isis. this is the syrian town of chobani and this is all that remains of main street. this city has been holding out against an isis onslaught of thousands of militants for the last several weeks and it's been paying a heavy price. to understand, you need to know what's happening here. we'll have reports from here coming up as we explain the u.s. led strategy on isis, what's working, what's not in our live report that begins right now. >> good evening. i'm richard engle. we've now left chobani and are coming to you from irfa. it's been three months since the u.s. launched a war against isis. as a nation we've. at war in this part of the world for other a decade. and it looks like we could be at war for another ten years, maybe more. tonight, we're going to ask some tough questions about the war against isis. we'll be joined by michael hayden and one of the top commanders during the iraq war. earlier this yore, in an off-the-cuff remark that drew heavy criticism, president obama said he had

isis claims to have beheaded peter casic. we see the aftermath of the beheading and the victim is clearly, not recognizable. 26-year-old kasic was once a u.s. army ranger and an iraq war veter veteran. in civilian life, he was an aid worker in syria. that's where he was captured a year ago. >> we get to cnn's nick roberts. he is on the phone from washington. thank you for being with us. the thing that struck us is that the video we're seeing of this alleged execution is different from ones we've seen in the past. can you talk to us about that? >> it's different in a number of ways. it's different because the man who is doing -- or has done the execution or is talking about that, he's in a different location. we've normally seen it in different location. we're not seeing that. the previous victims, allen henning and james furlic were beheaded this way. they've been seen on camera before. this is a much longer video. it is the most barbaric of all the isis videos that i've seen so far. it shows the execution of people, it says,

isis is very different. it is principally a self-funded organization and so atrocious to do is they have to pivot, refocus, recalibrate their efforts to the dynamic that they're currently facing with respect to isis funding. my point is i think they are struggling to make that change, to make that adjustment. and it is borne out by the fact that there's only four designations. >> do you believe there would be individuals that treasure would be aware of today but could be designated? >> i would certainly hope so. because if they are not, then the situation is even more dire than it appears. >> we've talked a little bit with the undersecretary and other panelists have mentioned some of the countries in the area. i'm wondering if each of the members of the panel can address this. the undersecretary talked about there still needs to be more work to be done with qatar and what they're doing. we talked about the charity law that qatar has in place. i think the undersecretary privacy made his statements about qatar

isis. this is the syrian town of choba incomes i and this is all that remains of main street. this city has been holding out against an isis onslaught of thousands of mill tans 23r the last several weeks and it's been paying a heavy price. to understand, you need to know what's happening here. what's working, what's not in our live report that begins right now. >> good evening. i'm richard engle. we've now left chobani and are coming to you from irfa. as a nation, we've been at war in this part of the world for over a decade. and it looks like we could be at war for another tenniers, maybe more. tonight, we're going to ask some tough questions about the war against isis. earlier this yore, in an off-the-cuff remark that drew heavy criticism, president obama said he had no vat jill for taking on isis. then he addressed the nation. >> my fellow americans, tonight i want to speak to you about what the united states will do with our friends and allies to degrade and destroy the terrorist group

strategy to deal with isis. cnn global affairs correspondent elise labott has more. >> reporter: john, you know the advisers, including secretary of state john kerry have been calling for a robust strategy toward syria. now the president and advisers coming to the realization you will not get rid of isis without a plan. now many allies see this is the reason that isis gained strength. the initial strategy to take on isis first and then syria needs reexamination. the administration hoped it would give the u.s. time to vet, train and arm syrian rebel forces to then go after isis and then assad regime. now they do not have that time. the opposition is battling two fronts. the regime and isis and this could be object literated by the time the u.s. pivots. now the security team has met four times to discuss the strategy. one of the meetings chaired by president obama. there is talk about expanding and accelerating the train and equipped program. they are also talking about a political transition. when secretary kerry

mere membership of isis is very fluid. people see isis as the winning side. they've managed to defeat a 20,000, 30,000-strong iraqi army. but this is why i think isis can't maintain their supremacy in these areas because they're kicked out, successfully, very successfully, kicked out the mutual enemy, and now their attention is focused on each other. who that will be, i don't know. the islamic army of iraq, other non-islamist tribal forces. it's not clear who is going to come out on top, but isis is losing ground today. sunni tribes are turning. some sunni tribes are turning. and sunni tribes are usually a good indicator of which way the winds are blowing. that's why i see the power is going to diminish. also they have massive economic problems to deal with, especially in mosul. i can't remember who first said this in june. isis went from one of the richest terrorist groups in the world to one of the poorest states in the world. that's why i say they are not going to maintain their grip. how, who, when, i honestly can't say. >> i'll take on the question and t

