to stop and think about how you stop them and deal with that. so -- >> more will not protect the homeland. more invasion will not protect the homeland. >> let me make it -- >> more invasion will not protect the homeland. more invasion will not protect the homeland. >> it's important for people to understand there's no invasion. the invasion was isil into iraq. the invasion is foreign fighters into syria. that's the invasion. it is destructive to every possibility of building a state in that region. so even in a region that is virtually defined by division, and every member of this committee understands the degree to which these divisions are deep in that region, leaders who have viewed the last 11 years very differently, have all come

together for this cause. they may agree on very little in general, but they are more unified on this subject than anything that i've seen them unified on in my career. so as president obama described last week when he spoke directly to the american people, we do have a clear strategy to degrade, defeat and destroy isil and it's not in its infancy. it has been well thought through and carefully articulated and now is being built in these coalition efforts that began with the meeting in jeddah and moved to paris and will move to the united nations this week when i chair a u.n. security council meeting on friday. the united states will not go it alone. that has been a fundamental

principle on which president obama has sought to organize this effort. and that is why we are building the coalition, a global coalition. there are more than 50 countries that have already agreed or are now doing something. not every country will decide their role is to have some kind of military engagement, but every country can do something and will show what that means. and as i traveled around the region and europe in the last days, the question that foreign leaders were asking me was not whether they should join the coalition, but how they can help. we're also -- and i emphasis this, we're not starting from scratch. this is an effort that we have been building over time. both op our own and with the help of our international partners.

even before president obama delivered his speech last week nearly 40 countries had joined in contributing to the effort to strengthen the capacity of iraq, to be able to strengthp its military, to train to provide humanitarian assistance. we've been focused on isil since its inception, as the successor to al qaeda of iraq. in 2013. back in january, realizing that, we ramped up our assistance to the iraqi security forces, increasing our intelligence surveillance reconnaissance, or isr, the flights ta get a better picture of the battlefield, we expedited weapons, like the helfire missiles for the iraqis in order to bring their capacity to bear in this fight. early this summer, the isil threat accelerated when it

effectively erased the iraq/syria border and the mosul dam fell. the president acted immediately, deliberately and decisively, we further surged the isr missions immediately, we set up joint operation centers in baghdad and erbil immediately, and our special forces conducted a very detailed, in-depth assessment of iraqi security forces and kurdish forces. we did that purposefully, without jumping as some people wanted us to, because we wanted to understand what is the capacity of the iraqi army to fight. how many brigades having seen what happened in mosul are still prepared to engage? are we getting into something that, in fact, we don't have the answers to with respect to who can do what? to date well, have launched -- we have supported those iraqi security forces that, by the

way, helped in the liberating of amerrily, helped in the freedom of sinjar mountain, helped in taking back the mosul dam, and now we have launched more than 150 air strikes and it is because of the platforms that we put in place last january and even before, that those strikes have been among the most precise strikes that we have ever taken. the percentage, i won't go into it here, but i will tell you, you would be astonished if the -- if you heard openly now the accuracy of those efforts. those were put in place back in june and those strikes have been extremely effective in breaking the sieges i described and beginning to move confidence back into the iraqi military. the judgment and assessments of our military that went over there to look at the iraqi military, came back with a

judgment of a sufficient number of brigades, capable of and ready to fight. and with the reconstitution of the military in a way that can bring the country together, and not be divided along sectarian lines or viewed to be the army of one individual, it is entirely likely that there will be much greater and more rapid progress. so that has given us time to put in place the two pillars of a comprehensive strategy against isil, an inclusive iraqi government which was essential. there would be no capacity for success here if we had not been able to see the iraqi government come together. and secondly, the broad international coalition so the u.s. is not alone. we redoubled our efforts, frankly, to help move the iraqi political process forward and we were very clear eyed about the fact ha the strategy of isil

would only succeed if we had a strong, inclusive government, and frankly, that required transformation in the government which the iraqis themselves effected. with our support and several weeks of very complex negotiations, president ma soods nominated hider al badie to serve as prime minister and shortly thereafter, al badie with our support and others, was able to present it to the parliament and last week that government was approved. it was astonishing to be in jeddah the other day with the saudis and mir radedies, the bahrainis the jordanians, the qataris, turks, lebanese and iraqis. iraqis in saudi arabia. everybody here in this committee knows what that relationship has been like for the last years. and to hear the foreign minister

