we knew it was a stronghold of the boss man, saddam hussein. >> exactly.he boss, if i may call it like that. all the bosses after the fall of saddam hussein's regime they fled to this area. and they hid in this area. and one of them it is believed that the former vice president was hiding there. we don't know if he's still there. but it was at the center at the heart of the rebellion against the government. >> so it's fair to say isn't it that some of these may have allied themselves with the i.s.? >> this is what the government believes. because they are the enemy of the government so they have to do like alliances with local forces and with the islamic state. and this is what made tikrit a very easy target for the islamic state to occupy it. but now, if the government manages in retaking tikrit this would be a step forward toward the mosul -- >> and that's really key, isn't it? mosul. when that fell it sent shock waves around the world. >> well this is the capital of the islamic state inside iraq. if mosul is recaptured by the government forces that mean

and a lot of them would say we're not fighting because of saddam hussein. it's about us it's about sunni and so on. so it was sunni like, in the sense of local communities not in a sectarian sense, still not very sectarian in the strict, you know sense of the word. now, come to the stage, you know zarqawi. he's a jordanian jihadist. he had a long history of fighting or, like the jihadi kind of activities in jordan and beyond jordan. and in the 1980s he went to afghanistan to fight jihad to join the mujahideen in afghanistan. and what happened was, you know immediately there was a strange encounter between osama bin laden and zarqawi. there was clearly, like, differences between them in terms of what jihad means and why we wage jihad. osama bin laden and, you know zarqawi's differences since then kind of shape and define the differences between al-qaeda and isis today. at the time osama bin laden or al-qaeda generally sees its mission -- the name indicates the name al-qaeda means -- [inaudible] so they think their name is to set an example for all muslims to

it's sadaam hussein's hometown. in the past few hours military officials say they have retaken the town where sadaam hussein ended up hiding when he was found. it's the base of operations of support for a group that has allied itself with isil, a former is a doom loyalists. they have retaken that town. tikrit is another matter. >> isil released 21 christians, but is still holding people in syria. they are abducted in the province in syria's northeast. others freed were welcomed to a church in the city. >> the plans of the u.s. led coalition to train what it calls moderate syrian rebels have suffered a setback. the movement, which was the first rebel group selected to receive the training has disbanded. the group's ranks collapsed after fighting against the al-qaeda al-nusra front in syria. we have a report from beirut. >> they lost many men in the fight and the movement appears to have collapsed, but these syrian release were not killed by the syrian government. they died fighting al-qaeda's affiliates in aleppo. a

troops are in the home town of the dictator sadam hussein. they are trying to drive the terrorists out of the region. some of the militants have been pushed out of the city. secretary of state john kerry says iraq's strategy is working. >> each time they have gone together in an offensive effort we have routed isil. the fact is that in iraq they have gained back a significant percentage of the area isil was taking. >> he promised to pardon sunni tribal fighters if they would abandon isis extremists. as efforts continue pope francis is calling for an end to violence telling victims of isis he is praying for them. >> the hope going on to say that we want to be praying for everyone and not for getting them. we are close to you and praying and hoping the brutality of which they are victims will stop. troops are trying to stop that action in the new round of fighting. isis terrorists releasing christians more than 20020 kidnapped in northern syria last week. the fate of the remaining captives is unclear despite the release there's a lot of effort

saddam hussein's actual body is not there anymore.oleum last year to an unknown location. i wonder what would have happened to it now had they left it there. the forces spearheading in tikrit comprise about 20,000 shiite militia men and members of muqtada's brigade. it's awkward for the united states, the muqtada side, the shiite militia side, that side is the one that we are technically also on the side of in the fight against isis. and they do not necessarily see this as a fight to defeat isis like we do, but rather a centuries-long sectarian war in which this is just the latest battle. this video today from the tomb of saddam in tikrit. yet another reminder of that. if you can clear a table without lifting a finger... you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin. because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. muddle no more™. >>> hoot, hoot, debunk junction what's my function. general petraeus, he was serving as cia director when he s

saddam hussein's actual body is not there anymore. body was reportedly moved out of that mausoleum last year to an unknown location. i wonder what would have happened to it now had they left it there. the forces spearheading in tikrit comprise about 20,000 shiite militia men and members of muqtada's brigade. it's awkward for the united states the muqtada side the shiite militia side that side is the one that we are technically also on the side of in the fight against isis. and they do not necessarily see this as a fight to defeat isis like we do but rather a centuries-long sectarian war in which this is just the latest battle. this video today from the tomb of saddam in tikrit. yet another reminder of that. ♪ one, two, three o'clock. four o'clock pop. ♪ five, six, seven o'clock. eight o'clock pop. ♪ ♪ nine, ten eleven o'clock ♪ ♪ twelve o'clock pop ♪ ♪ we're gonna pop around the clock tonight. ♪ ♪ put your glad rags on and join me hon' ♪ ♪ we'll have some fun when the clock strikes one. ♪ ♪ we're gonna pop ♪ ♪ ...around the clock toni

