. hello, welcome to a brand-new hour inside america's news head quarters. >> i'm patti ann browne. growing demand for answer is in the downing much malaysian airlines flight 17. new evidence links a russian commander to the crash. also the latest reaction from the white house. >> and israeli defense forces stepping up their offensive in the gaza strip but palestinian fighters managing to sneak their way around the fighting in the tunnels? we'll have a live report on the latest. >> hundreds of protesters taking to streets across the country this weekend. they're against account recent

flood of illegal immigrants pouring across our southern border. the latest on what's being done to deal with this crisis. >> first we start with the new shocking developments in the malaysian airlines flight 17 plane shootdown. u.s. officials now say they do believe a russian commander oversaw the missile strike on that passenger airliner. a senior u.s. official confirming the rocket was fired from a rebel held town in eastern ukraine. meanwhile the ukrainian government is accusing of russia of helping the rebels destroy evidence at the crash site. key eb also claiming the rebels are trying to send plane fragments to russia. national security correspondent jennifer griffin live in washington with the latest details on this and on that russian commander. >> hi, eric. senior western intelligence officials tell me they believe that this video shows the actual fa-11 missile launcher used to bring down the plane. it is missing two of its four

missiles and shows the missile launcher heading toward the russian border at dawn yesterday. u.s. officials now believe they have pinpointed the launch site for the missile that brought down the plane inside ukraine in the town of shizny. they believe the sa-11 buk missile was brought across the border from russia in recent weeks and since the malaysian plane went down, russian-backed separatists have been frantic little trying to hide it. u.s. officials now believe it's likely back across the border in russia. further, u.s. intelligence analysts now think they have evidence that this former russian military intelligence colonel igor girkin strel cov who is leading the separatist movement oversaw is the strike. just 20 minutes after the plane went down, one of his lieutenants is igor is overheard talking to another russian military intelligence officer in phone intercepts released by the ukraine government. u.s. officials are conducting

voice recognition and believe the audio to be authentic. >> we have just shot down a plane. that was miner's group. it fell down outside. pilots, where are the pilots? >> set off to search for the shotdown plane and take pictures. a plume of smoke is visible. >> how many minutes ago. >> about 30 minutes. >> that surface-to-air missile had to come from russia. the training provided to operate that the surface-to-air missile system most likely came from russia. >> that was u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel last night. at one well placed western intelligence source put it to me, we are building a case and it's pretty near bulletproof at this point. back to you. >> jennifer, despite that it, vladimir putin still blaming ukraine. thank you so much. >> eric, we're learning more about the victims of the airlines crash.

193 were from the netherlands. 43 from malaysia including the 15-member crew. the remaining victims from eight other countries. dutch american was 19-year-old quinn shauns man on his way to meet his family on vacationings in bali. they lived in new jersey before moving to holland when he was a child. >> and for more, we'll be speaking with mike pompeii a little later this hour. we'll discuss with imhad the latest evidence that seems to point to those russian separatists. two of israeli soldiers killed -- are killed as israel intensifies its battle against hamas. hundreds of palestinians have reportedly been killed since the israeli offensive began 12 days ago. as israeli defense forces push further into gaza blowing up another underground tunnel and several militants are thought to have a slipped through one of the tunnels.

john huddy is streaming live right now with the latest for us. hi, john. >> reporter: hi, patti ann and eric. the tunnels have been the prime objective since day one. we're going to day 13 as we go into the overnight hours. the network of it ups hamas has been using that snake through underground gaza and also the israeli forces have been rooting out on the israeli border side and today alone, they found three entrances so far 13 tunnels have been discovered. you talked about the militants. two militants were killed dressed as israeli soldiers today. they were killed at the border. armed to the teeth. ak-47s, pgs, and grenades. we just found out another militant who go over to the israeli side was carrying handcuffs and tranquilizers indicating that perhaps that is person was trying to you know, there was the intent to be an duckett either israeli civilians