of iraq who chaired the meeting, al fassel, say they were prepared to open an immediate embassy in baghdad, that's transformative. the result is something also for iraq that it's never seen before in its history, an election deemed credible by the united nations, followed by a peaceful transition of power without any u.s. troops on the ground. i must say, i was sort of struck yesterday, "the wall street journal" had an article talking about arab divide, but above the arab divide language, is the -- is the shia foreign minister of iraq, the kurd president of iraq, and the sunni foreign minister of saudi arabia, all in communication and jointly working as never before. so i think people need to focus on what has been accomplished here.

as you know, i went to iraq last week, i traveled, i met with the leaders of iraq. and throughout the entire process, we've been touched with regional leaders to ensure that the new and inclusive government is going to receive support from the region. with this inclusive government in place, it is time for a defensive strategy that we and our international partners have pursued to get things together, get the inclusive government, know exactly where we're going, to now transition to an offensive strategy. one that harnesses the capabilities of the entire world, to eliminate the isil threat once and for all. president obama outlined this strategy in detail. i'm not going to go through it in that detail, but i'll just quickly say, i'll be quick in walking through it, at its core, our strategy is centered on a global coalition that will collaborate closely across a number of specific areas,

including direct and indirect military support. military assistance can come in a range of forms, from training and equipping, to logistics and airlift, and countries from inside and outside of our region are already right now, providing that support in these venues. i've ali also have no doubt whatsoever we will have the capabilities and resourceses we need to succeed militarily. president obama made clear we will be expanding the military campaign to take on isil in iraq, in syria, wherever it is found. but this is not the gulf war in 1991, it is not the iraq war in 2003, and that's true for a number of reasons. number one, u.s. ground troops will not be sent into combat in this conflict.

from the last decade, we know that a sustainable strategy is not u.s. ground forces. it is enabling local forces to do what they have to do for themselves and for their country. i want to be clear, the u.s. troops that have been deployed to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. instead, they will support iraq forces on the ground as they fight for their country against these terrorists. and in syria, beyond the ground combat will be done by the moderate opposition, which serves as the current, best counterweight in syria to extremists like isil. we know that isil as it gets weaker, the moderate opposition will get stronger. and that will be critical in our efforts to bring about the political solution necessary to address the crisis in syria once and for all. that is one of the reasons w

it is so critical that congress authorize the opposition, train and equip mission when it comes to the floor, but it's also critical that the opposition makes the most of the additional support. the kind of support that they've been requesting now for years. and they need to take this opportunity to prove to the world that they can become a viable alternative to the current regime. number two, this is more than just a military coalition, and i want to emphasize that. in some ways, some of the most importants aspects of what we will be doing are not military. this mission isn't just about taking out an enemy on the battlefield. it's about taking out a network, decimating and discrediting a militant cult, masquerading as a religious movement. it's similar to what we've been doing to al qaeda these last years. the bottom line is, we will not be successful with a military

campaign alone and we know it. nor are we asking every country to play a military role. we don't need every country to engage in that kind of military action, and frankly, we're not asking them and we don't want every country to do that. only wholistic campaign will accomplish our objectives. in addition to the military campaign, it will be equally important for the global coalition to dry up isil's elicit funding, and by the way, the bahrainis at the meeting in jeddah have offered to host a meeting because they've already been engaged in this, that brings people together to focus on precisely the steps we can all take to do this and that can positively have an impact not just on isil, but on other flows of terrorism support. we have to stop the foreign fighters who carry passports from countries around the world, including the united states, to

continue to deliver, and we also need obviously to continue to deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance. finally, and this is really -- you can't overstate this -- we must continue to repudiate the gross distortion islam that isil is spreading, put an end to the sermons by extremists that brainwash young men to join these movements and commit mass atrocities in the name of god. i was very encouraged to hear that saudi arabia's top clerics came out and declared terrorism a heinous crime under shariah law and the per traitors should be made an example of and i think -- i might just mention --