>> the regime of bashar al assad is really part of the same problem as isis. >> but isis is fighting bashar al assad? >> they only recently started fighting the regime of bashar al assad. for months up until the summer, isis was given free reign. it was the opposition forces that took the burden upon themselves to launch this campaign against isis which began in january of this year. >> is the syrian opposition, the military that will now be trained, the moderate opposition, they're going to go to saudi arabia, spend several months there, the u.s. is financing this operation, is it realistic to really assume that oubai and his friends over there can really destroy isis and the -- on the ground, the ground troops -- they presumably would be the ground troops the u.s. is looking for and the bashar al assad military? >> oubai and i have been friends for many years. what i will say is this, the numbers we're talking about are 5,000 being trained. the estimates of isis is 30,000 today. >> and the estimate of the syrian military is hundreds of thousands. >> right. do the math. it certainly

isis blew it. some of the deep political issues not only between the kurds and baghdad and baghdad and turkey and syria, they were leading to some of the deep vulnerabilities of the surd stan region. if you look at the information, the region counters intuitively is not more, but in fact less. some of the i would say strategistr strategic miscalculations enhanced the vulnerability of the region so that is not only more dependent on baghdad, but in baghdad and turkey. the patrons of the region is increasingly becoming turkey alongside baghdad. there is the uni10th marker and let's look at some of the key dynamics and trends before june 10th that were there. what has the presence of isis done to reinforced or weaken the leverage. what is the leverage of the curd stan region. we know that there has been movement to enhance the internal sovereignty of the region since 2005. you had issues of the territories. oil exports and creating an independent state via turkey. one of them and i really do see the i

isis doesn't enforce treaties. isis does not have a central bank. to be clear i'm not endorsing this idea but i merely explaining what i see as a potential or a plausible sequence of events in the future and this is i think one of them. >> let me ask you the last question. iran. as a player in syria. recently foreign ministers are reef talked again about the syrian people should decide about their future. you mentioned ballots. is that possible or is there hope and how much influence do they have in syria? >> i'm sure the minister realizes the heavy dose of irony that the people should decide in sending economic support into the country. they do that along with many other groups so it's not merely the iranians but the iranians are the most powerful patron of the regime. earlier someone asked me about the difference between iran and russia in the syrian crisis. are these two players essentially the same? they are notionally on the same side on the side of the regime of assad and do they have the same interest? my reading of the situation lucidly is t

rebels to battle isis. battling the regime, battling isis. i think many people think that assad is benefiting from that campaign against isis, because it's zapping the focus of the administration. so the argument of the allies of many of the administration is if you don't help beef up this opposition now, beef up their capabilities, take steps for a political solution in syria, including an eventual exit for president assad, that moderate syrian opposition will be destroyed and they won't be there to fight isis. but the problem is, there's no political opposition right now to fill that vacuum if assad were to go. so the administration, a lot of people feels need to redouble its effort to find that viable alternative. you have russia and iran still supporting assad and have shown they're not showing any signs willing to change course. >> russia and iran still supporting bashar al assad. thank you very much. joining us here in "the situation room," the state department spokeswoman jen saiki. thank you very mu

isis taxes those people. it's very hard to wage war if you supply strategic assets to the -- to areas under enemy control. i have never seen that done in a war in the past. >> i hear your point. i say we are short of world war right now. if you want one sure way for the central government in iraq to go even further to losing the support of more of their constituencies, deny electricity to iraqi citizens who -- >> let me get this. you supply the economy under isis' control. isis then taxes that economy and that's -- did we lose the hearts and minds of those who are resisting nazis because we not only did not provide free food or electricity to the people of france, obviously electricity wouldn't have worked but food, but in fact, we prevented food imports in france? didn't we retain the support of the civilian population under nazi occupation? is there any other war you can point to where free electricity goes from one side to the other? >> again, unless you have information -- i don't know it's free electrici