saddam hussein's actual body is not there anymore.ctual body was reportedly moved out of that mausoleum last year to an unknown location. i wonder what would have happened to it by now had they left it there? the forces spearheading the offensive in tikrit comprise 20,000 she yeetiite militiamen including members of the muqtada al sadr's brigade. they're all involved. it's awkward for the united states, the muqtada side, the iranian revolutionary guard side, the shiite militia side that is the side that we are technically also on the side of in the fight against isis. and they do not necessarily see this as a fight to defeat isis like we do, but rather a centuries-long sectarian war in which this is just the latest battle. this video today from the tomb of saddam in tikrit. yet another reminder of that. doug. you've been staring at that for awhile, huh? listen, td ameritrade has former floor traders to help walk you through that complex trade. so you'll be confident enough to do what you want. i'll pull up their number. blammo. let's

reporter: campaign to retake saddam hussein's -- the campaign to retake saddam hussein's hometown is being seen as a test for an even bigger push to wrest back control of mosul. genie: authorities in russia have charged two men with involvement in the murder of boris nemtsov. the outspoken and one critic was shot dead 10 days ago -- outspoken kremlin critic was shot dead 10 days ago. one of them has admitted involvement in the crime. another three men have been arrested as suspects and are being held in custody. reporter: heavily armed police escort the five suspects in boris nemtsov's murder inside the moscow courthouse. only one of them, started i have -- one of them zaur dadayev, did not hide his face from the cameras. >> [indiscernible] reporter: russian media has reported that dadayev has confessed to taking part in the assassination, but the judge gave no specifics on his role. a former policeman in chechnya his relatives refuse to believe he is guilty. >> he was very respected and police force. he is a courageous man, and i will never believe that my brother did this. reporter

it's sadaam hussein's hometown. >> how well prepared are the iraqi forces. when they officially faced isil fighters they dropped their weapons and ran away without a fight. what is different this time around? >> part of it certainly is the motivation. they know if they fail this time, there will be a lot of dead soldiers, a lot of dead young men who volunteered from the south of iraq. the political situation now will not tolerate the kind of mass defectses and the failure of leadership and corruption that brought down the iraqi military and led to basically dissolving entire army divisions in june when isil rolled in. this is a stripped down military. it has a lot of newly trained forces, a lot of forces assembled by the militia's rather than the military, but they are much more motivated. key to this is they have u.s. air support. it's been that air support and other support by other coalition members that has really allowed the iraqi forces and kurdish forces to take back large parts of the territory. before this event even started there were airstrikes, t

so that is one reason why i think saddam hussein acted the way he did.this business with the statement torture is never right. every single page of the 200 pages that i have read as of today of the cia torture report released by the u.s. senate, every page is in the mission -- an admission of confusion, lack of corporation among the cia fbi, department of state, legal authorities, and that made it possible that horrific violations of u.s. national as well as international law geneva convention, hate convention, all of these documents that say the right thing, were violated by the most unbelievable cruelty -- he has adopted techniques performed -- the suffering that resulted from that. there is only one thing, amy that i feel is missing. it took a lot of courage for the release of that report. that has to be acknowledged. i hope countries around the world do so. but there is a word missing. in these 500 pages released, somewhere there should be a reference to accountability. impunity cannot possibly be an answer after -- reading that document. i hope esth

today marks as you heard, 27 years since the former dictator saddam hussein used chlorine gas to killands of kurds in iraq. now iraqi forces are fighting isis for control of saddam saddam hussein's home town of tikrit and we're hearing the fighting there has destroyed saddam's tomb. which is new information. sarah has this. saddam's tomb is in more? >> that's right. so back in 2003 he was found hiding in the spider hole near his home town in tikrit. after this, this opulent tomb was build to house his body. this is an older picture of it. flowersflowers and marble and picture's of saddam. now with the fighting it's essentially been leveled. it's been decimated. the "associated press" shot this video and you can see it's basically just columns holding up the outer shell and there are reports that pictures of saddam were taken down and replate width picture odd of shiite leaders and word that the body was moved by loyalis last year but nobody knows where it is now. >> sarah, thank you very hutch. >> cops in ferguson, missouri, questioning whether the man accused of shooting two officers

