confirmed the video, but sotloff was threatened by isis at the end of the previous video. you're looking you now at live pictures from the pentagon where we're expecting new information on the video and the u.s. attack yesterday targeted the leader of al shabaab. joining me now is terrorism analyst evan coleman oig. keeping in mind that nbc news has not yet confirmed this video, the message that isis is sending a second american allegedly killed. >> yeah. and the video is about 2:40 long. again, it has not been officially released but isis announces that it soon plans to release this video under the title of a second message to america. and in this video, the group alledgedly threatens to also

kill a third hostage, a british national that it apparently has in its custody, as well. >> and evan, again, keeping in mind u.s. authorities have not confirmed this video, the idea that they're specifically going after western targets, of course isis also targeting people right there in the region, but the big picture they're trying to send is to the west. >> look, it's very clear right now for icy there is a did debate taking place here in the united states about how deeply the u.s. wants to get involved in iraq and syria. very much icy wants to effect that debate and impact the u.s. public opinion. and unfortunately, it's macabre, but skillful use of media. they have drawn this out over the space of weeks and they will create a media focus for weeks at a time allowing, you know, again, allowing them to promote their message and allowing them to try to intimidate the

american public. it's very sad to see this, but that's exactly what this is. >> up to and including using blish speaker, using people with western accents to actually be in the video as the person commit be the beheading. >> and that is part of it. back in the videos that came out in 2004, they were all in arabic. so certainly the images shown were graphic and disturbing, but the messages a lot of them just tended to get lost especially in an english speaking audience. here the message is very clear. it's spoken in english and that gives you an idea the audience they're trying to reach. >> is does anything help pinpoint the location of where isis might be? >> it can. the last video in particular, the one featuring jim foley, there were landmarks that you could see in the background that allowed some observers to at least -- the claim that they had located or had come close to the location of where this video was

filmed, the location was near the syrian city of rock "todaca is where icy is based. unfortunately, if we know the hostages are being held or executed inside syria, and we have an idea of roughly where that is taking place, then why aren't we doing something about it. why are we not attacking targets in syria. and that's a much more difficult question to answer. >> all right. evan, thanks very much. appreciate it. correspondent bill neely is with me now. bill, what is the reaction there where you are in london? are we starting to see reaction from western governments to this unconfirmed report of another beheading video? >> we are waiting to hear from david cameron. we have a statement from his office saying that this was a despicable act. he's due to speak later this evening. and i'm sure condemnation will

come from other european leaders as it did after the beheading of james foley and the interesting thing of course is that a british man threatened so isis widening its threats, not just to the united states, but in the statement on the video, the man who carries out the act actually directly talks about countries who are allied to the united states. so clearly isis targeting the united states, trying to intimidate and threaten, but also the united states allies trying if you you like to drive a wedge between the united states and its european allies. >> and cameron, the prime minister in the uk, has been somewhat reluctant probably enmore the u.s. president to get involved militarily back in the region. how great is the pressure on him now to step up military action? >> well, i think in the uk, in europe, just like in the u.s., there is great reluctance to get involved directly with for example boots on the ground in

iraq. but for example british warplanes, tornado jets have been involved in sr. say lance operations in the mosul dam area, so american planes have actually been doing the bombing. but british tornadoes have been doing the recon sakocognizance surveillan surveillance. britain is involved in carrying ammunition to did your kish fig kurdish the fighters. the british parliament agreed to provide ammunition. so european countries are involved, but there is an equal reluctance mopping tamong the p especially the uk to get involved in terms of boots on the ground iraq. and there is a distinction being made between taking military action in support of the iraqi government and military action bombing for example in support of let's say president assad in syria or attacking isis in syria. there is a distinction being