or soldiers or possibly both. and that has been a huge concern. that's why this ground offensive started to the north, to the east as troops are pushing in trying to root out those tunnels and also the air strikes targeting hamas locations where there are tunnels here in gaza city to the north also and to the east and also rocket launch sites. i talked about how all morning overnight last night and then early this morning, there were a ton of missile strikes in and around our location. so close it was blowing out windows. there were shrapnel coming down on us. i said earlier, if you could just picture how the force of it, the ferocity, it's like putting a glass of water on a table and pounding the table. that's what it felt like. so the here and now, right now it's very quiet. eerily so. we hear the drones circling overhead obviously doing reconnaissance surveillance. we've heard explosions in the distance. it's calm for now. the pattern we've seen is when

you get past midnight into the witching hours, 2:30, 3:00 in the morning, that's when things really intensify and accelerate. we're expecting that again tonight as we go into the overnight hours. back to you. >> john huddy, stay safe. thanks. meanwhile as the flood of illegal immigrants continue to come across our southern border, there already immigration protests today being held across the country. taking a look at one being held in alabama, one of many on this weekend. all this as a new poll shows americans' interest in the growing crisis is getting bigger than ever and that a majority of americans want them sent back. elizabeth prann has this is report from washington. >> reaction erupting from both sides after massachusetts governor deval patrick agreed to allow 1,000 children caught crossing the border illegal little to find a safe haven in his state at the request of the president. local supporters such as is

senator warren said the kids are at real risk and every state that the could help should. patrick says it's personal. >> my faith teaches if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall are not mistreat him. buterally love him as yourself. for you were strangers in the land of egypt. >> reporter: there's a growing group of critics exemplified by hundreds of protests planned across the country. americans interest in immigration reform that is nearly trip manied in a month. in june 5% said it was a top problem. this month it's 17%, one of the country's top issues. one lawmakering is proposing a bill allowing local communities 90 days to evaluate federal requests to house unaccompany the children. >> it tells health and human services that they have to tell the mayors that yes, we are looking at a place within your city and then stop. and give them 90 days to assess

the impacts op their communities. >> while the president has not visited the border, he is scheduled to meet with the leaders of honduras, el salvador and guatemala on friday. >> thank you. the troubles continue for general motors. gm now ordering dealers to stop selling some cadillacs. some 2012 cts were recalled in late june over an issue concerning engines that can be shut off if the drive's knee dump bumps the key. gm does not have a fix yet for those vehicles. >> iranian nuclear talks now extended till november 24th between six world powers an. while secretary of state kerry says the negotiations are making progress -- iran still wants to enrich more uranium than the united states thinks is necessary. molly heninburg is live in washington with the latest. hi, molly. >> hi, patti ann. one main sticking point is iran's enrichment program.

iran wants to produce more than the u.s. believes is necessary for a peaceful nuclear energy program. secretary of state john kerry said he made it "crystal clear" to the iranian who's claimed they wanted to have 190,000 spinning is centrifuges over eight years. the u.s. believes even 10,000 would be too many. while kerry says there's been tangible progress in some areas of negotiation, he said in a statement "there are real gaps on issues such as enrichment. this is a critical component of net potential comprehensive agreement. we have much work to do in this area and in others, as well. but since iran is staying at the negotiating table and has taken some steps towards limiting its moo nuke career program, iran will get $2.8 billion in assets that had previously been frozen underened sanctions. that's in addition to more than $6 billion in assets already made available to iran.

the top republican on the senate foreign relations committee, bob corker, pressed the obama administration not to the allow these negotiations to go on indefinitely. he said "i urge the administration to make it clearly there will be no more extensions which would only further diminish our leverage." republican congressman ed royce, chairman of the house foreign affairs committee says congress should increase economic pressure on iran right now but says the obama administration opposes additional sanctions while the negotiations continue. patti ann? >> molly, thank you. russia is taking some action now banning a u.s. congressman and dozens of other people who are connected to guantanamo bay's detention center. russia does not want them to enter the country. moscow says democratic congressman jim mar ran from virginia was banned in response to an earlier ban of a russian parliament member. rear admiral richard butler and