this is likely to dismantle isis. unlike al qaeda and other groups, isis was self-sufficient for about eight years as an insurgent group before committing itself to running a proto state. they went through many iterations. isis was financially independent for years by engaging in criminal activity enterprises domestically within iraq. today criminal enterprise still accounts for significant isis financing, come me meaplme me m the group's other means of income. the source of funding for a group committed not just to terrorists and insurgent activity, but to capturing, holding and administering territory, which involves significant expenditures and requires more revenue streams. therefore, while it's true isis criminal enterprises in iraq are currently beyond the reach of traditional law enforcement and regulatory action, we do not have threats on the ground like we once did. focusing even in those areas that are vulnerable to current tool sets will effectively deny isis the money it needs to hold and administer the is

isis taxes those people. it's very hard to wage war if you supply strategic assets to the -- to areas under enemy control. i have never seen that done in a war in the past. >> i hear your point. i say we are short of world war right now. if you want one sure way for the central government in iraq to go even further to losing the support of more of their constituencies, deny electricity to iraqi citizens who -- >> let me get this. you supply the economy under isis' control. isis then taxes that economy and that's -- did we lose the hearts and minds of those who are resisting nazis because we not only did not provide free food or electricity to the people of france, obviously electricity wouldn't have worked but food, but in fact, we prevented food imports in france? didn't we retain the support of the civilian population under nazi occupation? is there any other war you can point to where free electricity goes from one side to the other? >> again, unless you have information -- i don't know it's free electrici

to prevent more lives being taken by isis? >> i think that's an incredibly difficult answer to a certain extent. it is quite evident that they have two categories of hostages they've been taking. there are a large number of locals and also internationals that they've held hostage, negotiated with their host countries for their release. but there's this other category, the second category as you say, of the five western hostages that have been used purely as a political tool in isis' propaganda to influence as much as they can the west but also potentially from this new video the arabian coalition in trying to cease and carry out cessation of their action obviously against isis positions across iraq and syria. >> you know, we know isis has more hostages. i mean, are they going to continue beheading western hostages as long as the air strikes continue? is that what we're going to see more of? >> i think it's unfortunately a very sad likelihood. i think certainly as far as isis are concerned, we've seen they've used the media to

isis taxes the economy. did we lose the hearts and minds of those resisting nazis because we did not provide free food or electricity to the people of france? in fact, we prevented food imports to france? didn't we retain the support of the civilian occupation? is there any other war you could point to where free electricity goes from one side to the other? >> i do not know that it is free electricity. this is a deeply sectarian war. the further you make divisions between the sectarian communities in iraq, the worse it will be. policy ofr a supporting the strategic elements of economy. that is certainly -- >> i think you know that is not what i said. >> you can clarify for the record in writing what your position is. i guess that would also apply to petroleum. if you are in favor of the lights being on, people ought to be able to drive from north to south, but we are preventing them from exporting oil. have we done everything possible preventing from producing enough oil for the civilians under their control

that's isis and the fight against isis. if you just back up for a second, you had before the last six months, before the summer, you had this sort of calcified set of issues. on iran, iraq, syria. that meant that the things were pretty intractable and weren't going to move. just to set the picture, you had a bloody civil war in syria, that went on and on with a horrendous loss of life. that iran was directly invested in, but clearly, the obama administration was not. the obama administration, president obama himself said time and time again that this was not a fight that the united states could make a difference in. and so, therefore, it was his role to keep the united states out of it. we heard in so many interviews, he would compare the syrian conflict to an african civil war or something really marginal on when the u.s. looked at his own interests. and that was the civil war against assad. the effort to oust assad. there was this debate about whether to do more, whether to arm the rebels, whether the cia or pentagon shou

he says, kobani has shown that isis can be defeated. isis has been stopped in its tracks. the group is bleeding and the beheading of kassig shows isis' desperation to lash out, to show it still has options, unquote. do you agree with that assessment, ambassador? >> i understand why faraz is saying that but i don't necessarily agree. because the fact of the matter is until iraqi military can launch an offensive against mosul, until we can really stabilize kobani, until raqqa is really able to give up its isis fighters, until we're able to stop seeing this proliferation of jihadi owannabes, i'm very reluctant to declare victory. >> ayman, what's your take here? how are we doing at combating the ideology, not just the fighters? >> i'm with ambassador ginsberg on this one. no doubt about it, i don't necessarily think that the operation has -- the military operation against isis has begun to tilt the balance entirely in the favor of the coalition. there's a few reasons why i think that. one, isis as a group is fighting on multiple fronts. they might not have overtaken kobani bu

