out of control. two americans beheaded. the international community crafting a response. the president with another huge decision to make and the rest of us wondering when did al qaeda get put on the back burner? how can you have a cease-fire when one side said they're not even fighting? that's the line from russia today as the u.s. seeks to draw a new one. >> and a third american now infected with ebola as the same fla atlanta doctors who cured the first time give nbc news a dire diagnosis of what lies ahead. with begin with the strongest comments yet from the president about isis after the beheading of a second american journalist as we come on the air today. he's vowing to destroy the group that many say is more extreme than al qaeda and top level cabinet members are standing right behind him. >> we remain mindful of the possibility that an isil sympathizing perhaps motivated by online propaganda could conduct an attack at home with little or no warning.

at the threat to the u.s. homeland is likely to be limited in scope and scale. they are adapting their tactics to overcome our defenses and to avoid our intelligence collection. left unchecked, they will seek to carry out attacks closer to home. >> this as our nation's top counterterrorism official says the fbi has arrested a handful of people trying to come to the u.s. from syria and if we don't act siisis could set its sets o the homeland? >> whatever they think they will achieve, they have already failed. our objective is clear, it is to destroy isil so it's not a threat to not just iraq but to the region and to the united states. >> those who have murdered james foley and steven sotloff in syria need to know that the united states will hold them accountable, to, no matter how long it takes.

>> human rights watch says isis carried out a murder of triple the number of men we first thought. we now have about 1,000 americans there. nbc news senior white house correspondent chris jansing is traveling with the president for us in estonia. chris? >> reporter: i think you heard in the statements by the president when he said our reach is long and justice will be served. a determination by the u.s. to get justice for the two american journalists who have been so brutally murdered by extremists. it was a message that was echoed later in the day by secretary of state john kerry. the question is what's next? and next is wales and the nato summit which some are calling most significant since the end of the cold war. the president wants to build a coalition of europeans but also arab countries while pressure at home is building, including both sides of the aisle.

democratic senator bill nelson who says he will propose legislation that would authorize air strikes in syria, something the president has not yet shown a willingness to do and has given no indication that he has changed his mind about that. so what we will be watching is these meetings in wales very carefully including a bilateral meeting he has scheduled with british prime minister david cameron who had a warning of his own today for isis and also called on all countries and organizations to stop paying ransom for hostages taken by isis that feeds this brutality. back to you guys. >> chris jansing traveling with the president. let's head to washington and jessica lewis, research director at the institute for the study of war. she spent months on the ground in iraq as an army intel officer. great to have you back. we have heard repeatedly that we cannot solve this problem of isis with just a military solution. we also need a political solution but also that we can't just solve it with air strikes. there needs to be a ground complement. please explain to us why when we

have the best air force the world has ever seen we can't solve this problem just from the air. >> well, one of the biggest observations that i would contribute to that answer is that isis is capable of hybridized warfare which means they can span from tactics and operations that would be conducted by a conventional military through other styles of warfare that include insurgency and terrorist operations. and if we were just to target isis from the air in a way that would degrade their conventional capability, we would still be left with a fairly vast insurgent capability by isis in both iraq and syria and that would likely require a ground force either a domestic force, a tribal force, an international force to meet that threat, too. >> jessica, as you know, isis has been publishing an online magazine called "beak" in which they explain the philosophical

underpinnings for what they're doing and what they're hoping to establish from a government and military and religious perspective. i know your organization has gone through those mg zens in depth and analyzed their contents. what did you learn about isis there? >> well, a few things. it's very important to isis to communicate its messaging in english and other nonarabic languages. to the question of whether or not isis has its sights on the west, i'm afraid simply by the fact they publish so prolifically in english, i think yes. it's very important to isis to demonstrate why in religious philosophical ways the caliphate they have built is correct but the language they're using in english is very basic in religious content so it feels like they're not necessariily sending a message to people who are already interested in the

apocalyptic caliphate view but trying to introduce that view to a lay audience that may think that this is an idea worth considering. >> and speaking of messaging, who was calling the spots? obviously there's a strategy behind the two journalists who have been beheaded, who they decide to kill, how they do it, when they decide to release that video and who the executioner is. it sounds like this man could be from the uk. is it one man at the top making these calls or is it a more fully integrated pr and military team here? >> well, i do think that the pr team is vast and strategic and very thoughtful about what to publish. how to publish beheadings, between to do so and how to juxtapose the battlefield content with the long "dabiq" reports you mentioned. i think he's the visionary for the caliphate but this very vast