made between the two countries and as evan said, we're not the sure where the videos have been shot, although the assumption is that they may well have been filmed in syria. >> and what about the status of trying to identify the person with what sounds like a british accent in the first video? >> well, obviously british and u.s. intelligence were using voice recognition techniques matching the voice on that first video with known voices that they had recorded and it was said that they knew also based on interviews with former hostages exactly who this person was who was nicknamed john by the former hostages. so they had a good idea who this person was. at the minute we're simply not sure whether the person in the second video, the steven sotloff video, is the same man. i personally haven't heard his voice, although i've seen the

transcript of what he says and he clearly speaks in fluent english and that is directly to address a western public and the have i had i don't is very slickly produced. that's exactly the same format as the first one. it begins with president obama speaking, then you hear from mr. sotloff, then you hear from the man dressed in black from isis. ed a then a third british hostage is paraded in exactly the same way. so isis is using this video to threaten to intimidate and once again the life now of a third hostage is on the line. >> all right. bill neely, thank you. and we are waiting on the pentagon briefing. joining me now in studio is colonel jack jacobs, military analyst, as well as our military correspondent. colonel colonel, exceptionally we essentially we know they're clearly trying to intimidate. what is the reaction appropriate

from the united states? is thereanyway anywaiany way t? >> i'm interested in a statement made by general tony zooity on "meet the press". he said if you want to get rid of icy inside iraq, all you you need is a couple of brigades. even if he's wrong by 100%, and i've said this before, so you're talking about two divisions, you can get rid of these guys from iraq. but there are two things about this. their headquarters is in syria and second, you'd have to keep troops there in iraq for a relatively long period of time to prevent them from coming back and to train to defend the country. so you won't get this president who made as a cornerstone of his -- >> hold on one second. i'll interrupt you for the pentagon briefing.

>> i don't have anything to confirm it today. obviously we're monitoring as best we can and our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the sotloff family who has endured incredible hardship and suffering just by virtue of his captivity and being held hostage. but i can't confirm the press reports right now. number two, i know that we've all been tracking events in somalia last night. so if you'll just bear with me, i'll walk you through what i can right now. yesterday at approximately 11:20 eastern time, working from actionable intelligence, u.s. special operations forces using manned and unmanned aircraft destroyed an encampment and a vehicle using several hell fire missiles and laser guided emissions. if this operation was a direct strike against al shabaab network, specifically the

group's leader. we are still assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information when and if appropriate. and i'm not going to be able to provide specifics about the unit or the intelligence itself. and certainly not anything regarded to tactic, techniques and procedures. the operation occurred in south central somalia and did result in the destruction of that vehicle. i think it's important to remind everybody that in september of 2013, they publicly claimed al shabaab was responsible for the westgate mall attack which killed dozens. and they have also claimed responsibility for suicide attacks typically targeting perceived allies of the federal government of somali as well as

the transitional federal government of somali. a militant wing, al shabaab, as occupied most since 2006 and claimed responsibilities for the deaths of numerous government officials, aid workers, peace activists and journalists. named a terrorist organization in february of 2008, al shabaab has conducted terrorist activities in the region that resulted in the loss of much innocent life. they have also continued to plot targeting westerners including u.s. personnel in east africa. in recent months, al shabaab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed a turkish national and wounded several western soldiers as well as a car bomb at the airport that killed members of the united nations convoy. so the operation that we conducted we believe is an example of the u.s. government and our allies achd partners' commitment to the people and government of somalia to detect, deter, disrupt and defeat

violent extremists who threaten progress in the region as well as threaten to conduct terrorist attacks fwns innoceagainst inno around the world and we'll use all the tools at our disposal to disment dismantle al shabaab and other terrorist groups. and one final comment i'd like to make on iraq as you know over the weekend, at the request of the iraqi government, the united states military air dropped humanitarian aid to the town of am early, home to thousands cut off -- or had been cut off from receives food, water, medical supplies for two honesties.earl off -- or had been cut off from receives food, water, medical supplies for two honesties. months. you nighted kingdom also dropped much needed supplies. u.s. aircraft conducted coordinated air strikes against terrorists in order to support this operation and thereby