isis in fact

strategy against isis. thursday david cohen, the undersecretary of treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence outlined his agency's work to attach the terror group's funding sources. this hearing of the house financial services committee is three hours. >> the committee will come to order. the chair will declare a recess at any time. before we begin, if you think you are in a strange room, you are. we did not change the portraits, as i have announced previously to the committee. our hearing room, i think, is the last hearing room in the raburn building to receive a sound upgrade and other modifications to make the room ada compliant. as a reminder to all members, we will be a no maddic tribe between now and theoretically the end of march. we hope that doesn't mean mid-w mid-wmid mid-may. and we will take whatever committee room our friends will allow us to have. so if you see chairman shoouser on the floor, thank you for his kindness in allowing our committee to use his committee room. this hearing i

is to stop isis financing and funding. that may prove to be a difficult task in large part due to the differences between the funding models employed by isis and other al qaeda affiliates but not beyond the international community's capabilities. combat financing is an important component to be against any group to be even too extreme for even al qaeda. corner terrorism tools have been found uniquely effective in terrorist groups but also a source of financial action of intelligence that can leverage even greater success. sometimes, you let the money flow so you can watch it and tag it. there's no doubt that financing crosses international borders or leverages international financing system, especially the formal secretary of banks, even the alternative financial mechanisms. in those cases tools set and developed since years from 9/11. this includes isis oil funding and donations from the deep pocket funders in the gulf and elsewhere kidnapping to reference antiquitities ancient artifacts and more. but this is unlikely to

isis. >> okay. i want to read a quote here from al. the americans are weak and powerless and due to their weakness they are unable to send ground forces to fight the mujahadin. we see them stumbling in failure." that is the leader of isis. i want to say somewhere between mocking and daring the united states. what does that say about america's position in the world in this fight? >> right now, the president's only authorizing five to seven soredies a day. if campaign compared to kosovo, that was 2,000 sore dies a day. >> you've had a lot of experience, navy intelligence officer, in this. is what we're doing against isis a comprehensive strategy or is this sort of we need to do something so we're going to say that we are doing something without doing enough to. >> this is almost just an air show over kurdistan. i would say at five to seven soredies a day you are not affecting the base enough. >> by five to seven soredies -- >> flights with weapons on the hard points and being dropped. >> not exactly t

the threat is isis. what we want to ensure is that isis is sufficiently engaged over there we keep their head downs, kill as many of them as we can, we keep them busy over there, so they don't have time to form sanctuary, build camps and launch something on the scale of a 9/11 attack over here. that's what our focus is. certainly the iraqi government wants to defeat isis as well. we have to partner over there. they're not all it ta capable yet but we're working towards something over time they will develop some more capability. >> as soon as the isis guys started coming in from syria into iraq, that iraqi military that you, when i say you, i mean top u.s. military commanders, the united states, trained, armed, protected, financed, they did all of that over more than a decade, you know what happened in the second largest city in iraq, mosul, a city of more than 2 million people, the iraqi army simply collapsed, ran away, left all of that u.s. military hardware to be picked up by isis. why should anyone ha

troops join the war on isis. we are live. >>> in hours, president obama meets one-on-one with china's leader hoping to find common ground in the crucial, but tense relationship. we are live with what president obama is hoping to accomplish. >>> breaking news. the captain of the south korea ferry that capsized is sentenced for his role. >>> welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. it is tuesday, november 11th. 5:00 a.m. in the east. new this morning, 50 american service members now on the ground in iraq paving the way for a larger contingent in the battle against isis. the pentagon says these are the first to arrive since the president ordered more troops for iraq. the troops are there to advise and train, not there so says the pentagon for a combat role. we have new information on an air strike that may have wounded the head of isis. abu bakr al bagdadi. u.s. officials say coalition and iraqi forces did launch air strikes in two parts of iraq targeting isis leaders, but still no confirm

he says that he hopes once isis has fought american crusaders in syria and in iraq, then isis fighters will go on to fight on the streets of foreign countries including the united states and the united kingdom. that's certainly a threat there that isis could be readying to take its fight further afield. and certainly all of this comes within the context of coalition air strikes on isis positions, and the fact that for the first time isis indicates this video was shot in a town northeast of aleppo seems to indicate that peter kassig, who we understood had been held near the isis strong hold had been moved 125 miles west at this point where he appears to have been ex caughted, fredricka. >> all right. karl penhaul, thank you so much for that. >>> our next guest thinks the focus is not the beheadings. jeremiah o'keefe joins me from dallas, a former white house middle east adviser. jeremiah, explain that for me. >> good afternoon, fredricka. the video is approximately 16 minutes long, and only one minute of the video is the beheading of the american. the other 15 minutes is talking about t