organization likely also requires intermediate leadership to run specific functions, to run the military campaigns, to think through and run the pr campaigns, and this technical class of experts also within isis i think is very important to consider. >> one of the things i have been amazed by is the sort of vastness of the isis bureaucracy. one thing we saw from 2009, their predecessor, the islamic state of iraq was naming a cabinet complete with minister of war, minister of finance, something called the minister of martyr and prisoner affairs. what's the difference between taking on something like this that has aspirations to be and is sort of becoming something like a country rather than the sort of counterinsurgency operations we had last time around in iraq? >> it means we need to do a number of different things. first of all, there needs to be a military strategy to take down this core strength of isis to conquer territory, to become an occupying force. isis needs to lose that capability in order for iraq and

syria ultimately to be able to sustain state craft that runs counter to this caliphate view of isis. but we also need to understand that isis is pursuing other things right now within the territory that it controls and that these other functions of the caliphate are just as dangerous long term and make it quite possible for isis to regenerate these governance aspirations quickly. so there really does need to be a strategy. as you mentioned, the political strategy as well, a counter messaging strategy to take down these ideas and these other functions, not just the isis military. >> we keep hear being how tough isis is, we keep hearing about their aspirations to governance as you just mentioned. do you think isis has currently constituted is powerful enough to overthrow the governments of iraq or syria? >> well, from a security standpoint, the fact that isis has been able to do what it already has means that the

states of iraq and syria are not legitimate inside the territory that isis is able to control that should belong to those states. so while isis controls major cities like mosul in iraq, i'm afraid that's the status quo position and it's quite important for the long-term stability of the region that iraq and syria regain control of their territory. >> and jessica, as you have been pointing out, part of isis' strategy is to appeal to muslims worldwide, in the west, throughout the muslim world and sort of call them to come and join the isis cause. how broad is that appeal within the muslim world at large? >> well, i doubt that isis appeals very broadly in the region or across the world, but that they only need to appeal to a few in order for them to have a very significant amplifying affect upon the international terrorist threat by groups that may not yet be aligned with isis. it is very dangerous although i do not expect they appeal to a

significant even minority. >> thank you very much for that. coming up, how will the world respond to the isis threat? and next, why isis is so bad even al qaeda wants nothing to do with it. and there's another important difference that makes isis more dangerous. "the cycle" is rolling on. it is wednesday, september 3rd. woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him and there's another important everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment.

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isil has the potential to use its safe haven to plan and coordinate attacks in europe and in the united states. >> and that is a huge focus of tomorrow's nato summit in wales.

the growing threat isis poses to both the u.s. and thee u as residents in the states and overseas try to digest the gruesome execution videos and indications that the executioner may be from the uk. nbc's bill neely is in london with more. bill? >> reporter: yes, there is no country outside the united states where these videos are having more of an impact than in britain and that's because the man dressed in black, the man who appears to be the one who decapitates the two journalists is clearly a british citizen and the third hosstage who he threatens to kill in this latest video is also a british citizen. and there is no government under greater pressure outside the united states than the british governmen government. david cameron was feeling some of that pressure today. in the house of commons he answered questions and he said this country will never give in to terrorism. he said i have a very straightforward message to isis, a country like ours will not be

cowed by these barbaric killers. the big question is what is he, what is britain going to do about it? what can britain do about it? this morning there was a meeting of britain's emergency committee known as cobra, so it's a gathering of political leaders as well as defense and intelligence chiefs. they don't normally publish the minutes of their meetings or any conclusions but i think they would have made pretty grim reading because there's very little britain can do at the moment. a ransom for this current hostage or any kind of negotiation is out of the question. britain, like the united states, has a policy in principle simply not to do that. a rescue mission is highly unlikely. we understand from american sources that the rescue mission that tried to free james foley earlier in the summer was also aimed at this british hostage and other hostages being held together. so a rescue mission doesn't seem likely. so the question is, what can britain do? and air strikes are obviously a

question being debated at the moment. britain has sent tornado jets in with the american war planes in northern iraq. they're on a reconnaissance mission. british planes have gone in with nine tons of assault rifle ammunition. it's not supplied actually by britain but by other countries. so britain is, if you like, dipping its toe in the water but there is increasing pressure for britain to join in air strikes and, indeed, later this week at the nato summit, mr. cameron and mr. obama and various other leaders will be discussing just that because this isn't just an american issue or problem. it's a british and european problem and as we know, 500 british citizens, 900 french citizens, 400 german citizens have gone to iraq and syria to fight for isis. so this is a paneuropean and indeed a western problem. but the pressure on the british government and on david cameron clearly growing. back to you. >> nbc's bill neely in london.