lindy england, the former soldier who was convicted of abusing prisoners in the abu ghraib prisoner were two others. >> as the fighting continues in iraq, the united nations is stepping in. why they're asking for help in protecting opposition members. >> there are growing calls today for more answers in the shootdown of malaysia flight 17. that outrage as more evidence, new evidence surfaces that links russia to this disaster but can investigators get answers in that war zone. >> and a masstive wildfire forcing hundreds of people to from their homes in one western state. and belly pain feel like a knot. how can i ease this pain? (man) when i can't go, it's like bricks piling up. i wish i could find some relief. (announcer) ask your doctor about linzess-- a once-daily capsule for adults with ibs with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation. linzess is thought to help calm pain-sensing nerves and accelerate bowel movements.

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the united nations promising to help locate prominent opponents of the regime in iran. followers of the group, the council of resistance of iran fear they could be attacked again at their compound in baghdad. that is called camp liberty. we've reported on the apply the of the nearly 3,000 people that live there. the group says is the iraqi military has killed more than 100 people in several assaults on their camps so far and they charge the attacks were ordered by tehran. they fear with the advance of isis they could be targeted again. officials say the united states government has helped relocate some of their residents in other countries like albania and

germany. now a spokesman for the united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon says more needs to be done. and the u.n. is calling on other nations to take all their residents in as refugees to help save their lives. >> the secretary-general appeals to member states to the contribute to a durable solution for the relocation of camp residents outside of iraq and come forward with offers to accept residents into their territories. so that's part of the latest report to the security council. >> one of the groups's advisors wesley martin said in a statement to fox news, we have requested the u.n. to send a team to be stationed at liberty permanently, but this has not taken place. we need a team to be stationed there and need constant monitoring given the risks facing residents. so far the group says that hasn't happened. the last time they say u.n. officials visited the camp was a month ago leaving those people unprotected. so far 116 of its members have been killed in attacks by iraqi

forces. >> u.s. intelligence officials believe a russian commander oversaw the missile strike on a jetliner that killed almost 300 innocent people and ukraine is! ing russia is now helping the separatists to destroy evidence at the crash site. president obama says the rebels can't shoot down planes without sophisticated equipment and training and that is coming from russia. >> i made clear to president putin that our briefed path is to resolve this diplomatically. but that means that he will and the russian government have to make a decision. are they going to continue to support violent separatists whose intent is to undermine the government of ukraine, or are they prepared to work with the government of ukraine to arrive at a cease-fire and a peace that takes into account the interests of all ukrainians.

>> so what does this mean for u.s. relations with russia? mike pompeiiiol from the house intelligence committee joins us now. thanks for being with us. we know the plane was taken down by a russian built surface to arizona buk missile and intel suggests this commander from russia headed up the operation that brought down the plane. do you agree with what president obama said about the u.s. effort so far to get to a diplomatic end to this? >> i think the facts are merging this has russian fingerprints all over it, from russian controlled air in ukraine. we know it was a russian missile. this was enabled by senior leadership in moscow with near absolute certainty at this point. we need to do as a nation is more than lecture and talk. we need to make it very clear that putin is -- disrupt europe or if he's going to have the

american force applied to him economically and politically to make sure he has to choose between those two. >> our u.n. ambassador samantha power said russia must end this war. it's not just the u.s., britain, germany demanding russia stop stop sending weapons over the border. chancellor merkel spoke with putin by phone. everyone's got strong words here. you mentioned economic sanctions. what specifically -- what specific actions should be taken if russia does not comply? >> i'd say three things. first of all, this is going to have to be led by americans. europeans have enormous business interests in russia they have been unwillling to sacrifice to stop when vladimir putin took over one-fifth of ukraine. we're going to have to be the leader in this realm. we need to make sure the ukrainians have what they need it, training, intelligence, equipment all the things they need to fight against the