helped facilitate the actual delivery of the aid. while we continue to monitor the situation, at this time we assess that iraqi and kurdish forces are in control of the attorney ship and providing for the security needs of the citizen there is. so further strikes remain a possibility of course but we believe that the township is under the control of iraqi and kurdish forces. and as we've said before, one of our core military objectives is to join with international partners to address the crises and when and where we have the ability to do that we will do it. with that, i'll take questions. >> on the somalia issue, was it a single target or were there two strikes or two targets? >> one vig aehicle and one encampment. an encampment and vehicle at the

encampment. >> so one strike? >> one missile, no. as i said, several hell fire missiles as well as several fileded munitions. so several, but dropped on one target where a vehicle was nearby. >> and was there any evidence afterwards that anyone survived? >> well, we're assessing the results right now. that's where i'm just not going to be able to go. i won't get into trying to assess the effectiveness. we certainly believe that we hit what we were aiming at and based on intelligence that question believe was actionable, in other words, strong enough, we took this strike, but i wouldn't get into it assessing the effectiveness right now. i won't get into assessments. i think i'd like to leave it where i did. if and when as i said earlier, and i said last night if and when we have more information that we can share, we certainly

will. >> you said there were laser guided munitions. does that mean that there were u.s. forces on the ground lase the targets? >> tlrps no u.s. forces on the ground. >> either before or after the strikes? >> no u.s. strikes on the ground before or after. >> was there somebody else on the ground lazing the targets? >> all i will tell you, we continue to work with partners in somalia and in the region, but i won't debt tget any more specific than that. >> did the u.s. government inform somalia before it took place? >> i don't have the tick tock, but this is very much in keeping with the operations that we conduct throughout the region and in partnership with the leadership there. >> and do you know the so malia

government announced the new operation combatting al shabaab and targeting hatheir access to ports. was this in conjunction with that operation? >> not to my operation. >> i know you won't speak to who was killed, but if he were to be killed, what do you think it would say about the group's -- what would it mean for the group going forward, how important would that be is this. >> without speculating about whether he was in fact killed or not, i mean, he is the recognized appointed leader of the al shabaab network in somalia. so if he was killed, this is a very significant blow to their network, to their organization, and we believe to their ability to continue to conduct terrorist atta attacks. mind you, it's a network and we understand that. and we're mindful that there

remay have been other leaders of the organization at large. but he's the recognized leader. and if we killed him, significant blow to their organization and to their abilities. >> more broadly, can you answer the critics who are saying that the administration does not have a strategy, does not have a counter troor strategy, a mideast strategy, one that is good enough? is there a strategy, are you articulate that strategy for us and answer those critic critics? >> absolutely there is a strategy. i can only speak from a military perspective, but we have been consistently going after the terrorist threat in that part of the world and not just that part of the world. as i just read to you. and inside iraq, the mission is very clear. we have there to support iraqi

and kurdish forces as they take the fight to isil, we are there to provide humanitarian assistance where and when we can. we talked about that over the weekend. and we are certainly there to help defend and protect u.s. personnel and facilities. so the mission set inside iraq is very, very clear. the strategy with respect to -- the military strategy with respect to the middle east also has been very clear and it's not something we've just started doing. we've been going after terrorist networks in that part of the world for more than a decade with very good success. doesn't mean it's been eliminated. but we certainly have been very active and very energetic and the objectives have been very clear. >> do you feel that you've gone after isis as soon as you possibly could? the question is how good and how early was the intelligence that was being briefed to the white house about the isis threat and could more have been done sooner i guess. >> i'm not going to speak about

intelligence matters and certainly not issues raised to the white house. that's a question better directed to the intelligence community. but to your larger issue here, we've talked about isil for many months now. and as i've said before, we were very closely monitoring and tracking their progress, their growth, their development, well before they rolled into mosul. so this is not an organization that we haven't been watching. the speed with which they took control of the north in iraq, definitely got a lot of people's attention. and i've said that publicly, too. nobody expected that four divisions of the iraqi army were just going to fold the way they did. so there was a speed there that certainly was -- did not go unnoticed. but this is an organization we've been long watching and i think it's helpful to go back and just look at the last couple