thank you so much. many americans are comparing si isis to al qaeda but isis is too extreme even for them. the man who led al qaeda central made it clear his group has nothing to do with isis citing disobedience and the disobedience on baghdadi's order. shane, thanks so much for being here. we're all trying to wrap our head around isis, get a sense of what really they're all about. what makes isis so extreme that al qaeda wants nothing to do with them? >> well, we've seen a really vivid example of that in the past few days with these beheading videos. it's not that al qaeda is above gruesome propaganda either, but historically the rift has been between these two groups if you go back several years to when isis was al qaeda in iraq, about the violence that isis and then aqi was exerts on muslims, on whether it was becoming too

gruesome and graphic for al qaeda that it was turning people off to the movement. you started to see the fissures there. more recently isis declared itself a caliphate. they essentially said we are the islamic state. we're the one and only leaders around here and al qaeda effectively said not so fast. we're not bowing down to you. there was really a political power struggle there i think as well that has then split these two groups and resulted in al qaeda disavowing isis and it effectively is now its own operation and is looking for adherents and trying to break them off from some of the al qaeda followers and affiliates as well. >> one of the big differences between al qaeda and isis is media strategy. we all remember those grainy amateurish video that is bin laden made that 4r50looked like was set up by somebody who didn't know what they were doing in long-winded arabic that nobody in the west could understand. they produce slick videos in

multiple languages now. krystal talked about the magazine they make. they allow vice news to come along with them for a ride along and produce a 45 minute piece. they're really good at getting their message out and that has been crucial to their recruiting. >> yeah. you said it, absolutely. this has been actually the one place where i think isis has completely surpassed al qaeda. you played a little footage earlier from matthew olson, the counterterrorism director. i was in the room for those remarks earlier today. what he pointed out is when it comes to propaganda and the use of social media, this is where isis far surpasses any other terrorist organization. you only have to look at the quality of the videos showing steven sotloff's and james foley's awful deaths. they are highly produced videos. they stand in marked contrast to anything al qaeda did. isis is far and away the leader when it comes to propaganda. >> another big difference between isis and al qaeda is

money. al qaeda at their height, their operating bucket annudget annua $30 million. that's an estimate. isis' estimated net worth is $2 billion and they get that money from kidnapping. they get it from extortion. they get it from donations, but the biggest source is actually oil revenue. they have seven oil fields and two refineries in northern iraq. six oil fields in eastern syria. so what do they plan to do with that $2 billion? >> you could argue right now that isis is effectively a petro state. i think what they intend to do really is revealed by their name, the islamic state. they want to build a caliphate. they want to build a nation and to do that you need enormous sums of money and resources. tellingly, they have been taking a lot of money they're generating and some estimates are they're earning $4 million a day through illicit oil sales and pumping that back into this government that they're trying to build. delivering services to citizens

in some towns in iraq. everything down to picking up the trash and delivering basic services. so in the same way that any government would try to fund itself through a source of revenue, isis is trying to do the same thing and it's extraordinary how much they've been able to generate largely through theft. they've stolen it from banks, from taking over oil fields. al qaeda has to do this much more incrementally and much more secretly. isis is doing it more like a criminal organization that runs in and robs the banks and takes over the oil fields and then goes from there. >> what's our ability to interfere with that? ordinarily if there's a hostile petro state, we impose an embargo, interfere with their ability to sell natural resources and the world? are we doing that? >> we're trying but it's tough. we can impose sanctions on countries that would buy the oil and over time it may just be that people find it's easier to buy the oil from somewhere else and how long can you keep going trying to do this with this