continued incursion into the ukraine and finally, i'd say this. whatever the president says he's going to do, we have to do it. we can't just do what we did in iraq or syria and say here's a red line, you can't cross it. we've got to be prepared to actually execute those economic and financial sanctions in a way that will make putin choose betweening aggression and his own russian economy. >> it took awhile for to us get to this point. i'm sure you remember mitt romney being ridiculed for saying russia was our prime foe. now as you know, russia as annexed crimea, arming ukraine's rebels there. did the obama administration have its head in the sand regarding this threat? >> there's no doubt about it. you'll remember the famous reset that secretary clinton engaged in. this was an aenormous policy american policy failure. to think for a moment a former

agb like putin was going to act in a way consistent with international norms was a foolish belief and one that has now led directly to the outcome we've seen here over the past months in ukraine. >> back to the current situation and the downing of the malaysian flight, video has surfaced showing a launcher missing two missiles heading toward russia shortly after this mass murder in the sky. that and other evidence really backing up this growing theory that russia's fingerprints are all over this. as you mentioned, our european allies have strong economic ties to russia. difficult for them to take too tough a stand here. but what should we expect from the international community? should the u.s. be alone in this? >> if we have 0 go it alone, we should go it alone. i don't think that's the case. i think we can apply pressure to those countries, as well. this is a european problem.

whether that is poland or france or germany, they know the history in europe. they live it. it is their home place. we need to make sure that we are actebly encouraging them in spite of all the challenges they have that they understand this enormous and growing threat to europe. i promise you, it is not vladimir putin's so intent to disrupt eastern ukraine. it is a continued effort to restore what was the historic russian empire. we need to stop it now and have the capacity to do it and need to lead so the europeans will join us in that effort. >> we should say that russia is denying any involvement in this and in fact, is blaming ukraine. russian media airing all kinds of con spir sill theories pointing the finger at the ukrainian government. how much has russian president putin lost in credibility with 295 people being lost include 80 kids? >> there's not a single piece of

intelligence that indicates this was anything other than a missile launched by folks connected to russia. you talked about fingerprints. so a statement that says that that is not true is counter factual. i think that will cost vladimir putin enormously in terms of credibility. what i'm most concerned is not his credibility but his capacity to continue to do harm in europe. that's the thing that the american government needs to lead on and i hope this president will begin to do that. >> congressman mike pompeo, house intel, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> patti ann, fox news coverage of this disaster an absolute horror will continue tomorrow. chris wallace will sit down with secretary of state john kerry on foch news sunday tomorrow morning. the secretary of state will discuss the latest on flight 17 and its shootdown and, of course, other international crises, the continuing israeli gaza conflict and the extension now that we're told of those nuclear talks with iran that were supposed to have a deadline of tomorrow.

you can check your local listings for what should be a vital conversation. meanwhile, a massive wildfire is forcing hundreds of people from homes in washington state. dominic di-natale joins us from our west coast bureau with the latest on there on this saturday. hi, dominicing >> hey there. yes, they are calling it a firestorm across the pacific northwest, one of the fires alone some 200,000 acres in size. that is an absolute monster. let's give you some of the footage of the latest aftermath we can show you. in the small town of pa tara, 100 houses destroyed and what that's showing really is just the devastation and the impact on the community there. you're just seeing house after house that has been completely gut. residents described the fire as all-consuming. there were a few that didn't see their homes destroyed. they were some of the lucky ones. listen? >> i just thank god.

i feel for all the people who lost everything. i have my house. i lost my shed and all my tools and stuff in there. my garden behind it, but i have my life. >> reporter: sharon describing how the fire swept over the hillside and that she was in au as the fire approached. let's show you where the two towns under threat are. pa terrace was wiped out. mallet has been completely evacuated, 500 people have been remove the the out of the town there. the state governor said there is still continuing impending danger. >> we've got a lot of work to do. there's still extreme danger here. the one message i hope people understand, this is a very dangerous fire. it's moving at the pace of a freight train and if you hear an evacuation order, please heed it. there is no time to fight this fire with hoses. >> the complex fire it's being called is devastating. you can hear how concerned the governor is there.

these are new footage, this is new footage from a drone deployed over the area showing how one house after another in the town of pateros was completely burnt out. just real total devastation there. everyone in the community in shock. one of 50 fires going on in washington state. down in oregon, we've got some 15 fires there and the authorities very muauthority authorities taken aback we'ving had such fierce fires so early on in the wildfire season. authorities saying it could get worse especially when the colton fire still isn't under control. >> thanks so much for the latest. patti ann. >> it can hard enough to investigate a plane crash but the obstacles in ukraine are stunning. it's a war zone. there are rebels allegedly hiding evidence. a suspected missile launcher spirited back over the border to

russia. meanwhile there is now a new system to protect airliners from missiles. will it work? more on that coming up. [ female announcer ] it's simple physics...