you don't say that we're going to destroy isis. when the president says that isis is a cancer and it must be eliminated. he's right. but you don't say we're only going to use the following tools in doing so. you say we're going to do whatever it takes, hopefully be able to do that with other people's troops but if it takes our own troops, you don't take that as a source of our strength from the battlefield. >> schieffer: all right. let's shift to domestic politics. a big battle coming in the congress over immigration, the president saying he may take unilateral action that will keep millions of people in this country, illegal immigrants from being deported. republicans say that's waving a red flag in front of a bull. they're going to try to stop that, some are even talking about maybe shutting down the government. what is your advice to the republicans at this point, governor? >> well, my advice to the democrats at this point and to the president in particular is take a breath. the president said that he was not on the ballot in th

isis challenges the u.s. to send ground troops, also says to presidentby ma, we will slaughter americans on your street. again, all of this needs to be authenticated but there is that challenge to send u.s. ground troops. >> that incendiary language continues. thank you, erin mcpike. >>> the secretary of defense tells cnn he's ready to move in more forces if that's what's needed. now all eyes on america's top general who is in baghdad on a surprise visit. >> we'll have more for you in a moment, stay put. fraud resolution department. ugh, we don't have that. what should i tell him? just make that super annoying modem noise... (shuuuuuuuh....zzzzzzzz...de ee...dong...shuuuhh...) hello? not all credit report sites are equal. classic. experian.com members get personalized help plus fraud resolution support. join now at experian.com. with enrollment in experian credit tracker. which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays

and isis.>> we don't see that basically because of the competing objectives. i think what you're referring to is the al qaeda chapter, franchise in syria. and isis. they are competing objectives and who would be -- have to be subordinate to the other really don't see that, at the strategic level. there have been tactical accommodations on the battlefield on occasion where local groups have united in the interest of the tactical objective, but broadly i don't see those two uniting at least yet. >> schieffer: thank you so much. >> thank you. bob i was dumb struck when i heard the comments surfacing from an economist who was paid $400,000 to help shape the president's health care plan. first, he allowed himself a plan pass only because of a lack of transparency and this is a direct quote, the stupidity of the american people. finally our nancy cordes found couple of other things he said going back to 2011. >> first, calling attack on insurance instead of people we know it's attacks on people who h

air strikes target the leader of isis. he may have been killed, he may have been critically wounded. maybe he was a little wounded. maybe not even that. with hardly any intelligence on the ground in iraq, how can the u.s. know? >>> also in world news, spectacular fireworks displays and president obama dressed as if he's kind of on the star trek landing party. either the chinese pulled out all the stops or we're also having the same really weird dream. >>> and the national lead, a bomb cyclone can't be a good thing. frigid cold whips down into the u.s. as millions brace for an arctic blast. and it's not even thanksgiving yet. good afternoon, everybody. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we're going to begin with the world lead and a flurry of conflicting accounts on the fate of the evil mastermind because isis. the coalition seems disturbingly underinformed, shall we say, about where its bombs are going and who they are or are not hitting. air strikes took place targeting isis leaders near mosul. what's not been confir

hundreds of young saudi men are fighting with isis in iraq and syria. young saudis like this man, who appeared in an isis propaganda video preparing to become a suicide bomber. and then executing his plan. in a country with a long history of islamic terrorism, we were given rare access by the saudi arabian authorities. their fear is that like al qaeda before it, isis will radicalize saudis who then target their own government. saudi officials took us to this maximum security prison where they hold convicted terrorists. >> some come back in from syria, some from iraq. >> reporter: and saudi arabia's special forces showed us their ability to repel terrorist attacks. including plane hijackings and villages infiltrated by violent extremists. dozens of saudis have blown themselves up in isis suicide bombs. >> they will come up with new tools and new ways, but we try to counter that as much as possible. >> reporter: with the explosives rigged up at a safe distance, lieutenant colonel husam al shethry showed us the devastation they cause. but that would be her