you mentioned it's saddam hussein's hometown. there's some level of significance there.june there were about 800 to 1,400 iraqi army soldiers mass cured edcured there by isis. that's significant. that may be part of the motivation behind a lot of the factions that are participating in this fight. there's sunni there's shia and many of those masacured were sunni and shia. that's part of it. most significantly from a military standpoint is that to get to mosul, you have to have tikrit so that's a logistics-based jumping off point if you will to be able to get up to mosul to have that attack. you can't go to mosul and leave your rear flank exposed with the enemy hold in toikrittikrit. that's the big reason you have to have tikrit before you get to mosul. this offensive has started. hopefully it's a combined arms campaign with aviation jets artillery, intelligence communications and have good command and control synchronizing this fight so we can destroy this enemy, move them out of tikrit and get set for the drive to mosul. >> cnn's fareed zakaria sat down with jordan's kin

speaking to hussein al bokati, joining us from sanaa. saudi arabia has agreed to host peace talks between president hadi and the houthis. do you think the houthis will accept that? >> i don't think they will accept it i can -- i'm pretty sure there is no way they will accept that for two reasons. first reason is saudi arabia or other gulf state like united arab emirates, have declared houthis as terrorist organization. they take inside and they're not any more, the second reason when former president hadi was in charge in sanaa and party were under control they haven't done anything. they haven't implemented any of the national dialogue outcomes. and on top of the houthis the national dialogue outcome they were targeted, two of the members of the national dialogue were assassinated. the president hadi had not implemented the outcomes so changing the place wouldn't make any difference. they haven't got any -- >> regardless of where any negotiations take place regardless of where any negotiations take place surely there last to be some dia

now, the city is best known as the birthplace of saddam hussein. of the largest cities held by isis right now and lies just 80 miles north of the capital, baghdad. cnn's senior international correspondent ben wedeman is joining me from irbil, iraq. this isn't the first attack to recapture tikrit. what makes officials more confident this time? >> reporter: well this time they've really thrown almost everything they've got at it. there are 30,000 troops who are approaching tikrit from the north, the south, and the northeast. they are using their aircraft their helicopters, and this is a force not simply the iraqi army as you mentioned, this is shia militiamen and sunni tribesmen. it's very important that the sunni tribesmen are involved because tikrit a city of around 200,000 people is predominantly sunni, and they are naturally mistrustful of the shia-dominated government in baghdad as well as the shia-dominated army. and so they may play sort of a pacifying role if and when iraqi forces get into the city. now, we hear that they are approaching. tha

2002 binyamin netanyahu testified in the city saying "i guarantee you that if you take out saddam hussein, there'll be positive reverberations throughout the region." this was binyamin netanyahu in 2002. and when a witness is so wrong on past advice i question why congress would be impressed with his testimony today. >> whether the israeli prime minister comes or doesn't come speak or doesn't speak, there's a sizeable number of members of the body of whom you serve that if we would turn of the screws harder we'd get more results. there's no doubt we hurt that country in the last two years. >> there's no question that the sanctions put pressure on iran. i believe the new fact was the location of hassan rouhani, and his government. i mooef they are termed and anxious to make a deal with the p5+1. for the first time in 40 years, there's a government in washington and tehran that wants to improve relations between the united states and iran. i hope we have enough vision to take advantage of the moment. i would conclude by observing that the relationship between israel and the united states is

. >>> the elaborate tomb of saddam hussein is a pile of rubble. the structure was destroyed during fighting. all that remains some of the stone support columns. hussein's body was placed in the mausoleum eight years ago. >>> friends and family continue to mourn the 11 service members that were killed during a training mission last week. yesterday hundreds of people showed up to take part of a it's event in their honor. those that took part were encouraged to run, bike, or skate 1.12 miles. >> we may not have known these people personally. the troops personally. but at the end of the day we are thinking about the families and friends of these guys that parished. >> the black hawk helicopter carrying the four soldiers and seven marines crashed during a nighttime training mission on tuesday. the largest sections were pulled out of the waters near eglin air force base over the weekend. >>> the president changing his mind. coming up in 20 minutes what we are learning about a major change in military plans for troops in afghanistan. >> but first controv

saddam hussein's home town the city of tikrit which has been held by isis since june.a half or so, you're seeing what we're seeing now, the iraqi army attacking tikrit also with aircraft and fighter jets and helicopters and while this offensive is going on you also have several thousand shiite militiamen who are linked and sponsored by iran who are participating in this offensive. and you have some sunni tribal fighters who hate isis because they have been attacked themselves by isis. so you have on the one hand the iraqi army which is being funded by the united states and backed by the united states. fighting hand in glove with the shiites who are getting their direction from iran and the sunnis who have their own vision of what the fight should look like. it is a very big test for the disjointed iraqi security forces. can they take a major city so far they have been able to take some of the surrounding towns around tikrit in particular the town of aldore the town where saddam hussein went hiding after the u.s. invasion and pulled out of that hole in the ground which