i'll wait until we get into the q&a. i'll come back to this. an important statement was made today by the top clerics in the region and i want to come back to that because i think it's critical. but let me just emphasize that when we say global coalition, we mean it. and this is not -- australia, other countries in the far east, countries in europe, have all taken on already initial responsibilities. so my colleagues, we are committed to working with countries in every corner of the globe to match the campaign with the capabilities that we need to fight it. and i can tell you today that every single person i spoke to in wales at the wales summit, in jeddah, in paris where we had more than 30 countries and

entities, they all expressed strong support for our mission and a willingness to help in some way. we had excellent meetings and our meetings in baghdad and in cairo and in anchor ra advanced the process. the conference in paris, we took another step towards the unger meetings this weeks. the unger meetings, unlike the meetings we've had thus far which have been behind closed doors, the unger meetings, these countries will be speaking out publicly at the united nations security council and the world will see what each of these countries are prepared to do. we have a plan, we know the players, our focus now is in determining what each country's role will be and how to coordinate those activities for success. later this week, we're going to have more to say about our partners and the contribution, and we still fully expect this coalition to grow through unga

and beyond. one of the things that i'm most pleased about is we've asked one of our most respected and experienced military leaders, general john allen, to come to the state department and oversee this effort. he came within 24 hours of being asked, was at his desk at 7:00 in the morning, and is now already laying out the campaign from a diplomatic point of view for how we coordinate what will be needed for all of these other aspects beyond the military piece. i had a long meeting with him yesterday, again today, and i'm confident that together with ambassador bret mckirk who will serve as his deputy and assistant secretary ann patterson, so much a part of our effort against al qaeda when she was our ambassador to pakistan, we have a very experienced group of people engaged in this effort. the fact is, if we do this right, then this effort could actually become a model for what

we can do with respect to the individual terrorist groups in other places that continue to wreak havoc on the efforts of governments to build their states and provide for their people and i'm confident that with our strategy in place and our international partners by our side, we will have all that we need and with the help of the congress, we will be able to succeed in degrading and ultimately destroying this monstrous organization wherever it exists. i know that was a little long, mr. chairman, but i wanted to lay it out and i appreciate your patience. >> well, thank you, mr. secretary. let me start off with, i think one of the most critical lessons that we have learned from past u.s. military interventions abroad, is that we must have a clear vision for the end state that we're seeking. and a coherent strategy that is focused about how not only do we enter and succeed, but how do we

exit a theater of war. so i'd like to get as sus sinkly as you can, a statement from you as to what does the end goal look like? i heard you talk about taking out a network. i get that. but beyond that, what is the political end state conditions we're seeking so that we will know that it's a time to end be military action? >> well, the military action ends when we have ended the capacity of isil to engage in broad-based terrorist activity that threatens the state of iraq, threatens the united states, threatens the region. that's our goal. and that means ending their ability to live in ungoverned space, have a safehaven and be able to control territory and move at will, to try to attack the united states or other places. the threat, obviously, right now

is more immediate to the middle east and to europe, but we have americans over there fighting with passports. >> so, obviously, that doesn't mean we're going to look to eliminate every person who is associated with isil? >> we haven't been able to eliminate every person associated with al qaeda. >> absolutely. so the -- >> we've been able to reduce their capacity to mount a major attack under -- so -- >> you know the circumstances that we're able to, obviously, guard against and engage in. >> in iraq we want a sovereign iraq whose territorial integrity has been restored, without the presence of isil. >> and independent, inclusive government that is functioning. >> and in syria in? ? >> in syria likewise. we believe there is no solution to syria without a political settlement. that goal hasn't changed. but assad has had little incentive to negotiate. the incentive that existed when

i first went to moscow last year, and president putin and russia agreed to support the geneva process, regrettably got sidetracked by a number of things, one of which was the infighting that began to take place in the opposition inself, two, the unexpected degree to which assad became an extraordinary magnet for terrorists. and that's when you began to have this amazing flow of foreign fighters who came to get rid of assad and as assad gassed people and barrel bombed people and tortured and so forth, it became more evident to those global fighters and particularly to countries in the region, they were focused on whatever group could get rid of assad. and unfortunately, tragically, isil is somewhat an outgrowth of that phenomenon. therefore, we are today, you