brutal islamic caliphate trying to sell it. the other interesting part of this is it takes a lot of money to run a caliphate it turns out. it may be that actually that isis' own sort of financial undoing comes from the extraordinary cost of administering the state that it's trying to set up. >> and then what about isis' lack of allies? we've talked about how they're alienating even other islamic fundamentalist groups? >> so far they haven't had a lot of luck. some of the splinter groups that you've seen from some of the al qaeda affiliates, some of the marginally important players have shown their support for isis but you haven't seen any major groups join with them. there have been some talk about members of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aligning with

isis. we have only seen a few members come out and declare support. so i isis really has a leadership challenge ahead of it and it sort of needs to go around and build coalitions. the leader has not made many public statements about isis and there's some pressuring him to do that. it's raising a question of whether there might be a power vacuum in al qaeda. if there were, isis would try to exploit that. >> shane harris, thanks so much. up next, the politics of all this. remember that saying perception becomes reality? and later how the changing nature of terror and technology is raising the stakes for journalists in war zones. more "cycle" ahead.

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americans are repulsed by their bar bber iarberism. >> in estonia this morning

president obama echoed what many americans are feeling after a second american was beheaded by isis. the president is making this critical overseas trip with the headlines already written for him. once again, the leader of the free world on the world stage as another act begins in the war on terror. this time about combatting isis. for more on what the white house is juggling, let's talk to howard fineman who knows a thing or two about tough politics. howard, the president is all about don't do stupid stuff. that is a large part in why he was elected. but in this situation we have nothing but bad options and a nation of folks who are saying we have to do something. that seems very americans. there's a problem, we must do something about it. how do you flthread the needle between must do something, no ideal options, and don't do stupid stuff. >> i would add one more complication, even though the american people want him to do

something and want strong leadership and want a clear vision and want to hear john wayne and ed harris in "apollo 13" saying failure is not an option they also clearly according to the polls don't want american troops in iraq or syria. they don't want to replay the movie of the previous decade. so that makes it even more complicated for him, and as you say, there are no good options. i think he's reasonable to say that unless we have allies in not just nato and not just britain which has its own particular problems but the arab and muslim countries need to stand united with the west in saying no and death to isis. but you're not hearing that yet and you're not hearing it loud enough, and i think the president is right about that. the difficulty he has is that it's hard for a president to stand up there and explain why we aren't doing something.

why something is complex. why we're not going into ukraine because ukraine is not part of nato. they want to hear what the president is going to do and what his clear vision is. a president is not a "new york times" op-ed page columnist explaining complexities. a president is somebody who has to speak in black and white even if he thinks in shades of gray. >> howard, i was kind of stunned that the president didn't make a statement yesterday before he got on the plane and went over to europe after the steven sotloff video news came out. it seemed to me given the president for a variety of reasons doesn't have a clear agenda to set out here at least sending the message i'm on this, i'm focused on this rather than waiting a day to speak would have been advantageous. why do you think he did that? >> josh, i don't have an explanation for you. and i think he should have. i think if there's an explanation it's probably that his advisers are telling him that isis is trying to bait him

and the united states into a sort of one-on-one confrontation between al baghdadi, the self-proclaimed head of the caliphate in iraq and the president of the united states. in that sense the president shouldn't stoop to a sort of ad hoc equivalency with that person but i think for american politics, he needed to do that at least. i agree with you. >> that's the only reason i have heard as to why maybe he didn't speak yesterday. but, howard, there's a real feeling of doom it seems like, that isis is totally out of control and we don't have a lot of control as to what they're going to do next. like the world is much scarier than it's ever been. you've been in a business a long time. how much of this is perception given, you know, the 24-hour news cycle that seems to have a breaking news banner at all times of the day and how much of this is reality or is it just a bit of both? >> well, i think there's no question that the whole idea of

warfare between states and between nonstate actors which i would still say that the islamic caliphate is, the islamic state is, has changed because of media. we see it every minute of the day. we see the urgency of footage from ferguson and how that issue of race relations got so in front of the american public so instantly because of social media, and isis, as you have been explaining, as your previous guest explained, is extremely adept at social media, and there are new forms of terror available, new forms of psychological warfare available through social media. recruitment, intimidation, fear, belligerence, that all takes place in the minds flt peopof te who see these things. as far as isis on the ground is concerned, there's no doubt that they have more money than any previous group, that they're taking over huge amounts of territory in iraq and syria, and then in a way all that's