of months. i mean, we're all fixated right now on targeted air strikes which we are conducting with very good tactical effects but long before that started, we upped our presence in the persian gulf, we added more security assistance in and around baghdad. we stood up two joint operations center which is are active and helping right now as we speak in terms of advising and assisting and sharing information with iraqi and kurdish forces. and we have done numerous air drops in two different operations to alleviate suffering. so the military has been very active here. the other thing that we've said, and is this not a small point, there is not going to be just a military solution here. ultimately the long term answer has to be inclusive, responsible, responsive good governance inside iraq to alleviate, to help take away

those conditions that folks like isil can exploit for their own purposes. does that answer your question? >> just a quick thought on justin's question. as you may know, the majority of the foreign fighters who are joining isil are going to syria through turkey. my question is, how do you alleviate turkey's draw in countering -- >> it's not my -- >> do you think turkey is cooperating? >> we have a strong relationship with -- i'm not going to answer a question that should be asked of the turkish government. what i'm telling you is turkey has a stake here. we understand that. it's an pofrpt partnimportant pe region. a nato ally. the turkish government has concerns about foreign fighters and right they should and we're

going there next week and i think no doubt that this will be a topic of discussion between secretary hagel and his counter part. >> do you think they are doing a helpful role? >> we believe that turkey because they have concerned just like other partners in the region are expending their effort and their energy in trying to address will this as best they can. i won't go into more detail than that. >> you can give us a clear picture about the situation on the ground at the mosul dam, why the united states keep launching sites at that location? >> because isil keeps trying to take it back. as i said last week, as long as they continue to pose a threat to the facility, we will continue to hit them. and we are. >> on the subject of the secretary's trip, secretary kerry wrote that he and secretary hagel will be asking nato allies and other nations for help in in potential

campaign against isis in syria. how much more you can tell us about how many nations will approach, which ones and what they will ask for specifically in building that coalition? >> i think we're still sort of putting together an agenda here, phil, for on the sidelines of the nato summit. but you're right, secretary hagel and secretary kerry do want to get together with some of these partner nations. many of them are nato allies, of course. and i don't have a list right now. i think this is going to be more of an informal arrangement again the on the sidelines of the already very full agenda in wales where well talk about the contributions that have been made by these other nations. and search to encourage others who haven't contributed yet to look into contributing, as well. but i don't have a date certain on the calendar or time when held do tha they will do that. and it could be more than one.

it could be that they have these discussions in more than one setting with smaller numbers of these nations at a time. >> you can give us a high level sense of what they will ask for some do they want partners for air strikes, humanitarian aid? >> we want partner nations to contribute what they are able and willing to contribute in whatever fashion they're willing to con ten would you tell it. and ubzing of course that they have domestic concerns, as well and their open lemgs lagislativ bodies to work through and populations who have different views on assisting against the isil threat. we respect that. so it's not about going there with demands or a laundry list. it's about going there to thank them for what they have been doing and encouraging them to continue to assist in whatever way they deem fit. >> i'd like to bgo back to somalia. i was wondering because we have

officials in somalia saying it was a senior al shabaab meeting, were there any other targets at that encampment? >> we're still assessing the results. what i will tell you is the principal target was mr. dadon. if we have or fore, we'll share as best as we can. >> you said there was an unmanned and manned attack. was the actual hit, was it by a drone or was about by the manned aircraft? >> what i said was manned afternoon unmanned aircraft part fat participated in the strike. i didn't say what type of aircraft launched the missiles. i won't get in to details the platforms here today. >> do you consider the operation at amearly to be a success and