know -- i think all the countries in the region have recognized that there was as mistake of judgment with respect to that process and i think people are bending over backwards to try to rectify it. >> i think members of this committee who joined together to first vote for the authorization of use of military force as president obama was headed to the g-20 summit at the time in russia, to deter assad from using chemical weapons, and who subsequently voted in a bipartisan effort to arm the vetted syrian rebels over a year ago, fully appreciate that it is -- it is my hope that when we refine the definition of the end state as it relates to the campaign against isil that we understand that if i'm a moderate vetted rebel, and i'm being asked to fight against isil now, i also won't need to

fight against assad because that is my ultimate mission, and so as we move forward, i'd like to hear how that is coinciding. let me ask you two other questions. i heard you very clearly when you said we are not asking all of our partners to engage in military -- direct military actions, but i hope that there will be -- and i would like to hear from you -- can we expect part of the sunni arab coalition members to, in fact, be part of military actions in this regard? because this cannot be simply a campaign by the west against the east? >> you're absolutely correct, mr. chairman. first of all, let me thank you and i thank the committee, for the vote you took, the only entity in the congress that did, and it was affirmative and we respect it. the -- currently there are countries outside of europe and

outside of the region committed to engage in military action. there are countries in europe committed to take military action. there are countries in the region, arab, committed to take military action. we will have sufficient levels of commitment to take military action. it will be up to centcom and general allen and others to work on the question of who will do what. >> this is -- it's fair to say this is going to be a multiyear effort? >> well, certain -- the president has been very clear about that. certain parts of it will be, absolutely. i can't tell you -- i can tell you this, when we took them on at mosul dam and the iraqis were on the ground and took them on, we took back mosul dam. when we took them on at amerli they moved out. when we took them on at sinjar mountain we freed the people at sinjar mountain and we have currently enabled people to hold them off at haditha dam and it

is clear from the intelligence we pick up, that what we're doing now, which has fundamentally been more defensive an offensive, has already had an impact on them. i am convinced that the proper effort, we can have an impact. >> i don't dispute that you've had in the short term an impact to stem their advances, at least within the region that they're in. my question, though, is -- no one reasonably can come from the administration and suggest that the ultimate goal, which is taking out this network, is not going to be a multiyear effort? >> it's a multiyear effort. the president has already said that. >> with that as a reality, then let me turn to the aumf. how is it that the administration believes that -- and i support its efforts, but how is it that the administration believes that the 9/11 aumf or the iraq aumf provide the authorization to move forward, whether the

congress decides to or not? it was not too long ago that members of the administration appeared before the committee and when i asked them, i was headed towards repealing the iraq aumf, and there was administration witnesses who believed that it should be repealed on behalf of the administration. how is it that the administration now thinks it can rely upon that for legal authority? >> mr. chairman, how is it? it is because good lawyers within the white house, within the state department, who have examined this extremely closely, have come to the conclusion across the board that the 2001 aumf which says all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons, responsible for 9/11, those who harbored such organizations or persons, to

prevent future acts of international terrorism against the united states by such persons or organizations, includes al qaeda. it's always been interpreted as including al qaeda. and -- >> i kind of threw out isil. >> but al qaeda and associated forces. that is the language. al qaeda and associated forces. now, al qaeda -- isil began as al qaeda. in five in iraq, 2004, isil was al qaeda in iraq, and it only became this thing called isil a year ago and it only became that out of convenience to separate themselves in an internal fight, but not because their thinking changed, not because their targets changed, not because their actions changed, they are the same people doing the same people we were prepared to and were attacking for all of thoses

years and a mere publicity stunt to separate yourself and call yourself something else does not get you out from under the force of the united states law. >> i appreciate your ability as a former prosecutor and a gifted attorney to try to make the case. i will tell you that at least from the chair's perspective, you're going to need a new aumf and it will have to be more tailored because i don't want to be part of 13 years later and multitude of countries that have been used in this regard, for that to be the authority. i think our goals are the same. i think we need to get you a different set of authorities. i look forward to working with my colleagues -- >> not only are our goals the same, mr. chairman, but we know you are thinking about retooling the aumf and we welcome -- we would like congress, please, do this. we want that to happen.