happened since 9/11 is that we've replaced a more distant threat in the taliban in afghanistan and arguably saddam hussein and so on in iraq with a more vicious and violent and virulent and shrewd group that's closer to the west, that's closer to israel and turkey and egypt, allies of the united states. so it's serious business for sure even though it's also partly the result of social media. >> and which should be a cautionary tale for really thinking through what we're doing before we involve ourselves once again. i mean, those consequences were certainly unforeseen when we went into iraq, when we went into afghanistan to start with. but howard, there's some interesting numbers i thought out from pew about the way that americans are viewing the threat from isis. majorities of americans no matter how they politically identify view isis as a major threat but there is a political divide. 78% of republicans see isis as a

major threat versus 65% of democrats but what i really found interesting is among those most conservative tea party members, 91% see isis as a major threat and, howard, when i look at those numbers, i don't see a lot of evidence of the rise of this libertarian branch of the republican party that we've been hearing so much about. >> that's really a great observation. i was astounded by that number, and i think it's interesting. i actually read that chart a little differently because i don't think there's really that much difference despite the pounding of tables by the john mccains of the world and the lindsey grahams of the world. there's pretty much agreement on what to do here regarding isis. i don't hear the republican conservatives who are screaming for action suggesting that they would support putting 30,000 or 40,000 american troops on the ground in syria and iraq which is what would be required to get rid of isis there. everybody wants a coalition.

everybody wants the arab governments to speak up. everybody wants nato to get behind this. everybody wants it to be multinational and then focused on destroying isis. and i think probably virtually everybody across that spectrum that you showed in that chart would agree with that. so a lot of the disputes here are more about sort of legacy management, you know, who lost what, who did what in the past and less about what we want to do going forward. i think it's incumbent upon the president to move as quickly as he can, to force republicans to join with him, to get nato and the arab countries on board. i think he needs to speak out and say let's hear from the organization of arab states, let's hear from the muslim countries. let's everybody join in this effort. that is what he as president still i believe has the moral authority to do. >> you have to let us know what you really think next time. thank you so much as always. up next, the other easy issue that the president is dealing with, russia. putin mouthing off yet again.

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get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. right now the world is watching and waiting for the next move by isis after they beheaded a second american on video. president obama has promised the long arm of the u.s. military will ensure that justice is served. he's meeting with nato allies to discuss our next moves. >> this newest brutality further escalating concerns about the reach of isis. terror experts tell us on "the cycle" this group is too extreme even for al qaeda, considered america's number one enemy since after 9/11. and a third american has become infected with ebola in west africa. what's even more concerning about dr. rick sacra's case is he wasn't actually working directly with ebola patients. nancy writebol and dr. kent

brantley made full recoveries after they were flown to atlanta. >> i do remember as i was put on that airplane, i don't even know if i'm going to make it to the u.s. i don't even know if i'm going to see my dear husband again. >> that's the nature of ebola is that health care workers are predominantly affected because of the way it's spread. >> in fact, at least 10% of the 1500-plus ebola deaths so far have been doctors who were in west africa treating patients. >> tomorrow president obama arrives in wales for a nato summit that under any other circumstances would have been dominated by the battle between russia and ukraine. putin rejected ukraine's announcement of a cease-fire between the two continues arguing the russians can't agree to stop fighting when they were never part of the violence to start with.

but others see the story through a slightly different lens. keir simmons is here with what he's seeing. >> reporter: josh, you're right. president obama can say that russia can't rewrite the borders of nations at the barrel of a gun, but things look very different on the ground here. just the peace deal that president putin is now putting forward has seven points but if you look at two of the crucial ones in it, it stipulate that is the ukrainians must pull back their artillery so they can no longer fire on pro-russian rebels in this area of eastern ukraine. in other words saying to kiev, you have to get out of here and leave it to the pro-russian rebels. it stipulates the pro-russian rebels could no longer be on the offense. we can see when we're here that clearly ukraine is on the defensive. we've seen tanks destroyed.