isis. an al qaeda offshoot poses a threat to the embassy in yemen. >>> a leading voice on counterterrorism congressman peter king is standing by along with our correspondents, analysts and newsmakers. the fate of the top isis leader is still unclear. he was reportedly wounded in an air strike and isis may have just suffered a battlefield defeat as iraqi forces capture the city in iraq. that's not stopping the group from making new threats. let's begin with pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara? >> wolf, the iraqi forces have now made their move in a town which a very critical gain and there is the isis video. a hard-fought victory for iraq in its battle against isis. iraqi television reporting that the key town has been taken from the terror group. the city, some 150 miles home to the biggest oil refinery in the country. but isis is continuing to sell its battlefield prowess. isis shows a helicopter being shot down in iraq and recounts the history of fighting in kobani. some battlef

an american hostage murdered by isis. the terrorist releasing new video showing the beheading of american aid worker peter kassig. we are breaking down the clues we are learning this morning. >>> president obama back at home ready to make big reforms to the immigration system. reforms that could allow millions of people here illegally to stay. republicans aren't backing down. how they plan to stop the president ahead. >>> deadly storms barrelling across the country bringing snow, ice and record-breaking cold temperatures. guess what? it's not over yet. the northeast bracing for impact. indra petersons is tracking what you need to know. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. it is monday, november 17th. 5:00 a.m. the family of an american aid worker peter kassig coping with his death at the hands of isis terrorists. the islamic militant group showed the video of kassig's body after the beheading. president obama called it a quote, act of pure evil. kassig's parents release a statement saying they are

we're going to have to recruit people (rom isis to fight isis. >> and those troops are boots on the groundno boots on the ground. the ground would get no boots! >> the american forces that have been deployed to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. their mission is to advise and assist our partners on the ground. >> jon: oh, i'm sorry, that was my mistake. i'm sorry. so it's not 3,000 troops, it's 3,000 advisors. okay. well, you know, that's a lot of advisors. (laughter) i feel like after the first 2,000 give their input, it's mostly going to be like i just want to reiterate what tony said. you know, maybe, maybe the pentagon can spin this a bit better. >> less than half of them will be dedicated to the advise and assisting. and of that number, and it's around 630 or so, it is important to remember that a good chunk of that will be enablers for the advisors, logistics, command and control, intelligence support for them. >> jon: okay, okay, okay. so half of the troops are advisors. and half of that half are going to be advisor enablers. which i guess is standing behind the advisor

he also was highlighting the seeming expansion of isis. talking about the numerous other smaller, it must be said groups, pledging allegiance to it such as yemen, libya, algeria and saudi arabia to name a few. saudi arabia, a direct message. they are calling on extremists to carry out attacks to the saudi royal family. he also had this call for all of his followers urging them to create a volcano of jihad as he was putting it. no clear indication whatsoever if al bagdadi was injured or not. either way, this is isis continuing to try to cement itself, especially when it comes to first of all its followers putting out the image their leader is alive and well, but also continuously trying to intimidate the west. despite the best efforts, they have been unable to really damage isis to the extent they would in fact like to. all indications, christine, this is going to be a very difficult entity to try to defeat to say the very least. >> arwa damon, thanks for that report. >>> u.s. war planes finished a third round of air strikes against the kho

isis, and assad. assad is happy to fight isis. isis is happy to fight assad. we've picked the moderates who are arguably, perhaps, the most timid of the military forces. maybe the most divided of the military forces, to put our chips on for all the obvious reasons. they're politically the kind of people that we should support. but that raises real difficulties. do we, in fact, go slow on assad while we try to go fast on isil? that seems to be some way in which we're leaning. on the other hand, the turks are very upset by assad. don't want to join us if, in fact, we go slow there. the final political piece is interesting. because, in dealing with isil, we have this unusual combination of people who all find it in their interest to oppose isil, but with whom we have wide variety of varying differences. iran, russia, saudi arabia, turkey, the gulf states, certainly the sunni gulf states. if we could figure out a way to unify them against their other divisive interests, we would certainly have a better coalition than if we kind of move in with support from our tra

we say go after isis.tepping back if you're in the opposition saying what are we up to with our partners the americans? in the white house, you have to step back and say, where are we going here? over the long-term, this position is not tenable. >> there's a report out there'sis may be discovering a merger with another terrorist group, and that the khorasan group, they may be brokering this kind of deal. what do you make of this? >> what we do know is that the khorasan group tried to do this before when they were dispatched from pakistan to syria. one of their tasks was to mend senses. so it's possible they're trying to do this again. the fact that they have both been hit by u.s. air strikes betweens that the atmosphere might be time for some kind of reconciliation. these groups have been fighting each other for the last year. al qaeda threw isis out of the network in february. so there may be some cooperation at the local level. but if there was greater cooperation between these two groups, that would be