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[ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. the investigation into the downing of malaysia airlines flight 17 and the 29 people on board hitting a wall. as ukraine today accuses russia of helping militants destroy evidence. international monitors say they're restricted by armed rebels. kiev says dozens of bodies have been taken from the site to a rebel strong hold in donetsk. hi, steve streaming live for us. >> patti ann, in the wake of this tragedy, criticism from world leaders continues to grow directed straight at russia and russian president vladimir putin. in emotional remarks, the prime minister of the netherlands, of

course the dutch had 190 people plus on board the plane said it's putin's last chance to get it right. he said the dead bodies were being treated with gross disrespect. the prime minister of ukraine said his country's experts were actually threatened by pro-russian rebels. >> they were allowed to stay for less than an hour at the crash site and asked to leave the crash site. otherwises. >> those bodies have spent two days ine temperature in the sun in eastern ukraine. most of them have been placed in plastic bags. some confusion over where the bodies are actually being taken, whether to a morgue here in donetsk controlled by rebels or to morgues under control of the ukrainian government. european experts from the osce

are still in place but their leaders complained they are still not given complete access to that crash site. access is going to continue to be a difficult thing for the international expert who's continue to arrive. at kiev. they want to come here to carry out an independence unbiased investigation but getting here is going to be a challenge. on our road down, we saw several roads blown up, railroad tracks blown up, checkpoints from each side and the closer you get to that, kra, the more it becomes a real battle zone so creating a secure area for an independent unbiased analysis still doesn't exist yet. patti ann, back to you. >> steve harrigan live in ukraine, thank you. now we go to the airport and take off our shoes, put the contents of our pockets on the belt, the liquid in the ziploc bag and then we walk through the metal detector. all these tsa efforts to try and stop terrorists from smuggling a bomb or any weapon on your flight. but what about a missile that

could blow an airliner out of the sky like flight 17? it has happened more than a dozen times unless history. it turns out just three months ago, israel's defense ministry says it successfully completed testing a system called sky shield, a laser system that protects commercial planes from possible missile attacks. could this be the next security step we need? jim walsh is an expert with m.i.t. security studies program and joins us now from boston. jim, they say they tested this on an a 737 and it worked deflecting a missile somehow. should this program potentially be expanded? i have bad news. this is not the magic wand that's going to solve this problem. this program developed some years ago in response to an attack on israeli civilian aircraft by terrorists using shoulder-launched missiles that were heat seeking missiles.

what happened this week, these are radar guided highly sophisticated missiles produced by russia. and that system would not have prevented what we saw today. >> you were talking about the 2002 el-al situation in mombasa, kenya, where islamic terrorists apparently tried to shoot down an el-al or an israeli harter plane taking off in the south of kenya. but i mean, jim, that's more of a concern. you've got isis in iraq. you've got syria and there are reports all these stinger type missiles are out there. i mean, is there a possibility that this has been the worry for some time that the terrorists can get ahold of one of these, not the system we're looking at now that apparently took this down but the terrorists could go on a beach and shoot down a commercial airplane not protected with an anti-missile system. >> it's a great point to suggest there's certainly far more of those than there are the sa-11

which this is unprecedented it would be transferred to a nonstate actor. about you, but they cost $1 million apiece. you know, they're like 4,000, a little under 4,000 u.s. aircraft, big commercial jetliners. we're talking $4 billion. and frankly, american jet airliners commercial delta, usair, whatever, united are not landing in places where this is going to be a challenge. so i think it's highly unlikely that you'll see commercial airliners want to take on that cost. look at what happened which i think raises real questions. those airlines flying over this zone which only days before had seen an attack on a military transport at 20,000 feet, they were still using this air space. why? because it saved them $1500 in fuel costs. i don't see the airline industrial bucking up and the american airline industry coughing up $4 billion for something like this.