we went to the border here, the supposed russian/ukrainian border but that border is being controlled by the pro-russian rebels. so all of the evidence is that this area is now firmly back in the hands of those pro-russian rebels. all of that a debate over whether there was a russian invasion or incursion or whatever you want to call it of russian military into ukraine, we've moved on from that already. president putin has moved that discussion on to peace talks but the peace talks in terms of the way that president putin is outlining them look very much on his terms. >> thank you very much. joining us now with more insight on the ukraine/russia conflict is former ambassador to the russian federation michael mcfaul. we have all seen the columns of tajs rolling into ukraine. what is with putin's strategy of saying that something that seems to be obviously true isn't so? is it like his attempt at a jedi mind trick? these are not the droids you're

looking for. >> well, part of it is so that we continue to discuss it and so we argue over words like incursion, intervention, invasion, and he keeps us talking about that rather than the actual facts on the ground that have been accurately reported by nbc and others where you see a major new military offensive, a new front opened up moving towards the city oand pus the ukrainians on the defensive. >> big news out of france. they are now suspending plans to deliver warships to russia. what's big about this move, it's a pretty clear indication they are willing to draw a harder line against russia and the implications of that could be pretty big. >> you're absolutely right. now, they didn't cancel the contract. they postponed it. but it was a very positive sign on the eve of the nato summit where all the leaders, including the president of france, will be, and i think that sets the right tone for the discussion

they will have at the nato summit to talk about further sanctions against russia. the strategy of the administration and our allies in europe has always been tit for tat and now the russians have escalated. putin has doubled down. i think it demands a big response from the administration and our allies and this was a good first step towards that. >> ambassador, heather conley at the center for strategic and international studies says in some ways nato shouldputin. it was searching for its purpose and having an identity crisis, and now it's been reinvigorated. what do you think about that? >> there's no question about it. that's absolutely true. nato was not expanding eastward for the last several years. nato was not defining its -- looking for new purposes outside of the european arena. now that's very clear that nato

has its new purpose, it's old purpose, and i think you see a doubling down, a recommitment to those commitments within nato. that's because of putin. >> and yet i would say this is a huge test for nato. so far they have not been able to stop putin from doing whatever it is that he feels like doing. what tools do they actually have in their arsenal? what should they be doing, and if they can't stop or slow putin, does there need to be a rethinking of that aligliance a how it works going forward? >> it's a very important observation in that ukraine is not a nato country. the article five commitments we have to other nato allies, an attack on one is an attack on all does not apply to ukraine. i think the administration and other leaders of nato have been good at making more credible our commitment to defend the nato alliance. that's good and the president going to estonia helps symbolically to show that.

with respect to ukraine, the debate is going to be about military assistance. should nato get into the business in a much more comprehensive way of trying to enhance the military forces of ukraine? the president hinted at that in a speech in estonia and i think that will be a major discussion point and maybe a major outcome of the that i tnato summit tomo. >> thank you so much. in the danger zone. as the enemy evolves, so, too, does the threat it journalists covering them. that's next. it's time for the "your business" entrepreneur of the week. ellen is the owner of the perennial gardner in ft. collins, colorado. she says main street retail stores can succeed if they make shopping an exciting experience and offer a selection of items customers didn't even know they wanted. for more watch "your business" sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc. if i can impart one lesson to a

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new video just into the newsroom and it includes some strong words for isis from vice president biden talking about the beheadings of two american journalists in less than a month. >> the american people are so much stronger, so much more resolved than any enemy can fully understand. as a nation, we're united, and when people harm americans, we don't retreat. we don't forget. we take care of those who are grieving, and when that's finished, they should know we will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice because hell is where they will reside. hell is where they will reside. >> friends and colleagues are choosing to focus on the life of steven sotloff who traveled to

the middle east as a freelance journalist to expose the suffering of everyday muslims at the hands of repressive regimes. sotloff went missing in 2013 and one of 80 journalists kidnapped in syria since the country fell into civil war in 2011. more than 70 journalists have been killed and 20 more are missing in syria alone. this all underscores the dangers that the men and women face bringing us the news. joining us now is robert mahoney of the committee to protect journalists. thanks for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> talk about the passion that brings james foley and steven sotloff to cover the war in syria despite the risk syria as your organization points out now the most dangerous place in the world for journalists. >> it is the most dangerous place but reporters are there to

tell stories and even when they are advised of the dangers, they still want to go. one of the great motivations is to bear witness and that great american journalist who was killed in syria a couple of years ago, when she was in the middle of all of that fire she said i'm here to bear witness. if i don't tell the story, who will. >> bearing witness is so important and service folks are doing providing so important. if these war stories and war atrocities are not told, then the world can become a more dangerous place. >> exactly. that's part of the strategy is to frighten off journalists and witnesses. when no one is watching, war atrocities can get up to. today alone there was a report about the mass executions by isis in iraq, very few pictures and reports. journalists can't operate there. >> some of the greatest dangers faced in the war zones are by freelance journalists.