we're not going to make our actions dependent on it happening, but we will work with you as closely as we can and should in order to tailor an aumf going forward and we look forward to that opportunity. >> senator corker. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i just want to say, as i've said to you personally, we have three senators, president, vice president, secretary of state, that are exercising terrible judgment right now, and to say that you're going to do this, regardless of what we say, you're not going to ask for buy-in by the united states senate or house of representatives on behalf of the american people, and a conflict that you say is going to be multiyear, some people say a decade, taking us into another country with a different enemy, is exercising the worst judgment possible. and so i've said this to you as strongly as i can personally, that's in essence what you're saying to the chairman right now, saying if congress wants to

play a constructive role, we would welcome that, to me is a political game. and i'm disappointed that you, as secretary of state, after being chairman of this committee, after espousing the views you have espoused in the past out of convenience and parsing legal words would make the statement you just made. let me move on and say, i'd love you say much has been accomplished, that's a nice photo graph on the front of "the wall street journal" tell me what's been accomplished what arab sunni nation is going to have a ground force? >> what arab sunni country is going to be flying in and bombing and doing missile raids with an arab insignia on the side of the plane? tell me that. >> senator, you will hear that at the appropriate time within the next days as john allen and the team work with all of these countries for the permissions,

for the basings, for all the things that will take place. >> let me ask you this are you convinced that will happen? are you convinced that will happen? >> i've already said that. >> we will have arab sunni countries participating in the ground effort in syria? >> no, i didn't say the ground effort. and we're -- you know, right now, the plan is to work through the -- and our judgment is, that we can be effective working in the way that we are. let me say a couple things. first of all, with respect to -- >> you can say the answer to my questions, okay. i'm not going to be filibustering -- >> i'm going to answer your question. i'm sure the chair will be happy to have the kind of dialog i talked through. >> i have two minutes and 34 seconds and four more questions. >> well, senator, you haven't let me answer any of them yet. let me try to answer. >> the question is what arab sunni country is going to be putting boots on the ground in

syria against this now claimed army by your -- >> at this moment no country has been asked to put boots on the ground or no country is talking of it and we don't think it's a good idea right now. there's no discussion of that at this moment. now with respect to the judgment about asking congress to do it, i'm asking. do it. pass it. we'd love to have you do it. but we're not going to get stuck in the situation when we have the authority of not exercising our authority to do what we believe we need to do to protect the country. we're asking you to do it. pass it tomorrow. >> you're asking us to do it, but you're notny details because you don't have them. >> that's not true, senator. >> then share them. >> senator, i'm not going to share them in public here today. >> classified setting. >> i'm confident there will be so many classified briefings that you'll be tired of them. but at the moment, we're not going to lay this out until john allen has had a chance to come to the u.n. on friday, until we

have had a chance to work closely with all of these countries in order to make this as effective as possible. >> do you realize how unserious the things that you have laid out and the things that were laid out yesterday sound when you're discussing training 5,000 in your own words, doctors and dentists and others, in saudi arabia, over a year, i don't know whether they're being trained for offensive or defensive, i would like for you to clarify that, activities? my understanding is they will be given higher tech equipment after they prove themselves on the battlefield. do you understand how unrealistic and how that effort on the ground where they are based, where isil is based, doesn't match the rhetoric that the administration has laid out

and, therefore, you're asking us to approve something that we know the way you've laid it out, makes no sense. we have a strong sense that our army, our military leaders, have urged you to put special forces on the ground but no, we're not going to do that, so this doesn't even seem serious. it seems like a -- it seems like a political answer to the united states as they cry out about this uncivilized activity but it doesn't seem real to me and if you're willing to get in a classified setting and lay out alls these details and tell us which of these countries are going to be flying their flag into syria, they're going to be putting people on the ground, because we know -- we know the free syrian army cannot take on isil. you know that. you talk about a multiyear process. we're talking decades, if that's going to be our salvation. so i'll just close with this. i -- i'm disappointed.