. >> thank you, saddam hussein. >>> the pentagon is looking at what appears to be an islamic hit list of american military personnel. julianna goldman reports. >> reporter: the video comes from the islamic state hacking division. it was released on social media and encourages isis supporters to kill those who are lifted. the terror group claims in the video it was obtained by hacking military databases but the pentagon says it believes the information was publicly available online from news articles and even its own reports about the campaign against isis. the marine korms and air force say they're making sure everyone is notified. they're asking servicemembers to review their online footprint and to make sure privacy settings on social media accounts limit the amount of personal information available. the obama administration says the american-led military operation has blunted the terror groups emil-mentum in iraq and syria but it's still grappling with how to stop the isis propaganda machine. on sunday john brennan said they're spreading their ideology throughout the region. >> we

also on the program: >> iraq's army says its making gains from isil in the battle for sadaam hussein's hometown. >> my speech is not intended to show any disrespect to president obama. >> netanyahu says his differences with the white house are political and not personal, as he prepares to address the u.s. congress. >> nowhere to go, thousands left homeless as fire ravage's one of manila's poorest districts. >> thousands of people in moscow cue cued up to pay respects to russian opposition leader boris nemtsov who was shot dead near the kremlin friday. polish and latvian officials who wanted to attend were denied entry to russia. >> long queues at the center as people pay respect to boris nemtsov. several european politicians and critics have been barred from attending the funeral. >> he is a reformer. that is how he will go in history. already has. over the past years when boris could not tolerate what was happening in russia and watching the current government practically stamp out the constitution and take rights from people, we were fighting against it. >> they are calling on the ru

that's are hussein ended up hiding when he was found. and it's the base of operations for support for a group that has allied itself with isil, former saddam loyalists. they say they've retain that town but tikrit itself is still another matter. >> the price for african leadership has been awarded to the outgoing president of namibia. the president won the $5 million prize, which has only been give out four times in eight years. it recognizes democratically elected leaders who led well and . we learned why the award has not been given every year. >> our prize was given four times in the last seven or eight years. now it is a prize for excellence in leadership, and we're not lowering our standards. it is people who come in and do an excellent job. that's the benchmark. how many many leaders have won in the last eight years. this is excellence. it is not common. now i accept that we have some challenges in africa. i don't have issues. but we are moving forward. 95% of african people today live under better government societies than 10 year

it is saddam hussein's former hometown.idents there say that the parts of the city have been rigged with explosives which is part of the reason it has been such tough going. but they are also reporting that one of the key bridges into the city has been blown up. that hasn't yet been confirmed. they say isil fighters using explosives have detonated one of those bridges, and that has been happening along that very tough route to the city. >> i was mentioning this was perhaps a prelude to try to recapture mosul. in the comparison between the two, is there much to put them alongside each other? >> reporter: well, tikrit is kind of a test. and it will have implications for how well or badly mosul goes. but no one is under illusion that mosul will be as easy as tikrit. mosul is the isil strong hold. but apart from that it's quite a diverse population. tikrit has a population that is predominantly sunni, and that's part of the dynamic there. residents are afraid not really of what happens if the iraqi army retakes the city it's wh

in iraq it flew saddam hussein after capture in 2006. and after hurricane katrina helped rescue thousands, plucking many off rooftops. and witnesses say the dense fog that we're seeing now is not nearly as bad as it was at the time of the crash. meantime, officials have not yet suggested why that crash occurred. lester? >> mark potter covering that story tonight. thank you. >>> now to a development that protesters have been calling for practically ever since a police officer shot michael brown dead in ferguson, missouri. the city and the police chief, thomas jackson, have agreed to what they're calling a mutual separation. that means the chief is stepping down effective next week. nbc's ron allen with this report. >> reporter: ferguson police chief tom jackson has faced withering criticism since the death of michael brown last august. his decision to withhold officer wilson's name while releasing video of brown in a robbery, fueled calls for resignation. the justice department investigation found jackson was running a police department r

