president obama reiterating america's military strategy against isis. welcome to "america's news headquarters." well the president speaking about his plan during his weekly address where she distinguished the current military campaign against the terror group from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. >> to me the threat like this, we have to be smart. we have to use our power wisely. and we have to avoid the mistakes of the past. american military power is unmatched, but this can't be america's fight alone. >> the president's comments comes as his administration now tries to round up enough allies

to help in the fight against the terror group. we are live in washington now with more, hi molly. >> reporter: hi, white house and pentagon officials say we're at war. but secretary of state john kerry says quote, war is the wrong terminology. today, we heard about the fight against the islamic terror group isis or isil from the president. here's how president obama described it. >> what's needed now is a targeted, relentless counterterrorism campaign against isil that combines american air power, contributions from allies and partners, and more support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground. and that's exactly what we're doing. we're moving ahead with our campaign of air strikes against these terrorists and we're prepared to take action against isil in syria as well. >> that match is what kerry said earlier this week, that the battle against isis is a quote very significant counterterrorism operation. working on a co. tloigs help fight -- coalition to help fight

isis. the obama administration needs to press countries in that region to get involved. >> we would like to see saudi arabia, kuwait, pay for this because frankly, you know their necks are on the block in terms of isis and isis's attempt to overthrow the regimes. they are providing training basis, but how about troops, how about paying for this? how about their aircraft joining some of the nato aircraft? >> reporter: the cia estimates that the numbers have more than doubled this summer. >> okay, thanks so much. meanwhile the parents of murdered journalist james foley speaking out, recounting an exclusive interview with greta van susteren, their helplessness in trying to free their son. and that they were threatened by the u.s. government for trying to negotiate for their son's release. listen. >> we finally at that point said, well whatever, if we go to

jail, we go to jail, but we're going to try to raise money, negotiate on a humanitarian basis as a family. so we started sending more frequent e-mails, you know, and so we established this other e-mail just for that. that purpose. >> greta's interview with the parents continues on monday night on the record with part two at 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on the fox news channel. the u.s. urging its citizens in uganda to seek shelter after uncovering an imminent terror plot from the somali terror group al shabaab, the terror cell being discovered within the country, the group has called for revenge attacks after u.s. drone strikes killed its leader earlier this month. the u.s. embassy there now telling all u.s. citizens to stay indoors or in a safe place until the all clear is given. man hunt under way in

pennsylvania after an ambush on two police officers at a barracks there. the attack leaving one trooper dead and the other wounded. the barracks located in an area that runs along the delaware river and borders new york and new jersey. we are live in blooming grove, pennsylvania, with the latest, hi brian. >> hi, well all law enforcement agencies in pennsylvania are on high alert for an active shooter, quote dangerous and armed criminal that is still on the loose as police are looking for a suspect or suspects responsible for last night's shooting of two pennsylvania state troopers. police say at about 10:50 last night, two young state troopers during a late night shift change were shot outside, ambushed outside of the blooming grove state police barracks located in the wooded area near state mustn'ting ground. corporal brian k. dickenson was shot and killed. corporal alex d. douglas is in

stable, but critical condition after undergoing surgery. police say that they literally conducted an exhaustive search using helicopters and our vehicles last night. in today and confident that the suspect or suspects are not located anywhere in the immediate, in the immediate area, but they say that roadblocks and helicopter flyovers, especially roadblocks on route 402 and i-84 are expected to continue as they search for the suspects. now new jersey, new york, pennsylvania, state police are all involved as well as the fbi ddea, and atf as this man hunt continues statewide. the police commissioner says that the law enforcement agencies have been extremely deeply affected by the incident, the incident last night. he believes the attack was directly targeted at state police, but they are not sure whether or not these two state troopers were individually singled out. >> this attack was an ambush.

our troopers were leaving the barracks and were shot without warning, and really had no chance to defend themselves. it's a cowardly attack, it's an attack on all of us in society. >> reporter: the police still again, no information on what a suspect or suspects may look like. if you have any information, you are encouraged to call 1-800-4-patips. reward will be given to anyone that gives information that leads to an arrest. >> thank you very much for that update. meanwhile more problems for the nfl today. the league now dealing with the yet another abuse scandal after minnesota vikings star running back adrian peterson is booked on child abuse charges. investigators say peterson used a branch to spank his son in may. if convicted, he could face up to two years in prison and fined up to $10,000. now this just days after the

league was widely criticized when this graphic video surfaced of ray rice allegedly hitting his then fiancee and dragging her out of the elevator. >> bad news for president obama and the democrats, new polls showing americans are more fed up than ever with their performance. what it could mean for the balance of power in washington, we'll tackle that next. man: i know the name of eight princesses. i'm on expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there.

