence for abu bakr al baghdadi, the invisible sheikh, on sensitive by secrecy.

>> this is a guy who would cover his face even when meeting with his own people, taking extraordinary precaution even in his own security. >> he now has a $10 million boundy on his head. how does he manage isis. one comes from accounts when he was in custody in iraq. a u.s. run prison of over 20,000 insurgents. he became a trusted inmate by his american captors, allowed to roam freely around the camp as a sort of ambassador. >> he is someone who could keep the prison quiet. >> one commander abua med said he spent time with bagdadi and he was a fixer at camp who could settle disputed between competing factions and respected

by the u.s. army. bagdadi was seen by other detainees as clever and scheming and using a policy of conquer and divide to get what he wanted. he was released from bucca. as he left, he had one last message. >> he looked over to us and as he left he said, see you guys in new york. >> now bagdadi is said to run isis like a mafia dawn and a ceo and with spreadsheets and assassinations and captured assets. if he is taking out, could isis survive. as valuable as he is to the brand, isis would not disintegrate. >> even killing the leader, including zarqawi has not been able to impact the organization. >> one key reason for that, isis has smartly fanned out from the center of gravity in iraq and

syria. it has taken the black market operations and diversified leadership structure to places like africa and south asia. analysts say a decapitation strike will

progress -- the world will be a better place without badhdadi. >> you agree. >> sure. you have to kill the idea. it's the idea of what he stands for and what this organization stands for. >> right now one thing that's really important that would be helpful is success. someplace in this area you need to draw a line and we need to win a battle. we need to pick the place, put a whipping on him and show the world this is not some invincible machine that's going to rekeep rolling. that would be a good tonic to buck up troops in the field, people in bagdad and maybe could have some other people around the world. >> general, they have. it's been a year now isis has been in control of mosul in the north. the second largest city in iraq. a city of nearly 2 million people. they're still in control. now they're in ramadi over here.

not far from fallujah. they're moving there. the fear is they're moving towards bagdad with the suicide attacks. using u.s. humvees 23 right now. how endangered is bagdad right now? >> i don't think bagdad is militarily threatened. it's too big, too complex. it is the capital. i agree with general marks. the iraqi will sustain it. mosul, i served a year in mosul. i know how large it is. that's a bridge too far right now for the iraqi security forces. i agree with admiral fallon. anbar is the place right now to demonstrate to the iraqi security forces, to the regional partners that this is not an invincible foe and they can and must be stopped. >> general clark, you served in vietnam. >> i did. >> do you remember when saigon was too big to fall. >> i do. >> what happened. >> it fell.

the french said, if they'd make a stand that the vietnam men would go away in 1954. it's a good thing to get a win. we had some wins. we had a win in tikrit and urible. we have to fight against the idea. we have to bring the sunni tribes in and get the iraqi back on the battlefield. i hope we can do it without u.s. ground troops there. >> do you have confidence in the iraqi troops? >> yes. they're two-thirds shia. bagdad has a huge shia population. we're focused on one province. if isis starts to move i can tell you what the shia will start to say, the two-thirds of the country down south. they'll say ain't coming to bagdad. >> is this winnable? >> yes. it must be. >> why? this is not for iraq's sake.

this is for our sake. it's in our best interest that this region be more stable and increasingly secure. >> gentlemen -- >> this is not winnable. we focused on this kind of threat that is islamist threat in afghanistan, western pakistan. somalia. northern nigeria. we can contain it but we can't win it. this is a myth. >> these people have to win it. >> this is a -- >> exactly. >> this is a long-term challenge. this is going to go on not a year, not two years, not ten years but 20 years. >> you have to be careful when you commit american troops that people understand. this is a long-term challenge. you're going to have violence in this region for a long time. >> we could defeat these guys tomorrow and there would be another terrorist organization that would appear and we'd have to roll back in. >> we have military capabilities without which the iraqi are not likely to be successful. we have the best military. we have capabilities nobody else has. they need to be applied with the iraqi. at the end of the day it's people on the ground that live there that are going to have to

do this. >> stand by. gentlemen. coming up, we've heard from some of america's top military leaders and strategists. next, we'll look at what we've learned. only nexium 24hr gives you nexium level protection for frequent heartburn all day and all night. try nexium 24hr,

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we've heard some of america's top retired military leaders weigh in on how to defeat isis. the former cai counter terrorism official phil mudd is still with

us. based on what you've heard around the table what's the most important thing the united states needs to do right now to defeat isis. >> one, maintain military support for the government. do not drawback. figure out a way, maybe independently to get weapons up to both the kurds and sunni tribes. number two. diplomacy. keep pressure on bagdad to bring the sunnis in and have a reality check in washington d.c. which does not do reality. the iranians are going to play. get over it. the final point is from the white house. americans don't know patience. minimum time frame for a counter insurgency like this, ten years. so you've got to give a message to the american people they're not going to like. we're 13, 14 years into this. another decade, maybe we make progress. >> with a lot of troops on the ground? >> no. maybe modest increases. people talk about forward spotters. there is a simple point. we are the supporting actor. we support the iraqi military. we don't change so that we become the big player on the block. there is one person who does that. that sits in bagdad.

>> phillip mudd. thanks very much. that's it. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer. "cnn tonight" with don lemon starts right now. breaking their silence. can the parents of "19 kids and counting" save their family's tarnished reputation. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. jim bob and michelle duggar are red state heroes. in the wake of their son's molestation scandal is the right losing faith in the family? they're not the only one necessary hot water from the real house wives to honey boo boo to duck dynasty. reality tv is getting a little too real. could today's stars learn a lesson or two from the fallen idols of the 1970s? newly minted superstar caitlyn jenner. no surprise she has a reality show in the works too. will itwe