listen to this, a huge military operation against isis in sue hussein hussein's hometown. >> trying to recapture the hometown of tikrit. >> we have breaking details, kevin? >> we just learned of this offensive in the last few hours. sunni fighters abandon isis we're going to return tikrit to its people. in june, there was an offensive, but that fizzled out quickly. isis seized control of several stroechs country sooids, and president said those misled or made a his take lay down your arms. secretary of state john kerry says it's the latest in the series of offenses by the iraqi army to reclaim their homeland. >> each time the iraqis have now gone forward in an offensive effort together with allies the coalition, we have routed isil and the fact is that in iraq they have gained back a fixed percentage of the area that isil was controlling. >> you're going to hear a lot more about this particular offensive. just to give you perspective over 1100 people were killed in iraq in february alone. more than 600 of them civilians, a very bloody circumstance right now, guys. >> well it's a little

they're going for tikrit, saddam hussein hussein's hometown.hope that it can defeat isis but if tikrit becomes an ethnic blood bath iraq will be one step closer to all out sectarian war. meanwhile in london new details about the man once known as jihadi john. it turns out even as a student, muhammad emwazi had friends who would grow up to become violent including some who fought for isis. >> he was deeply embedded in isis long before he went to syria. >> and yet another turn in the propaganda far. co-founder jack dorsey and others have been block the propaganda isis messages. the threat has been repeated on accounts linked to isis. twitter says in a statement we are investigating the veracity of these threats. twitter has been taking down propaganda enraging isis. the group supporters saying online your virtually wall war against us will cause, quote, a real war on you. >> 16 minutes after the hour. cowboy tick cheney spotted on capitol hill and who replaces barbara mccome ski in the senate? thick and creamy, power-me-up-with-something filling

just imagine if you dam hussein had nuclear weapons.ather have the world criticize a living israel than eulogize a dead israel. that's how benjamin netanyahu feels. he feels he's on a mission. i wish the president of the united states would mow more empathy and understanding in the situation israel find it self. rather than snub the prime minister, welcome him in and talk to him in order together prevent this evil regime from becoming nuclear and threaten civilization as we know it. martha: some strange times sir. ambassador, thank you very much. bill: this is the ambassador to the u.n. samantha power talking about israel and iran. she just stepped to the microphone. let's drop in real quick and see what she has to say. [applause] this is aipac the largest israeli-american organization you will find. there will be several speeches today. power first then netanyahu. >> it is why we have stood by israel's side every minute since. our commitments to our partnership with israel are bedrock commitments rooted in shared fundamental values cem

we decide to get rid of hussein. the best thing we ever did for iran was to allow hussein to go away. he goes to iran. he comes back. he takes over a large part of iraq. and so on and so forth. iranians were absolutely allowed to process pep. >> i actually -- i think the thing that allowed the iranians to do this was the fact that we signalled and left too early, before the iraqi government was fully set and the military was ready to go. >> once you're there you might as well finish the job. and that's what happened. we didn't. we left.hat bleeding down from syria. let's not forget something else too. at one point when we were really mad at bashar al assad, we almost armed the rebels against bashar al say sawed. now we're saying we might need him to fight isis back from the north while turkey maybe hits from the side. here's the point. we have to be careful how engaged and how involved we get in it. in my opinion, i know this suspect going to be popular stay with the air war, continue to pound them from the air when

saddam hussein's body was placed in that mausoleum eight years ago.size photos of the leader once covered the structure but none can be found in all of that debris. >>> an investigation is under way in santa rosa after one man stabbed another man in the head. it happened just before 7:00 last night at youth community park just across the street from pinier high school. witnesses say the incident began when the men tried to break up a fight between two women. witnesses say the attacker ran away. anyone with information is asked to call santa rosaless. >>> highway patrol looking for witnesses that killed a 36-year- old in alamo. that happened around 1:30 yesterday afternoon at the stone valley road off ramp on northbound 680. investigators say the motorcyclist apparently lost control on the off ramp and then slammed into a tree. he was pronounced dead at the scene. the name of the man has not been released but he is said to be from san ramon. >>> northwest oregon rain expected to continue today adding to a very serious situation. this is a situation jus