time now for a quick check of the headlines. u.s. embassy in uganda issuing a warning to americans after officials say they uncovered an eminent terror plot from al shabaab, all u.s. citizens are being told to stay indoors new mexico the all clear is given. they are believed to have been behind that massive deadly terror attack on the west gate shopping mall in nairobi a year ago. no arrests yet in the ambush

shooting of two pennsylvania state troopers last night. but a statewide manhunt is under way. one of the troopers is dead while the other was wounded. minnesota vikings running back adrian peterson has been booked and released from a texas jail today. peterson is charged with causing injury to a child, allegedly for spanking one of his sons with a tree switch or branch. avalanche of bad news for president obama and democrats ahead of this year's midterms. brand new fox news poll showing that well over half of americans view president obama as weaken and decisive. a figure that has gotten significantly worse over the last year. and another poll also finding that the president's approval rating is now back at shiz all time low of 38%. john mccormack is a senior writer for the weekly standard. >> john, i put together this did

i did before our segment, 50 ways to leave your lover, 50 ways to survive 50 days until the midterm elections. so couple that, thank you within so consider the poll i just read to you. how does it look for demes, john? >> it's going to be pretty tough. you know, and the number falls out on the generic ballot which is who do you approve? republicans now have an edge by about four points in an average of polls. the bigger question is the senate race. no one expects the house to flip, that's a pure republican hands, but the question is the senate. right now, looks like republicans have a pretty good shot at getting above 50 seats, but the question here is again if you go back in 2010 that the senate race tend to individualize more. and a statewide campaign, off better opportunity to, you know, each side is running ten plus million dollars worth of ads, you get an opportunity to represent the case. the question is whether or not democrats will save some seats in the senate which is what

really matters. break it down to me because i got all the numbers we comprehend. we want to know specifics, john, how do the democrats do? >> well one thing they've been running on is the fact that they have a lot of candidates in southern states and red states that are hard to win just from a partisan perspective, but they have great family names, great family backgrounds, michelle nun who is sam nun's daughter, you've got mark prior whose father was governor for many years. and in alaska, doesn't look like those guys are going to pull it off, it's close in alaska, you know, democrats down by a couple points. arkansas, down by a couple points. looking good in colorado and other swing state right now, the democrats are where mark pulled ahead of cory. >> again, i know you were loaded in stats. it's important what you do. i want to go back to the name sick issue that you talked about and absolutely those senators that you highlighted.

i want to be specific because there's a lot going on internationally. there's a lot going on even nationally. and i want you to touch on some of those issues that will be determining factors in those races you're talking about. and we can start, since you're considering southern states, let's talk about the issue of immigration. will that be something that people that you and i can concentrate or or will the voters look at that and what the senators are doing as it pertains to those issues? >> well i think immigration's a very big deal, and the polls have flipped on this in the past year. go back a year ago, democrats had a strong advantage. under se question, look now, the most recent one i saw, republicans have a seven point advantage, that's a really stunning change, and that has a lot to do with the crisis on the southern border, concerns about reported executive amnesty of up to five million illegal immigrants by president obama.

and if you look at the southern states, there aren't huge latino populations where democrats might get a boost. i think this is a problematic issue, you had mark prior. most of the democrats did vote for the comprehensive immigration bill last year. and i do think that's going to hurt them in november. >> i understand when you speak of those southern states and there is not a great population of latinos there, as the end of the day, the immigration crisis has come into the forefront and it's even more of the forefront of other americans. not just the latino communities. so really that will come into play there. and of course, there's always local politics to deal with. is there anything on the economic front that's going to be an impact because we're talking of course about all the international stuff which is very crucial, which is very important. at the end of the day though, americans want to know what's going to happen here in my backyard, what's going to happen to my abilitile to food on my table, can you talk about any of those issues?

do you think they're going to play any sort of important roll in these -- role in these midterm elections. >> certainly they will. the cliche, talking point of most consultants and politics is that the economy's stupid. if you look, the economy has improved quite a great deal since 20102009 when president obama took office. the unemployment rate's way down. wages haven't quite kept up with as they should have, people are not exactly feeling better about their personal economic situation, but if it were simply about economics, you wouldn't expect a big republican wave this year. maybe the economy, people will feel good about that, the stock market's doing well. i think obamacare, you know, the health care law is really still an under the radar issue now with foreign policy blowing up. a lot of people really have had their health insurance premiums skyrocket, choices narrowed, and as much as the pundit class has stopped talking about, i think americans have been affected. they know people. 2-1 margin, people have been hurt rather than helped. i think that's going to be a negative factor on democrats this fall. >> okay. we will be watching, we'll see

what happens, john mccormack, 50 ways to leave your lover, 50 ways to survive 50 days untilmi. no sense of humor, thank you. moving on now, ahead more on the fight to crush the islamic state, president obama preparing to lead an international coalition against the terrorists army. we're going sbeek with a former senior advisor at the state department for context and perspective, stick around, that's coming up next. you do a lot of things great.