>> make that point again. there are 15 airlines that continue to use that airway. over the ukraine. >> yes. >> some have said as you just said, they decided not to reroute in order to save money? >> yeah, absolutely. i have real problems with that. i fly a lot. often, my planes are diverted because of weather. and here we have a war zone and a war zone where only four days before on monday of last week, you had had an air transport shot down at 20,000 feet. this plane was at 31,000, 33,000 feet. if you ask me, if there's a plane shot down at 20,000 feet, you probably start to divert the traffic. >> jim, talk about the cost. there's a little the of missile act in congress they say the dod would pay for these type of missiles. is that something they should explore even though most american airplanes you don't fly over a war zone. >> exactly. and the 12 you were right to

mention the number of times it's happened. 12 times. but that's 12 times out of millions and millions of flights. it's horrific. but it is a risk. it's.00 something is a risk. so worth exploring, sure. but the nature of missile technology of drones, all of this grows faster than i think the commercial airlines' ability to put on costly systems every time to twri to defend against it. >> talk about the drones. you don't know what's up in the air. jim, always good to see you from beantown today. thank you. >> patti ann? >> israeli defense forces pushing deeper into gaza targeting hamas militants and their baeps. the latest on the growing offensive. plus a growing epidemic tightening its grip on the caribbean and right here in the u.s. what you need to know to stay safe. [male vo] inside this bag is 150 years

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now. three buses crashed on a highway in germany killing nine people injuring nearly 45 others. police say most of the dead were polish citizens. police say the remains of an american man missing for six months have washed up near a mexican beach in two trash bags. hear deaver left his job in finance to travel the world. he sent his girlfriend a text message before his disappearance saying he was in a dangerous

area. puerto rico declaring a health epidemic. more than 200 cases of the mosquito born virus. the disease is rarely fatal. >> turning back now to the latest on the crisis between israel and hamas. it is now day 12. israeli defense forces pushed further into gaza setting their sights on blowing up underground tunnels. several terrorists have slipped through the tunnels to try and attack the country. so can israel shut them down and what if they don't? join us to talk about this threat, retired army major general bob scales. general, always good to see you. >> these tunnels are unbelievable. they go for a mile or mile and a half way underground and hamas apparently has been able to sneak supplies and militants and equipment. right through these tunnels. can israel stop this? >> boy, it's going to be hard.

there are about 18 of these tunnels as you suggest, they're very sophisticate and used not only as a way to get into israel but also as a way to hide rockets and other weapons and also as a refuge for the elite from hamas. hamas has tried several ways to kill israels and they haven't worked. they've tried rockets. they've tried car bombings. they've tried the intefada. israel has always found a way to counter these. the problem now is that air power won't destroy these bunkers, won't cave them in. so they have to go in on the ground. the first few have been relatively easy in the sense that the these tunnels are in a fairly sparse part of the gaza strip. as you get further south as they advance further and further south, it's going to get hard because some of the tunnels are in gaza city which is a heavily populated area and the resistance obviously over the next few days is going to

stiffen. >> how far does the idf go? could they potentially have shoot-outs inside those tunnels? >> not likely inside the tunnels. the israeli technique is fairly simple. they put a lot of explosives in the entrances to these tunnels and they just simply cave them in with these heavy doses of explosives. and they follow it up with either back hoe or bulldozers to try to collapse them as best they can and take away the entrances. the tactics of it are fairly easy. the problem as they move further south is getting to the tunnels because they're in ever more dangerous terrain for the israeli infantry and hamas are sitting on the rooftops waiting for them. >> do they have a sense where all the tunnels are? or are there some they don't know about. i would imagine one of the abilities the idf has is to have ground penetrating radar it see other type of tunnels under there. >> they're too deep for ground