. >> recapturing saddam hussein's hometown will be no small feat. we go to baghdad to follow this major operation launched by the iraqi military. what's the latest you can tell us about this offensive? >> according to the information i got run the central command here in baghdad, the troops were first heading north. they were clearing everything and then they were heading towards tikrit, clearing the surroundings, and now, they even conquered, as i heard the birthplace of saddam hussein. it is a suburb of tikrit. but they have cleared it now. it's in the hands of the government. i just talked to somebody inside . he said there is fighting in the center of tikrit and in the north and in the south. >> not so long ago, you might remember direct's's second-largest city, iraqi troops, american trained and equipped, simply dropped their weapons and allowed i.s. to take control. is the iraqi army up to the task this time around? what has changed? >> with everybody i talked to here in baghdad there are still doubts about the capacity of the iraqi army. they

on the town where saddam hussein was found hiding, they have taken them back. but there are major worries. not only taking back that city, but of revenge killings which might happen in conjunction with the fighting. this city is important not just militarily but because it's near tikrit where more than 1,000 young recruits were killed by isil, a huge political issue. there is so much potential that the u.n. has warned everyone that they must adhere to basic human rights, a difficult demand in a time like this, and in a military operation like this, many fear. >> still ahead on al jazeera, tensions ramp up between north and south korea as the north fires two missiles into the ocean. >> i'm in vietnam where high tech companies are investing billions of dollars moving their manufacturing down here from china. coming up, we'll tell you if vietnam is any closer in its goal of becoming the global smart phone hub. >> so a species could not be here in ten years. >> nasa steps in to help protect the future of the planet. >> the tropics regulate our climate. >> "techknow

video shows saddam hussein's tomb reduced to rubble with only the support pillars still standing.t's on the southern outskirts of tikrit where saddam hussein was born and finally buried in a lavish mausoleum where he was finally executed in 2006. >>> now, breaking news for you. within the past few minutes, it has been reported that the russian president, vladimir putin, has made his first public appearance in more than a week. now, those reports are coming into us from the reuters news agency. he had not been seen in public since the 5th of march. but we are being told that he has met the president of kyrgyzstan. the president had denied all the rumors that he had been sick some rumors that he may even be dead. he was set to meet the president of kyrgyzstan in st. petersburg and from those reuters' reports, we believe that that meeting has taken place. but let's find out the actual details from our correspondent, richard galpin who's been following this in moscow for us. so has he hasn't he? we're being told he has made that appearance richard? >> yes, i think it's pretty certain

iraq led by saddam hussein was seen as the kind of buffer to stop iraq. everything changed after the 2003 and iran is the rising power in the region and they are making all the gains here. what would iran want from that influence. i think it's to have strengthening its position in negotiations in the west and mainly to the u.s. and saying look, we are a power of the party here. you need to take us seriously, and, therefore, we - you need to give us the right influence, the right exercising their own will and to be taken as regional powers in - in this area. that's why i think the arabs are worried. >> to take them seriously, basically. >> now omar we are talking about the rise and rise of iran shall we say. we had seen last year the new king in saudi arabia and there's no doubt that saudi arabia is a major player in this region. when he ascended to the throne he said it was time for muslim brothers to reach out, come together and put aside their differences. we are not seeing that in yemen, are we. we are seeing the sunni shia proxy war played out. >> we

tikrit, of course, not just the hometown of sadam hussein but an isil strong hold.was one of the cities that they seized very early on after they took mosul and one of the place that his we have inflicted the most damage. more than 1,000 young military cadets unarmed were killed there. by isil. the families here are still looking for their bodies. so apart from being a major military operation, there is a lot at stake here, critically in terms of public sentiment and this will not be an easy fight by any means. jane. >> jane, thank you. >>> a bomb blast in egypt's south city has killed two people. five others injured including a soldier, the bomb went off near a police station. it's unclear who is behind the attack. >>> some senior democrats including vice president joed by en are threatening to boy coyed benjamin netanyahu's speech to the u.s. congress. israel's prime minister arrived to washington on sunday. he's using his visit to argue against any nuclear deal with iran. now a report. >> reporter: delegates to this year's conference of the u.s.' most powerful is

it's known as birth place of former iraqi leader saddam hussein. if iraq regains control of tikrit, it could offer a boost ahead of the future operation to retake mosul, a city much larger, ten times bigger than tikrit. we'll talk more about this offensive and what it could mean for operations against isis later this hour. our military and terrorism analyst will be joining us. >> new developments out of ukraine. u.s. officials will send $75 million in nonlethal equipment to ukraine. that includes radar, drones, radios and medical equipment. the obama administration is sending 200 humvees to the region after a call today where the vice president noted concern with ongoing violations of the cease-fire by russian backed separatists near donetsk. members of both parties, democrats and republicans, highly critical of the president for not arming at this point. >> the fact it continues to deteriorate. >> not sending arms to ukraine and it continues to deteriorate. they decide to send more nonlethal aid. >>> one of the university of oklahoma students expe