who is that success confined? mt. sinjar, there was a potential rescue that was decided not to do. and you said the islamic state was trying to retake mosul dam. so what does success look like for this campaign. >> i don't know that i'd call it a campaign. but leaving that aside, we do believe that the operations have been successful. obviously as i said, iraqi security forces and kurdish forces are now in control of the township. we're watching that we're monitoring that, not taking that for granted. just like to joe's question on the mosul dam, if we need to continue to take strikes in and around amearly to disrupt isil, we will do that. but so far, we believe the mission has succeeded and by and

large because we're able to get needed provisions to the people there. we know it got into the right hands and that they have been able to sustain themselves with the food and water that has been provided. and it wasn't just us doing this. there were other countries involved and we're grateful for that support. the pld also has been very, very clear about from an anti-isil perspective what year we're trying to do, to further spur humanitarian crises. but to your question about success, the real measure of suck cease is that their ideology is ultimately defeated and the only way that's going to be done is through good governance. there is not going to be a military solution to this. we're not the answer to sigh sil inside iraq. not the u.s. military.

the answer is the ideology gets rehe jekted because there is good governor thaps. responsive government, inclusive government. and frankly in syria, as well. >> is there any -- before this video was he released today of steven sotloff's murder, was there any indication or suspicion that he was killed at the same time as james foley? >> i don't know that anybody had definitive knowledge one way are on the other. and i'd remind that you we still complaint confirm the press reporting about this next video complaint confirm the press reporting about this next video. and this potential hur. so i wouldn't be able to characterize it one way or another that we knew. and we're trying to -- just like you, we're trying to find out ground truth here. >> on the al shabaab operation, was there any intel against that they were plotting an imminent terrorist attack, was that one of the reasons why this action was taken when it was? >> i think i laid it out in my

opening, this action was taken because of the history of terrorist attacks and violence that this organization is responsible for and continues to be responsible for. but again, and i will just tell you, actionable intelligence led us to that site where we believe he was. but i wouldn't talk about the specifics of exactly what that intelligence was composed of. >> i was wondering if you might be able to bring us up to speed on your latest understanding of the size and scope of russian troop levels both on the border with ukraine and inside ukraine and separately has the secretary had any chance to talk to his russian counterpart in the last couple days about the escalating situation there? >> sure. he's not spoken to the minister since the last team i read it o time i read it out to you. we continue to assess that russian forces aggregate along

the border with ukraine. i'm loath to get into a hard number, but certainly north of 10,000. remains north of 10,000. more important than the newspapers are as i said the capability. these are tactical groups that are highly capable, very ready, very close to the border, closer happen we saw in the spring. and could move literally on a moment's notice. in addition to that, we continue to see russian forces conventional and special forces inside ukraine. again without getting into a specific number, i'd say in the thousands is safe. nothing has changed about our position that that activity needs to stop, those troops need to leave. the support for the separatists needs to stop and we want those troops pulled away from the border with ukraine.

so we continue to see action by moscow that does nothing but increase tensions inside you ukraine and spur additional violence. >> secretary general rasmussen said he plans to build nato rapid response to put on the eastern border of the nato nations in response to russia's aggression. how would the the u.s. participate in that is th? would they provide troops, support, weapons, air cover? what is the u.s. thinking about that and would it engage in that operation? >> i think we would certainly participate in any discussion about the development of this rapid reaction force. as you know, we already do feel rapid reaction force, in fact they just deployed an army unit,

but to your other question, i think we certainly would participate this discussions about that. i have no doubt but that it would be discussed in wales this week and secretary hagel looks forward to having those discussions. but it would be preliminary right now way ahead of ourselves to try to speculate exactly how we would assist in resource going that force. the bigger point is that we're continuing to look for ways to work with allies and partners tg that force. the bigger point is that we're continuing to look for ways to work with allies and partners t that force. the bigger point is that we're continuing to look for ways to work with allies and partners t that force. the bigger point is that we're continuing to look for ways to work with allies and partners t that force. the bigger point is that we're continuing to look for ways to work with allies and partners to bolster the commitments in europe and reiterate our commitment to article 5 in the treaty. and we've contributed to the policing mission, we've done ground exercises in the baltic, we've exercised more aggressively in the black sea. that continues. so we well cot secretary general's suggestion and i know we will look forward to having deeper discussions about it when we get there. >> does the u.s. think that