what you have now in the middle east with isis. it's isis today.to be contained and that's the official step that we're a part of right now. we don't want it to spread. it's in this denied area where there is no governance so these military accents will keep it in this box and they will do irrespective of what we do they're going to continue to do what they do. 60 different jihadi groups are now getting on board saying they support isis. where is the relevance? >> there seems to be an appeal him that again shouldn't surprise us in the least. the numbers joining isis, i think most of those numbers are very completely radicalized or a part of a group. there is an opportunity, these incredibly well put together marketing collateral, if you will that isis has put together draws those that have been radicalized. this simply gives those in the game an opportunity to go some place. >> i had an analyst say this weekend, wow, 60 groups, that's something. given the outside member, it's 200,000 out of 1.4 billion. >> right. >> these are bad guys out there see

>> we're hearing that both baghdadi, the head of isis and the comma isis and baghdad john, the creep videos we have seen to this point who did the execution of western prisoners, both of them were wounded apparently in a recent american air strike on the isis bunker in the capital city of raqqah. but the british troops are saying, this is true. >> we are doing voice analysis if he's in this video or if he's too wounded to be in this video. >> and the scary thing is he's clearly from london. even if you are not english, this guy has a strong accent. it is so sad to see a guy surrounded by our values and speaking our language wound up murdering westerners because they are westerners. there's something really jarring in this. >> it is pure evil to do this to someone. >> how could you grow up in the west and wind up like that? >> there are 100 of them, allegedly. the fbi says there are 100 americans fighting and training with isis. >>> in other news this morning, here are your headlines. according to press secretary chuck hagel. the u.s. needs a game-changing military innovation. his pla

troops join the war on isis. >>> in hours, president obama meets one-on-one with china's leader hoping to find common ground in the crucial, but tense relationship. we are live with what president obama is hoping to accomplish. >>> breaking news. the captain of the south korea ferry that capsized is sentenced for his role. >>> welcome to "early start." i'm

and isis.>> we don't see that basically because of the competing objectives. i think what you're referring to is the al qaeda chapter, franchise in syria. and isis. they are competing objectives and who would be -- have to be subordinate to the other really don't see that, at the strategic level. there have been tactical accommodations on the battlefield on occasion where local groups have united in the interest of the tactical objective, but broadly i don't see those two uniting at least yet. >> schieffer: thank you so much. >> thank you. a new form of innovation is taking shape, bringing media and technology together for more people. together is more wi-fi access in more places. it's a home you control with the touch of a finger. it's reimaging tv to give more people more choices. it's bringing technology and people together in ways you never thought possible. comcast and time warner cable. together is better for more people. ♪ they may not be the most handsome of body parts. yet, there they

the difference between isis and al nusra and core al qaeda was isis was in effect more violent or more barbaric. but in the end, they all share the same common goal. we can't allow ourselves to stop taking action against isis because al nusra is going to join up with them. i always assume in the end, these groups cooperate. there's been intelligence over the years, whether it's al shabaab or al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, these groups intermingle, sometimes you even have a person fighting for one group one year and another group the next. in their overall goal, they agree. i don't think that should deter us from any action we're going to take. i think the obama administration has made a mistake in making these out to be two different theaters, iraq and syria. it's their caliphate, it's a mistake to focus on one part of the campaign and not the other. to me, it's a joint effort. >> one of the key parts of the administration's plan here to fight isis in syria is to take moderate syrian rebels and to train them so that they can combat isis in syria. you support this war. what are you