last year sunday times of london announced they will no longer accept photographs from freelance photographers they didn't want to encourage people to go into syria and face the risks there. what ethical obligations to journalistic organizations have with regard to freelancers and to encouraging safe practices? >> they have a great obligation to encourage safe practices and duty to care for the journalists they put in harm's way. the good news is over the last few years, a lot of organizations stepped up and realized these have are providing more and more journalists with the equipment that they need in order to deploy. most of the journalists have gone into syria from -- you are freelancers and don't have the big institutions behind them and we have to look out for their safety. >> those who don't have the big organization, what do they need to be safe in these dangerous regions? >> they need to be part of a community and buddy up with other journalists so to share the risk and share information.

they need to go through the training that you must have to go through a conflict zone so you don't only endanger yourself but those with you. and then they need information. it's absolutely crucial that they can trust the people that they trust with their safety to take them across. what's happened in syria is that they've been betrayed by the people they paid to help them and those at the worst luck end up at the top of the chain, which isis. >> we known they have used social media to get out the message and your organization has been writing about this. something stood out i read this morning, be headings of journalist as a public warning is very stark. isis has made murdering journalists the message itself. the execution is now the propaganda and makes me think about if you're running a media company, it's a tough decision

to make if you're sending money and women to cover what's going on, the best coverage you can get, do you rethink that based on what's going on? >> isis has taken this to a whole new level. before they were taken hostage but weren't killed, kept for some political purpose or ransom but now journalists are the victims, no longer an observer. if you send your staff into that area, you have to do everything that you can to make sure that they are safe and there's not much more you can do beyond what's being done at the moment. >> why are journalists the new target though? >> because there's a great propaganda value to it. the journalists taken, preently both americans sending a message to the united states and its involvement in iraq and syria. they also know that people like us will talk about it because these are high value individuals who work for big media

organizations. >> how do we ensure continued coverage, if i run a media organization, i have a excellent reason to not send journalists in because it doesn't seem a reasonable risk. if everybody does that and terrible things can happen in syria without being reported on. >> absolutely. that's conceding victory to the other side. freelancers go in because that's what we do and we rely on local iraqis and syrians to provide us with news. if you go in as a foreign journalist, you have to have a local to help you navigate and they are still using smartphones or whatever to take whatever pictures they can and hide them before they are kaugtd. >> caught, we have to see as citizens and people as leaders to see what is happening in war to have a chance to hope that war may one day end. >> exactly, only journalists can bring you that news because they are the ones to the front line. the only message you will get will be the propaganda message

that the isis people want to put out. you don't see what's going on in syria and northern iraq if we're all frightened and stay home. >> robert mahoney, thank you so much, we appreciate your perspective. >> all right, we will be back with a final word right after this. ing bonus check. rock beats scissors! wife beats rock. and with two checks a year, everyone wins. switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 877-218-2500 now. zach really loves his new camera. problem is...this isn't zach. it's a friend of a friend who was at zach's party and stole his camera. but zach's got it covered... with allstate renter's insurance. protect your valuables for as low as $4 a month when you add renter's insurance to your allstate auto policy. call 877-218-2500 now. what are you doing? we're switching car insurance. why? because these guys are the cheapest. why? good question. because a cut-rate price could mean cut-rate protection. you should listen to this guy. with allstate you get great protection, a great price,

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see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. that's does it for "the cycle." there's plenty to talk about on "now." >> a big weekend of diplomacy in the urgent effort to destroy isis, it's wednesday, september 3rd and this is "now." >> we will not be intimidated.

>> storm is rising in the middle east. >> the video of steven sotloff's execution is real. >> the face of islamb is not butchers, that's isis. >> 350 more troops being sent to baghdad. >> the message is that the u.s. is in this for the long haul. >> congress should pass authorization to use air power only. >> does have a list of possible targets in syria but indication he's ready to move on that. >> if the u.s. doesn't go after them inside syria, it's going to be a lost effort. >> this is a cancer you can't lay dormant. >> left unchecked they'll seek to carry out attacks closer to home. >> it's now a global threat. >> we will waiver. >> this is a cancer that has to be cut out. >> we will not forget our reach is long and justice