those eastern nato borders are threatened in the least bit by russia's apparent incursion into ukraine? >> it's not that there is a direct threat against the eastern borders of those nations. it's about making sure that there is a strong message sent to friend and foe alike that we're going to stand by article 5 treaty commitments and we have done that and we will continue to look for ways to stress that again. >> so the ukranian forces have suffered a little bit more setbacks in recent days in actions against separatists by some reports language from moscow is increasingly strong. are you changing your roaapproa to the summit in terms of urgency of the situation or

discussions of what the u.s. response might need to be given the changing conditions on the ground where russian support for separatists seems to have more of an effect now? >> from a defense perspective only, and i'm not qualified to speak to everything. it's not just a defense summit that we're going to in wales. but from a defense perspective, nothing substantially changes. i know of no specific agenda item that has changed because of the last week or so. but of course what has been going on in ukraine will be a major topic of discussion by all of nato he's le's leaders. and as has secretary hagel has said, what russian has done has galvanized the alliance and brought into sharp relief the need for all nato partners and allies to continue sufficient and adequate defense spending

for their own defense and for the defense of their allies and to look for new ways to combat threats on the continent. but i'm not aware of a specific item. i think if i could just pull back from the summit a little bit, i don't want to leave you with the impression that we aren't mindful of the intensity of operations in and around ukraine right now. as secretary hagel gets ready to leave for wales, he's certainly mindful of what is going on there and how the annu-- >> the pentagon briefing for today now talking nato and the potential rapid reaction force along the eastern borders of russia. but most of that briefing was about u.s. strikes on al shabaab that may have killed that group's leader. still waiting for confirmation on that. and a discussion of isis and the u.s. plan of how to beat back the organization that may indeed have killed a second american

journalist, teasteven sotloff. we have a statement from the family. first of all let's start with the national security council spokesman who has said we have seen a video that purports to be the murder of steven sotloff. intelligence community is working to determine the authenticity. if genuine, we're appalled by the brutal murder and express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. still waiting for confirmation. the family of steven sotloff apparently is aware of the video and are grieving. joining me now at the table, colonel jack jacobs and and i monday notice in a bee. the response of the united states to al shabaab, direct strikes on their leader.bee. the response of the united states to al shabaab, direct strikes on their leader.abee. the response of the united states to al shabaab, direct strikes on their leader. you've heard the pentagon spokesman repeatedly talking about isis in different terms.

how do you read the contrast and from your reporting in the middle east where isis is operating, is is that the response that people on the ground in the region who are suffering even more are from isis want to see? >> well, in the short term, certainly that will be important to try to change the momentum of what is happening. isis has been on, if you will, the upper hand in driving the situation on the ground. and something that the u.s. has successfully done is that it has kept al qaeda and other organizations on the run so to speak as we were seeing in attacks in pakistan, afghanistan and with al shabaab. they haven't done so with isis. definitely not in syria and only in iraq after the fact that isis started to gain tremendous amounts of territory under its control. but this is a two pronged approach. on one hand, and you heardhe reu

have to dry up the reservoir of the ideology that exists. that is the much more difficult challenge that will be with us for several years to come. >> and the u.s. military said we could put a couple brikup ecoup the ground, but would that defeat the ideology p. >> definitely a catch 22. u.s. gets militarily involved in places like syria and iraq and suddenly you've once again create this had narrative that the u.s. is fighting muslim countries and that in itself begins to fuel more recruits and is used by isis and other organizations to bring in more followers to this fight. here is your chance to fight americans come join the battlefield. so the u.s. is very wary of that. they can't get sucked back into that same narrative. but there is growing pressure that this is a serious security situation.