penetrating. they're about 30 meters deep, 90 feet. radar is good for about four feet. they have great human intelligence and identified so far about 1. but your point's well taken. as you get further south, the intelligence gets more sketchy. the chances for surprise are greater. hamas is not student. they're going to put these entrances underneath buildings much as the cartels do on the mexican border. they're going to hide them in dense areas hoping the israelis won't be able to find them. >> there were reports they hid weapons in mosques and in a school, a u.n.-run school. finally general, tunnels are one thing. but what about all the missiles? 10,000 or 20,000. hamas has fired 1500 so far. you can stop the tunnels by bull dozing them. how do you stop the onslaught of rockets? >> it gets worse. estimates are right now from my sources not only does hamas have 8,000 or 9,000 left but

hezbollah has over 100,000 missiles in the north they've gotten from syria. i think the long-term threat for israel are these increasing sophistication of the missiles, the huge numbers it of missiles that hamas and hezbollah have and the great fear among the idf of course, is these missiles become so sophisticated they have some sort of gps to make them precise against israeli villages. that would have a devastating effect particularly if fired in large ripples that can defeat iron dome. >> general bob scales, this continues. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> patti ann? >> the search for answers in the malaysia airlines plane crash. a russian commander now accused of being behind it. we'll tell you what investigators are facing trying to do their work in a rebel-held conflict zone. 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.

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investigations into the downed malaysia passenger jet continue in eastern ukraine. the ntsb and f.b.i. sending teams over to help, but international monitors say their movements are being restricted in this territory. john is a form ntsb official and the former airline mechanic. thank you for joining us. separatist rebels, like the ones believed to have shot down this plane, are block investigators from the fight.

the organization saying, quote, the world's biggest crime scene is guarded by a bunch of guys in uniform with heavy fire power who are quite inhospitable. how is this being allowed to happen? >> it's not our country and we're on their turf and they don't want us there basically. >> yeah. and all these people who are trying to come in not just u.s. investigators, but investigators from the whole international community say they're being rebuffed. time is critical. the biggest concern, the black boxes. they say they've not found them. are you concerned they've been stolen or tampered with? >> of course. it's not just the black boxes either. the entire accident scene has been compromised. the useful information that we're able to get out of it will be greatly diminished because of the time and the traffic. >> yeah. they have also reportedly moved at least 38 bodiesed and the

rebel, while they're block investigator, they're allowing their pals and ordinary citizens apparently to wander through the corpses and the wreckage and according to officials in kiev, they're stealing cash, jewelry, credit cards. how serious is this looting in terms of possible evidence? >> it's all very serious. i'm sure that it was calculated to let all these people come in to contaminate the scene, move the bodies to make the forensics on the bodies difficult, if not impossible. i think it's clearly an effort to cover up some dirty hands in the responsibility for this. >> yeah. you are a form ntsb official yourself. you say, in addition to the black boxes and the other forensic evidence, that one of the key things here would be possible pieces of the missile being found in the wreckage. do you think that evidence is probably being tampered with as well? >> i'm sure if there are any big

pieces that were different than aircraft structure, they've already been removed. it's taken too much time, too many people have gone through there. i think the whole scene is compromised. >> yeah. the probe indicates that this missile was launched from an area in eastern ukraine controlled by the separatist rebels. how precise can the investigators get if all they're left with is trying to figure out if trajectory based on videos they have, et cetera? >> well, you can do some work in that area, but it is compromised now. >> so the u.s. and the f.b.i. are being sent over. the national transportation safety board, other countries sending their own people, and meanwhile, german chancellor angela merkel had a conversation with vladimir putin and they discussed having the international civil aviation organization leading this probe. apparently putin agreed to that

in principle. what about that commission? do you have faith in that commission? >> well, under ikale, they set a set of rules. they don't have their own investigators. so that's breaking new territory. now, if ikao can designate and pick investigators from some of the better organization in the world, well then maybe that might work. but again, that is a process that could take many weeks to put together and that scene will get more and more compromised. >> right. john, thank you so much for joining us. >> that does it for now. we'll be back in one hour. >> and john stossel is up next. ♪

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