even the tomb of saddam hussein isn't safe. control of tikrit, it was squashed to rubble though it's not clear which side did it. so far, the ancient city of babylon has been out of their grasp. here's correspondent ben wedeman with more on that. >> the city of babylon has seen empires come and empires go. built, destroyed, rebuilt and ransacked time and time again. it dates back 4,500 years and remains a symbol of the glory of mesopotamia. babylon was last rebuilt, if you can call it that by saddam hussein in the 1980s. one of his palaces looms over the ruins. the renovated ruins include bricks stamped with his name. describing him as the son of the great babylonian king nebuchadnezzar. >> this wasn't saddam's he says. it belonged to our grandfathers the bob loan iansaddam. >>> isis has eclipsed the megalomania. isis posted footage of the destruction of priceless artifacts in the mosul museum. they've reportedly bulldozed ancient cities in northern iraq. >> the mosul museum was destroyed. why asks a nun addressing isis? that i

hussein, i need to stop you there is there one mr. speaker card, i think it's right there, ms. boomer. >> i can't read her name. >> alright. >> could you use the microphone please, the one to your left. >> okay, again good afternoon to everybody. >> what's your name. >> mariana fotio, and everybody said about everything except really at this point it is critical if you can reconsider the medallion fee for this year, it's really lousy and it's stiff and things are so bad, please reconsider and give us a waiver this year. >> thank you, thank you, mariana. before we move on director rise k*in, would it be possible to take a deeper look at the taxi stand at the cal train station? >> we absolutely will, i learned about it from the industry starting over the last couple of day, so we will do so, we'll have our sustainable streets folks look and also see if there's something we can work out with cal-train, i concur with the sentiment of the driver, we are looking at the issue of the fees, the medallion fees generally, the issue of the payment methods was a new one is that tha* we will

hussein, i need to stop you there is there one mr. speaker card, i think it's right there, ms. boomer. >> i can't read her name. >> alright. >> could you use the microphone please, the one to your left. >> okay, again good afternoon to everybody. >> what's your name. >> mariana fotio, and everybody said about everything except really at this point it is critical if you can reconsider the medallion fee for this year, it's really lousy and it's stiff and

palace 10s of thousands of troop are working along malitia to take back tikrit to defend saddam hussein'sn and hoping it will loosen the grip on the city and we have more from baghdad. >> reporter: for hussein is a battle cry for fighter, this is the base of operations for the theshythe shiaa malitia and the players are hezbollah and interior minister leader of the malitia confirmed with the one given control of the hezbollah brigades and combined with police, special forces and army units for the biggest event since i.s.i.l. seized it last june. backed by iraqi air strikes but slow advantage to tikrit. this is a trip wire for a roadside bomb laid by i.s.i.l. explosives team detonates this one of hundreds they found along the road. 30 kilometers they go past abandon fields. >> translator: we are still advancing, we have reached 50 kilometers through the reference terrain and desert going to tikrit and by the help of god we expelled i.s.i.l. from 15 agriculture villages behind me farmland and desert and exposed i.s.i.l. from there. >> reporter: houses and schools are empty here and civilia

we went into iraq, we toppled saddam hussein. the upper echelons of isis are iraqi military, baath party members. >> not known for particularly -- >> in some cases went from a year before wearing military fatigues and drinking wine and smoking cigars, to the next year in the long black beards. look, the last four years, assad, when the syrian revolution took off, he had a specific propaganda goal. the goal was to create the extremism in vir yeah. that's why if you look at the videos of the syrian muck ba rat, what they were doing, effacing them, making them saying there is no god but bashar. the goal was to create extremism within syria. >> because we should point out the original demonstrations in syria were not extremists, they were people protesting the murder of children. >> when we talk to some of the foreign fighters, they tell you we were drawn to the conflict because we hated to see our co-religionists treated in this way. >> what's ironic about that, these forces are at the forefront of brutality in the region. >> agains

. >> iraq's army said it is making gains against isil in sadaam hussein's hometown. >> my speech is not intended to show any disrespect for president obama. >> netanyahu said his differences with the white house are mitt well can be not personal as he prepares to and the u.s. congress. >> nowhere to go, thousands left homeless as fire ravaging were you ever manila's poorest districts. >> thoses unmoscow queue said up to pay respect to boris nemtsov who was shod dead near the kremlin friday. the polish and latvian official who wanted to attend were denied entrance from russia. >> long queues as people pay respect to boris nemtsov. several u.n. politicians have been barred from the funeral. >> he is a reformer. that is how he will go in history. over the years when boris could not tolerate what was happening in russia and watch out the russian constitution be stomped out and rights taken from the people, him and i were fighting against it. >> the russian government is called upon to investigate his killing. >> he stood for liberty. the things he stood against were very important aggressio