i was disappointed in the briefing we had last week. i do want us to deal with this in an effective way. you've not laid it out in a way that meets that test. i hope when we come back and before you've put people in harm's way unnecessarily, you have a plan that achieves the end that you just laid out. but we know right now, that's not where you are and again, i hope you'll seek it, i hope you'll say that you're not going to do it without it, and i hope you'll add a plan that will convince us that you're serious about doing the things you said you're going to do to the american people and to us about isil because you haven't done it now. and i hope you'll lay out a way to pay for it, to pay for it, because we know this is going to take many, many years and it has to do with the safety of our citizens. >> mr. chairman, can i -- i hope, answer, a little bit here?

senator, you know, i must say to you, i really find it somewhat surprising for you to suggest that as the president of the united states talks to the nation and commits to take strikes in order to deal with isil, as we have come back from a week of very serious meetings with nations around the world, all of whom are committed to this, that you sit there and suggest that it's not serious. now with all due respect to you, senator. >> okay. >> let me just tell you something pointblank, the moderate opposition in syria has, in fact, been fighting isil for the last two years. and since last january, the free syrian army has been engaged with isil in aleppo, in the damascus countryside, in al azur and groups such as the syrian

revolution front have fought off isil, expelled them from the province which borders turkey and includes the border crossing. over the past two months, moderate brigades have been deployed in northern aleppo to prevent isil to capture keyboarder towns, through which a large quantity of humanitarian assistance is now being sent. but they require our support. senator mccain knows that. he's been screaming about it for some time. >> we've all been screaming about it and you all have done nothing or at least not much to talk about. >> senator, let's just understand that the fact is, that what has propelled isis to some degree is a word called "success," and as isis has had success they've used social media to appeal to fighters, as they have now suddenly been put

on their heels and as the united states and other country do seriously commit to this endeavor and believe me, what we're doing is serious. then if success begins to turn, and move towards the free syrian army and the moderate opposition, i believe you'll see greater numbers of recruit. that's why the president is asking for the opening training under title 10 to try to build that up as fast as possible. our stilt estimates are there a currently tens of thousands still fighting members of the opposition and if you can get more people better trained -- and by the way, every month that i have been secretary of state, we have been adding to the effort of what we are doing with respect to the syrian opposition. and most of that needs to be covered in a classified setting, as you know, but our assessment is that we can and given the urgency of the situation, begin to move this program to a greater degree.

so will it take a period of time? we've all said that. yes. but we're confident that we have the ability to be able to change the situation on the ground. by the way, i do have a list here, i'm not going to go into all of it now, but there are albania has sent in the last -- we have had at least 18 flights that we've taken in to erbil. we've been providing additional weapons to the peshmerga. >> we've been providing and we are carrying out air strikes as promised. let's summarize what he has said and talk a little bit about senator corker from tennessee's points here. the secretary of state has said, we need an inclusive iraqi government. he says we now have one. that is very much up for debate. the facts on the ground indicate that the sunnis on the ground in iraq do not believe they have a place in this government because this government has not demonstrated yet that it does and that's the reason, according to people on the ground, that so many of these moderate sunnis

have joined isis. the second thing the secretary of state says is essential, is a broad international coalition. and when speaking of such, he spoke of australia, countries in the far east and europe and that's a quote. here's the thing, the government of iraq, the baghdad central government, is a shia government until they prove otherwise, that's what they are. according to their own people, that shia government is backed by iran. why? the largest shia muslim population in the world is in iran, by far. 90% of iran is shia. there's an argument that iraq is shia dominant as well, yaz zer ba jan and bahrain and that's it. everything else is sunni. everything else is sunni majority. isis, sunni. baghdad, shia. the fight is on. i want to take you over to the wall over here for just a minute to give you an example of what i'm talking about. this is the region, right?