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that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. go to comcastbusiness.com/ checkyourspeed. if we can't offer faster speeds or save you money we'll give you $150. comcast business built for business. this week, president obama declaring that the u.s. will ultimately destroy isis. the terror group that rampaging through iraq and syria, sweeping up thousands of fresh recruits along the way. and today the u.s. warning americans in uganda of a

possible terror plot there and urging them to stay home this coming after uganda says they found a massive al-shabab terrorist cell. joining me now, my guests. let's start uganda. you have the u.s. embassy telling oleosus citizens to stay indoors. an imminent threat coming from al-shabab. reminding our audience that the u.s. killed their leader recently. so i just want you to sort of bring this home to us here in america. let us understand why this is important and really what this means. >> it's another one of these wildfires around the world that continues to rage. basically this came from somalia. al-shabab is the latest islamic group there and it's spreading. not only here in uganda, but a major attack in kenya that

targeted foreigners in a mall. now you have this in uganda. the government acted. but it shows a problem with the u.s. policy, strategy of trying to decapitate terrorist groups. you can kill the top guy, we did it with bin laden and al-shabab, but they continue to operate. they're fairly low tech, durable groups. you need to have ground presence. you need o have intelligence. you need to work with locals. none of that's terribly appealing because it means getting our feet wet in places that really aren't great places to be. unfortunately, alternative is that the jihaddist groups control more and more geography. >> that will bring us to this war on isis and what that means and of course, there is going to be air strikes. there is going to be lots of humanitarian aid. aid in terms intelligence, et cetera. american public is trying to grapple with the strategy.

are some lawmakers and just as it stands now, christian, i understand your take is this is a recipe for prolonged and conclusive war and americans don't have an appetite for that, right? >> no. unfortunately. frankly, the gradual involvement -- people overuse the vietnam analogy, but i think it is apt in this case. there is less than meets the eye. it's not new. it's just moving it from more opaque funding, covert funding, which is more direct with the pentagon. the air strikes are going to be pretty modest and there is nothing in the plan -- this is the crucial lapse -- that really will get the sunnies in sunni iraq to rise against the is. they're not going to trust the baghdad government which is dominated by shiites. there is a couple fundamental problems with the plan. >> you were saying they can't survive depending solely on the backs of the shiite government, not to be trusted. >> that's right. we forget that they were

betrayed, the sunnies when the surge came in 2007, when we put down the insurgency. a big part was enlisting sunnies to turn on other sunnies. as we with drew, we moved them from our payroll to the baghdad government and he in turn persecuted them. he didn't follow through on his promises. he was not inclusive. now we're asking these very same people to once again trust that dysfunctional baghdad government and meanwhile, they're surrounded by the is. they look at their funny, they're dead. there is mo real mechanism in place just yet to get them funds and money. if we're just saying we'll get you some help now, but then turn on them and we'll set you up later, that's not going to be convincing for them. so what you're left with is the next president is going to inherit an iraq that is three different iraqs that, has a jihaddist stand presence and this problem won't go away and it will be a long war.

>> let's talk about our president. president obama, in terms of approval for what his aggression against isis, should he seek congressional approval or not? go ahead. answer that first. >> i think he should, not because the constitution requires him to. he is the commander in chief and as alexander wrote, the military is something in particular that lends itself to be guided by a single hand. many presidents, george h.w. bush in golf war 1 and george w. bush went to congress for pragmatic reason, that you at least get them on board. they're not going to stay on board. congressmen do blow with the wind a lot, especially when things turn bad. but essentially now, president obama is going to war without any real indication of support from congress. they'll give him the money he asks for. that's likely to be rolld into a continuing resolution or stand alone bill very soon.

but having congress with you has pragmatic utility. >> in fairness, quickly, isn't there a big political situation at play? you've got mid terms in 50 days. nobody wants to be on record to support it. they want the president to go alone so it's off their happened. i wear may -- hands. >> probably depends on the state. mary landrieu might be able to say she supported a plan to take the fight to the ias so when gas prices go up, when they put iraq's oil in peril, she can say i did something. i think you have to look at state by state. >> christian whiten, thank you so much. that does it for me. stick around. "the five" is up next. i'll see you back in one hour o fox news. but i don't want my breathing problems to get in the way of hosting my book club. that's why i asked my doctor about b-r-e-o. once-daily breo ellipta helps increase airflow from the lungs

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it's 5:00 in new york city and this is "the five jshsz. the latest fbi national threat reference makes zero references to islamic terrorists, and now, there's a very disturbing story out of new jersey that we need to tell you about because it's not getting very much attention. 19-year-old college student was driving home on june 25 when he was brutally murdered by three men, and one of the men, ali mohammad brown said it was