it is affecting the state of jordan, lebanon. this is now more than just simply a local or even regional problem. this has serious international security implications. >> and this is where a spiraling crisis meets a reluck answer west. iraq is sort of tainting everything. there is a great reluctance to get involved militarily and yet we are doing that, we are making direct strikes on a group like al shabaab. but the isis situation does feel like it's spiralling out of control. >> we have an allergy to syria and iraq for a wide variety of national security and particular political reasons. so we don't have analogies to the horn of africa. we've increased our presence there in the region from -- i went there in 2005 and i think there were maybe 400 marines in gentleman beauty. and now we have a big operation, we have special forces, special

operations, we're training indigenous forces. but we had lots and lots of people in iraq for a long time, went there under false pre-senses. it was the original sin. this administration in particular that campaigned on the whole notion of getting out of the area completely has really got an allergy, really reluctant to do anything in iraq. and absolutely nothing in syria. >> that was the dog that didn't bite. we listened to that entire briefing and will seemed to be a very studious avoidance of syria. it's all about better but governance in rairaq. is it possible to con front the isis threat without dealing with syria is th syria? >> the short answer is no. on sunday on "meet the press," they talked about sticking a couple brigades in there to fight isis in iraq, drive them

out of iraq. and i think he's absolutely right. it wouldn't take very much effort to do that. but then you have two additional problems that are attendant to that. what do you do about iraq once the guys are gone. they will come back again. so you have to have some force there whether it's american or combination of americans or somebody else, nato force even without americans, in iraq to continue the work that was done when we withdrew the forces. and number two, what did you do about syria. after all, the headquarters is in syria. if you can do anything about syria either from the air and the sea on the one hand or on the ground, you then become the de facto ally of bashar al assad. and of course even has been talking for years about what a rotten guy he is. >> because he is. do you have in the region that is the other sort of elephant in

the room is that bashar al assad would be more than happy to get himself back into the international community, but you there is and ongoing slaughter of his open citizens that has not been addressed. >> his foreign minister said the syrian government is prepared to work with the west and sbir n s international community, but warned not to carry out any strikes inside syria that would violate sovereignty. there is another question, do we have to accept the binary approach. is it only assad and isis that the u.s. has to choose from a. d and i think it's the third option that they have not considered. there has to be a third way that the syrian people and the united states are not just presented with bashar al assad and isis as the only two choices. >> thank you both very much. we may have you stick around. but just stay nearby.

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scope. the freshest fresh, guaranteed. let me share with you you everything i can at this point in time. we've seen reports of a video that purports to be the murder of steven sotloff by isil. the intelligence community will work as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. if the video is genuine, we are sickened by this brutal act. our hearts go out to the sotloff family and we will provide more information as it becomes available. i don't have additional information at this point. >> state department spokes map jen psaki discussing the video purporting to show the murder of a second american steven sotloff, now apparently the second victim in a few weeks of the grew isis or isil.

i'm joined by bill neely in our london bureau. bill, the statement from david cameron's office says that the video purports to show the same british accented man, masked man, purporting to be from isis. so talk a bit about that. because now you have a british citizen being shown at the end of this video in the same way that mr. sotloff was shown at the end of the james foley video and threatened. >> yes. the man on the latest video again dressed in black certainly identifies himself as the same person in the first video which showed the murder of james foley. that caused deep consternation in the british government and here in the uk there were calls for britain to become more deeply involved in confronting isis. so british intelligence services will again like their american counter parts be looking at this

video when they eventually get their hands on it because it's only become available within the last hour or so and they will once again be looking for clues as to who this man is. they were studying the first video using voice recognition technology trying to match his voice with others that they had on record. they believed through that and through the evidence of a number of other hostages who had been held in syria that they had partially identified the man. the other hostages knew him as john. that was a nickname that they had given him and he was one of three british guards who were guarding a number of hostages near the syrian city of racca. so based on the first video, they had narrowed to eed down t search and they will also use the second video, he certainly identifies himself as the same man. and as you say, it will cause again deep consternation that this is a british citizen who apparently is murdering an