this is iraq. here's baghdad where the central government is. in the north of iraq, the kurds run that. they don't want to be a part of iraq. they've said it over and over and over again. they'll fight in their region up there to keep the isis people out, but that's it. they're not coming down to baghdad to help the rest country. they don't care about the rest of the country. they want to be their own country. they want to be kurd disstan. they're not there yet but they're close. then there's iran. think of it, they backed this government in baghdad. so when we go in here and we start backing this government, we're in the eyes of those here, we're backing the shia. that's what we're doing, because that's how they think, sunni/shia. the whole muslim world isn't like that but this part is. they are shia and sunni. it goes back 1400 years. 1400 years to the death of mohammad. saudi arabia is going to offer ground troops? no. saudi arabia is going to host the moderate syrian rebels, if

we can figure out who they are, for training. the pentagon yesterday told our jennifer griffin that training -- first we have to identify who t moderate ones are because there are lots of groups. he talks about the free syrian army but that's not it. there's group after group after group all with its own agendas so you have to go in there -- somebody has to go in there and figure out who the moderate ones -- don't forget the cia has been in there the a long time. the military hasn't, but the cia has. they don't admit it but they're there. we have to bring them to saudi arabia for training and the pentagon tells jennifer griffin that will take a minimum of one year as isis is on the move. he talks about how great the iraqi army was up in erbil and in mosul, right? that's not the iraqi army. that's the kurdish troops. that's the peshmerga. different from the iraqi army. those are the ones who won't come down here and help. they're concerned about what they consider to be kurdistan.

the iraqi army disband. isis rolled over them. they left the american weapons behind. isis picked up the weapons. one of the concerns is, that if we take these people from syria, bring them to saudi arabia and train them, send them back there with our weapons, that at some point they might start fighting each other again or working together, they'll lay down their arms and give them to isis. and then there's another concern. play the sound bite. >> the more we protect the shia about the government in baghdad the more sunnis flock to isis and to their cause. we often act as a recruitment in our own way whether we want to or not by u.s. intervention, western intervention, most see that as supporting iranian interest in the region. >> more people when we interv e intervene, says that journalist who has been there, see america as taking the shia side. the side of the central government in baghdad. the side of the government in iran of all the people in iran,

and then the sunni decide they're going to fight against us. we create part of the problem by doing this. this is not to say we shouldn't do it. it's to say that's the reality on the ground. it is complicated and we will have team fox analysis and reporting after this. 24/7 it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates. [ woman ] if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me, and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain. this is humira helping me lay the groundwork. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block that contributes to r.a. symptoms.

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it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees, from the bank where no branches equals great rates. discussion on the new war against isis or the islamic state is continuing right now. i want to tell you what's going on on fox business network. the owner of tesla the maker of tesla and spacex elon musk is doing a live interview on the fox business network right now. liz is interviewing him about the future of transportation on the ground, in the air, up into space, new battery technologies and what this enormous contract that they got yesterday means. liz clayman, one of the best in the business, with a live interview with elon musk himself. it's happening right now. just up the dial at fox business network. our sister station. if that's what you're into, turn

right up the dial. we're going to continue our discussion on isis and the very complicated situation that's been laid out today. the question is, well, with the given according to the military, the civilian leadership of the country, analysts overseas and everybody you talk to, this can't be done. they can't be stopped without ground forces. we now have, according to secretary kerry a broad coalition. that's a matter, really -- it's a sort of subjective thing, really. ed henry is live for us at the white house this afternoon. he spent a lot of time trying to convince us everybody is on board but didn't have specifics about who's on board and it's hard to figure out who's going to be the boots on the ground besides the cia. >> right. the boots on the ground question really has become the key question and it's because the president's credibility is on the line. i mean he has said again and again, shep, that we are not sending combat troops to iraq or syria. nonetheless, you now have three senior defense officials, current or former, in bob gates

the former defense secretary, general ray odierno, as well as general martin dempsey who you heard yesterday, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, testifying on the hill that at least troops -- combat troops should be on the table. what bob gates said on "cbs this morning" is particularly interesting and important. he said this mission simply won't work without boots on the ground and the president, in his words, may be falling into a trap by thinking he can do this with air strikes alone. here's another important point on that. what general odierno was saying was look, we may not be able to trust the iraqi troops, the iraqi forces, to be up to the task. that's important because the president and secretary kerry just a moment ago, they're suggesting all this progress with the new iraqi government, that the iraqi forces are starting to stand up, and that we can count on them, and i think it's also interesting that when secretary kerry was pressed on this combat troop issue, he said something to the effect of, we will not have a combat mission. underline that word mission. does that mean, though, that