>> well, it's tricky because basically, isis, isis and the iraqi government have been -- one way to look at this is that there has been a competition for the aleakentions of these sunni tribes and isis has been working quite consist ently to try to turn tribes to its side. this is to talk about today, a two-pronged strategy where they are trying to co-opt tribal leaders by giving them money, guns, promising jobs to some of the young men in their tribes and get them to come under the banner of the islamic state even if they don't fully agree with it but not to resist it. at the same time, there has been a very aggressive strategy of hunting down previous enemies of al-qaeda in iraq and a lot of these people happen to be from the sunni awakenings that allied with the americans to fight al-qaeda before. we have seen lots and lots of cases of isis taking over the sunni tribunal areas and going in with literally with lists of names of people that they want and they tend to be former security officers, soldiers, policemen. and they are really trying to the cleanse these areas of any sunni elem

sad, breaking news, a claim by isis it beheaded a third american, aide worker peter kassig. the white house says it is analyzing the video released by isis and if confirmed we are appalled by the prutal murder of an innocent american aide worker. kassig's parents are aware of the video and awaiting word from the government. they urge news organizations not to broadcast the video or publish images from it "saying we prefer he's written about for the love he shared with friends and family, not in the manner the hostage takers would use to manipulate americans and further their cause." in the two further cases the videos turned out to be actual beheadings. isis is a terrorist group and military organization taking land in iraq and syria and the question being raised in this town this morning, is the president's strategy working? air strikes alone is it working or further proof that he might have to do more. >> there's a lot of talk of that, ground troops in there, he said no in the past, he was asked during his trip to australia, will that change? you can't rule anything out, h

now, let me talk a little bit about isis because this represents a new situation. we call it isis. that's what -- our government insists on calling it, and i'm no longer part of the government, i'm an ex--fed, not a fedex but an ex-fed. i actually retired, and so i'm speaking just for myself, but our government insists on calling it isis, islamic state in iraq and syria. but isis has its eyes on a lot more than just iraq and syria of. their map of the worldwide caliphate resembles no caliphate that existed in the history of islam. most of northern africa. into subsaharan. south asia. it is a very globally looking -- whether they have the capacity to execute it is another story but they have this vision of this worldwide caliphate. this is the first organization of its kind that has been able to control territory in the daytime as well as the night, and this is key territory. these are cities, these are infrastructure. roadways, rivers, that sort of thing. key territory. 10 million people live in the area that they control. they have -- we can say that aqim and groups and -- roam th

a graphic display of savagery in isis' latest video. jihadi john stands above an american's decapitated head. >> this is peter edward kassig, a u.s. citizen of your country. >> reporter: former u.s. soldier peter kassig served in iraq in 2007. he returned to the middle east as an aid worker in syria where isis captured him. >> there's this impression, this belief that there is no hope. that's when it's more important than ever that we come in against all odds and try to do something. >> reporter: kassig is the fifth western hostage to be killed by isis but after four very similar videos, the latest is noticeably different. the speaker gives away his location, in dabiq. his last moments before the execution are not shown. still in this 16-minute video, the slaughter of a dozen men described as syrian military pilots is gruesome and dramatized. unmasked isis fighters grab for their knives as they lead the soldiers to their deaths. >> what we say to you, obama -- >> reporter: speaking in english and cloaked in black, the man who seems to b

isis is winning. at least in the eyes of young radicals all over the middle east. >> reporter: the u.s. watching for signs that isis is moving into egypt. >> we don't have an assessment of that at this point in time. >> reporter: now what about the fate of the self-proclaimed leader, al-baghdadi. officials say they cannot confirm if he was wounded or killed in an air strike. >> incredible they haven't been able to do that. barbara starr, thank you. >>> and now isis is not only gaining support from egypt. jim sciutto is here. the issue is for an islamic state. how far does isis reach? >> they have a good start. as you know, they have a base in syria and iraq. they started if iraq, as al qaeda in iraq blossomed through syria and swept down through iraq this year. barbara spoke about concerns of establishing a base in egypt here in the sinai peninsula and also established a base in the town of darna in libya. and it is a product of success. there is success and energized support in other countries. and t

had was the first day of fighting against isis, that isis has really done a masterful job of limitingheir communications, being very hard to decipher. they have very high-level encryption. not using cell phones. using the courier method of osama bin laden. the united states does not have a lot of intelligence officials on the ground, especially in syria. how good is isis' ability to stay underground and limit communication of top officials? >> well, one of the main points we make in tonight's special is this is not a new enemy. this group fighting for years in iraq. the core of isis was the insurgency in iraq. the same militants who fought against u.s. marines and u.s. armory divisions in places like anbar province and in baghdad for many years. they learned close quarter tactics. they learned how to communicate. they learned how to defeat not just any army but against american troops. they're using that experience once again. when you listen to the isis propaganda and you listen to that statement from al baghdadi or a statement we at least think came from abu bakr al baghdadi, he is