american hostage and threatening the life of a british citizen. >> bill neely, thank you very much. still here with me, we were talking about bit about this during the break, what might be the message that isis is trying to send with these videos? is it to essentially try to draw the united states military in or to prevent the united states military? if we know where, we know where to begin looking. >> first of all, it's this english. they have a very robust propaganda arm. this definitely has huge propaganda value for isis. i think that they are also doing this to send a message to the american people, they have a sense of how weary america is, they want to play on the fears and you can see that it does have an effect ones american

media landscape. look how much we're trying to understand it, how much the politicia politicians consumed by it. but at the same time, i don't think that they believe they will change american foreign policy. enough to give a moment pause, but not enough for america to change its entire court of involvement in the middle isaiah. but also this is for a huge international audience. they use this to recruit people there europe this, brings more people to the fight. they want to make sure that they can making gains and they are dictating the terms on the battle field. >> helps them collect money, too, from the region. this is one -- maybe one explanation of why they're dragging it out one by one. the longer this propaganda campaign continues, the more money they can collect and i think that's one of the reason why is they're doing it. >> at one point does the weary ths with the region give way to

anger? we're seeing american citizens here and same calculation in great britain where you tort to see the drumbeat for retaliation. >> retaliation is one thing. and effective retaliation something else again. if you poll the american people and ask them do you think this is really horrible stuff, yes. it's really horrible stuff. if it goes on for a little while longer, you may even get the american population to say we ought do something about it. but if you present the option of sending in troops with the expect statiation we and hey tn there for quite some time, that we will have to be there a while, that -- and also it will require the president of the united states to say i may have been wrong about bailing out. maybe i left too soon. he's not going to say that. you'll get a different kind of response from the american population. and from politicians.

all of who are running for office. >> particularly at a time when we are ramping up additional support for nato in europe and when the demands on the united states to protect allies in the european theater, not just the middle east, are also increasing. >> and also there has to be a tough question posed to arab countries which is what are they doing in the region to stop this. and i don't think the u.s. does enough to throw the ball back into the court of the region. the u.s. can defend itself from hundreds of thousands of miles away. the arab countries need to step up and take ownership. i don't think they do that enough. they aren't doing it enough to cut the funding from it private citizens in the gulf, organizations, charity, individuals. not enough is being done, not enough international pressure is being done to push these countries to step up and take ownership and put an end to this, which is really affecting the world. >> stepping up would be a good thing. thank you both for hanging out

with me for the entire hour. and there is so much more to talk about. i hope you will both come back because more to come. thank you very much. that does wrap it up for -- actually, doesn't wrap it up. we'll be right back. if ♪ by the chocolate all around ♪ turn around brian! ♪ this bar has protein oh yeah!♪ [ female announcer ] fiber one. (vo) ours is a world of the red-eyes. (daughter) i'm really tired. (vo) the transfers. well, that's kid number three. (vo) the co-pilots. all sitting... ...trusting... ...waiting... ...for a safe arrival. introducing the all-new subaru legacy. designed to help the driver in you... ...care for the passenger in them. the subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru. even in her laundry room. always mixed and matched, with downy unstopables for long lasting scents,

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icy is in u.s. cross hairs. >> we've talked about isil for many months and as i've said before, we were very closely monitoring and tracking their progress, their growth, their development, well before they rolled into mosul. so this is not an organization that we haven't been watching. the speed with which they took control of the north in iraq, definitely got a lot of people's attention. and i've said that publicly, too. nobody expected that four divisions of the iraqi arm were just going to fall the way they did. so there was a speed there that certainly was -- did not go unnoticed. but there is an organization we've been long watching. >> we heard a desperate plea from steven's mother just last week. sotloff was kidnapped more than a year ago inside syria and isis had threatened to behead him after the execution of james tolly.