eventually u.s. troops will be in the combat zone alongside iraqi security forces? >> here's what we know, ed. >> if shots are fired, you're in a combat zone. >> this is so simple. if you are an invading force creating a state and you don't want the super power of the world coming in to intervene, you know what you don't do? you don't cut two of the super power's citizens heads off on video and go ha, ha, ha. if you do want us in there, you cut their head office. it's really all you can do. now public opinion is up. the president has to do something. we can't put in ground troops. you put them in. when the side we're fighting with and for is losing, well then you have to put in ground troops. >> josh earnest was pressed about this on the way back from the u.s. central command in tampa where the president was. and he was pressed and basically

said look the president has made a strategic decision not to send in combat troops and went on to say something i think even the president's critics would say. josh earnest said this is complicated business. >> ed henry at the white house, ed, thanks. analysis and discussion of all of this continues next.agree, td business. >> ed henry at the white house, thanks. all of this continues next. woooo. i know what you're thinking. you're thinking beneful. [announcer]and why wouldn't he be? beneful has wholesome grains,real beef,even accents of spinach,carrots and peas. it has carbohydrates for energy and protein for those serious muscles. [guy] aarrrrr! [announcer]even accents of vitamin-rich veggies. [guy] so happy! you love it so much. yes you do! but it's good for you,too. [announcer] healthful. flavorful. beneful. from purina. who would have thought masterthree cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche? the same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds

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how do you get a broad, widespread, bipartisan agreement in washington? well, here's one way. "washington post" and abc news plus cnn did a poll and came up with the exact same results. 90% of americans, 90% now believe that isis is at least somewhat of a threat to the united states and its interests. 90%. that will bring everybody on

board, at least in concept. here's the concept that's brought them all together. isis is bad, isis is dangerous. isis is murdering people, isis can't be stopped. -- must be stopped. everybody's on board with that. the rest of it is the complicated part and the rest of it is what matters. the question is how do you stop it and who helps you stop it? let's go over to the wall. secretary kerry just said we need an inclusive iraqi government. the jury is out. that they tell you it does not matter. remember when they got the inclusive government under nuri al maliki before? remember that? that turned out to be an absolute, unmitigated disaster by anyone's estimation, unless you're one of the ones who got the perks inside iraq. now we need inclues ib. iran's backing this government but we don't play with iran, obviously. saudi arabia's not getting involved. all they're going to do is let some troops be trained there coming out of syria. the pentagon says that will take a year.

jordan's got enormous problems. some can be explained just by the border. this is saudi arabia, this is syria up here, this is iraq over here. all on jordan's border, plus israel over here. jordan, the king, has all kinds of -- you will not get troops from jordan. anybody who tells you they will, they're living in a fantasy land. then there's turkey up there in the north. the turks can't get involved with this. they've got dozens and dozens of hostages in turkey over there, they've got a wide open border, they're teetering on disaster already. where do you get boots on the ground from this entire region? from lebanon, from israel? where do the boots on the ground come? they come from inside syria, the nonexistent group of people who are trainable. we got to vet them, get them to saudi arabia, that will take a year. and the iraqi army which has mostly disbanded. there's a broad coalition but who does the fighting. we can be from above. does that mean our cia and our 1400 or so people who are there as advisers on the ground go and

shoot here? that's fine until a plane comes down, right? then who do z the fighting? that's why it's a question and that's why it's a problem. congress is going on break, but they'll be back in november. have a nice day. when news breaks out, we'll break in. your world with cavuto starts right now. not to worry. allstate can help you save an average of $3,000 on a new car. let an allstate agent surprise you by helping you get a deal on the car you might not want but really need. call 877-279-9200 now. the car seat. the baby booties. and ointments you've never heard of. it all adds up. that's where the good hands can help. now allstate can help you save 20% or more on a new car seat. so you have a little extra for all the extras. talk to an allstate agent and start saving today. and if you call right now you can get

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