we all say it's barack hussein obama. no it's chris van hollen too and it's the people who vote for chris van hollen. and that's our friends and neighbors. there are people -- and i look to the more religious synagogue -- that vote straight obama, van hollen. and you cannot, you cannot talk to them. and the reason they get away with that is because we still treat 'em like friends and neighbors. we think that's a legitimate point of view. that is not a legitimate point of view -- [inaudible] and we don't, we don't act on that basis. [inaudible conversations] >> did you have a question? >> any more questions? >> yeah, i had a question. [inaudible] north korea and sony records and all that i'm wondering about hacking computers hacking the state department -- >> yeah. >> -- armed forces. and also the second question is i know that isis is very well funded. could you speak to where some of those funds come from? >> yeah, two great questions. >> [inaudible] >> two great questions. number one with isis and the cyber jihad, look,

tikrit is a big city saddam hussein's hometown.he town of el dour is where saddam hussein was hiding shortly after the u.s. military invasion and according to iraqi officials, the security forces have retake enthat village, including that farm house where saddam hussein was hiding in what came to be known famously as the spider hole. this is potentially a positive development for iraq. the iraqi government is excited about publicizing the advance on tikrit but there are enormous challenges. as i said earlier, several different groups are working within iraq that are part of the offensive. you have the iraqi military which is backed by the united states, you have shiite militias who are loyal to shiite leaders and loyal to iran working side by side in this offensive, and you have a couple thousand sunni tribesmen who are allied with the other two groups simply because they want to see isis destroyed and kicked out of their area. will this be a success? what will happen to tikrit? will the shiite militias go on a rampage once they go

about 30,000 fighters are now making the push to take back saddam hussein's hometown.australia is also helping more, sending more troops into this war zone. that country already has an air presence, but the prime minister says his country is sending an additional 300 troops to iraq so that they can help to train the iraqi forces in their fight against isis. and back here in the united states, one of the so-called brooklyn three is due in federal court but in jacksonville, down in florida. that's set to happen this afternoon. and here he is. he's 30 years old. make no mistake, it's a nice picture. but he was among the three men arrested and charged last week with conspiring to provide material support and resources to isis. again, the accusation, the charges to follow and perhaps the litigation. i want to get the very latest on what's happening in the fight against isis is ben wedeman. we have these troops going after isis forces in the birthplace of saddam hussein in tikrit to try to retake that city, the rumor mill, the talking points are that mosul is next. but what'

>>esta es la oposiciÓn y el tipo de gobierno que quisiera para hussein obama.les. eliangÉlica: los diputados chavistas llevaron la ley en medio de una concentraciÓn. pdte maduro: gracias a todos los diputados que han votado esta maravillosa ley habilitante que me da el poder suficiente para defender la paz, la soberanÍa, la integridad. periodista: en 17 aÑos se han aprobado 271 leyes sin discusiÓn parlamentaria. fÉlix: cada vez mÁs mujeres de origen mexicano son usadas como mulas para llevar cocaÍna desde perÚ a otros paÍses. y el real ma ♪ fueron muchas y multitudinarias las marchas que hubo contra la presidenta de brasil, dilma rouseff, estos actos ocurren dos dÍas despuÉs de una serie de manifestaciones sindicales a encontra de la mandataria. fÉlix: en menos de una semana fueron asesinados tres periodistas en guatemala, segÚn las autoridades, detrÁs de estos asesinatos estÁ el crimen organizado. pero lo que aÚn no se sabe es quienes serÍan los autores intelectuales. Érika porras nos dice cÓmo han contribuido estos asesinatos. >> quiero agradecerles a cada un

there is a word that a town near saddam hussein's home city is under iraq control.oining us is ambassador jesse. and nice to have you back on the program. >> thank you. >> when we talked about the iraqi forces backed by the shiite militia who are they on the ground? >> they come from three different groups. two of them a- sad and hesbollah gropes that fought us in the last decade when we had troops in iraq. the brigade out there didn't fight us and they are the third groom group. and the they are concerned about the amount of iranian influence. it is a mixed bag of militias that are loosely organized. >> what do you make of the iranians and their role today? >> iran is about expanding influence and this is giving them a great opportunity. it is good that it tikrit will be retaken be for iraqis from isis. but bad that the iranians are playing a role. we should be helping. and this will make the shiite arabs think that the only security is iran and not the coalition of the west and united states and it is bad in the future. >> would they be correct thinking that the o