al qaeda. some note that the organization is in more places than ever before, particularly syria and iraq. does it still constitute a serious threat to u.s. national security? david gurstei nrveg ross, and brian jenkins, sr. advisor to the rand corporation and author of many books on terrorism topic. juan cole, university of michigan and shahid, thanks oall of you for being here. so juan, how is the al qaeda of today different from the al qaeda that attacked the u.s. on 9/11? >> well, in my view, it's a mistake to refer both to core al qaeda and to the affiliates in syria and iraq as all queald. al qaeda. the original al qaeda was in fact multinational and it made a decision to hit the far even my, the united states first before engaging in local battles because it felt that the united states were propping up these local states. so the things that are being called al qaeda in iraq and syria are not like that at all. they are not multinational. they have a national focus and they are not interes

in mali for example al qaeda affiliates not al qaeda. with the affection of the partners as well i'm referring to a car going to slavic maghreb basically with local groups took control of parts of money in syria the. success of the islamic front the partners in syria to see is to take control of the territory in northern syria in eastern syria has to do with their own capabilities not with the finest in the backing of so we are in full capacity i think it's a little bit. mis misinterpretation of reality i don't be fired the fact that saudi arabia for its own reasons without the american backing but with their own reasons is supporting certain elements within the syrian opposition because the saudi arabian government is preferring now to try to blow. rather ok take care of the future when those groups will operate against saudi arabia it's quite clear ok daniel if i go back you in washington i agree with what we just heard here because you know washington these look they look at these nation states here and they look at suppose geopolitic

in iraq and both are connected to al qaeda closely connected to al qaeda basically al qaeda in iraq is a part of al qaeda and have been most recently announced and basically got the blessing from over here the to be part of either although although it was not officially announced in the i would say legal way so you have these two groups in c. of closely connected to al qaeda in egypt the answer but the luckless which is the most prominent group operating in the sinai recently also in iraq in egypt itself is not part of al qaeda but an affiliate so when you call every organization that these affiliated or have any. close affiliation with al qaeda al qaeda you enhance the image and the power the image the power image of folk either that's i think one of the mystics ok ok we'll stay with that daniel but it lot of governments would like to say that when you look at the the prime minister of iraq easing you know it's al qaeda all over the place he wants more weapons he wants more money no one likes to talk about it too much in western media but he has caused al qaeda to come to iraq as you

juan how is the al-qaeda today different than the al-qaeda that attacked the u.s. on 9/11? >> well, in my view it's a mistake to refer to core al-qaeda and the affiliates as al-qaeda. the original al-qaeda was multinational and it made a decision to hit the far united states first because it felt like the united states was propping up these local states. so the things that are being al-qaeda in iraq and syria are not like that at all. they are not multinational. they have a national focus, and they are not interested, i think, very much in hitting the united states. they are just rad sunni islam, the political islam. >> when the president's claim was challenged by pointing out that their flag flies all over iraq and syria obama responded . . . david i want to go to you, a significant portion of al-qaeda leadership has been taken out. how has that effected their ability to coordinate and carry out any kind of attack? >> the first thing is i question whether a significant portion has been taken out and down for the count. when we look at this group it's a clandestine organiza

what al qaeda is doing is morphing into something more anonymous. i think the statement from al zawahiri is, i think you're seeing on the ground in terms of you know what's coming out over social media, we've seen this before, we see them putting harsh measures in and local populations upset. you're going to see things fall apart that way. while the nature has changed it's more broad, but it's more shallow i think. >> social media, eric says, al qaeda has been very effective, first engage with them vee social media. and ravia, says i would argue that not instrumental from, and a video comment. give a listen. >> for me, the shift from closed source, password protected forms, to more open source, open access, in promote -- in the promotes of jihadi material. photos and statements and like. but i see them always preaching to the choir, rather than winning more followers for al qaeda ideology. >> but ge jihaddists, they use itter, youtube, how have they evolved, for recruitment and messaging? >> well, first of all i don't think it's as centralized as peo

it is not true to say the sunnis are all al qaeda. the sunnis are a target of al qaeda. they are killing sunni leaders. sunni politicians cannot move freely because they are targeted by al qaeda. at the same time they are targeted by the government and some militias, who are doing something similar to what al qaeda is doing. the shiites are more free to travel around shiite provinces. we need to determine which is the common enemy. each one carries legitimacy outside of the state. al qaeda is an international enemy to all countries and should be fought. i believe the shiites understand what is happening in iraq. the majority of them agree with us if justice is back in a rack al qaeda will be easily defeated. >> the last issue i want to talk about if the united states. you are here in washington. i don't think it is because of the weather or the desire to see our monuments one more time. i believe there is some reason to do with the security of iraq. i would like you to share some sense of the role you would like to see the united states play in this. how can the united s

this is what al qaeda wants. they will seize territory, gain control of people, so they can become predator in nature in that area, and also they have never given up on their desire to cause more harm to the united states. thing is a major area. i disagree with you, congresswoman, on iraq. the fact of the matter is the immunity issue was not a serious issue. it was a false issue presented by mall lack i can as face saving. -- after the military recommended 24,000 soldiers to stay in iraq, the president's envoy put 10,000 on the table. he knew he was not a serious proposal that eventually got down to nothing. the immunity issue got brought up at the end. it was more face saving more him inside of iraq than anything else. the fact of the matter is, that is a significant strategic blunder not leaving forces there as much as we did post world world war ii not for security reasons but influence. we lost this influence over him. and even further than that, it is more than the troops. we disengaged geopolitically with i

al qaeda kevin al qaeda affiliate's, i think they are all. some movement, that is a common thread.are -- this distinction with that difference to my think we need to be focused on the movement itself and not distinguish between all the different groups. they all stand for the same philosophy. i would be remiss if i did not give my colleague jane harmon heard do. >> thank you. i appreciate that. i do think there was a terror attack in benghazi. .. i think there are a lot of brain cells on this both on these boards and in the administration and various departments. i just came from 10 hours at the defense policy board and your whole department jack is all over it this subject. sure, maybe it could be doing even better but there is a discussion on south asia that was pretty bone chilling and a lot of people wanting to

-led surge al qaeda was dealt an even more crippling blow than core al qaeda has suffered in pakistansurging back in iraq hoisting its black flag over cities like fallujah and ramadi and murdering hundreds of innocent iraqis just in the last year. to me, this leads to an important conclusion which is that whilst base -- tribal pakistan has been shrunk thanks to persistent leadership new territories where al qaeda affiliates can find sanctuary has grown significantly during the same period particularly the middle east and north africa and sub-saharan africa. al qaeda and other violent islamist extremist groups have long exploited muslim majority countries that have been weakened or fragmented by conflicts and neglected by the international community including the u.s.. they take advantage of these places to recruit radicalize and train the next generation of extremist foot soldiers. they use these places to plot and plan attacks including against our homeland. that is why al qaeda and its affiliates first went to afghanistan in the 1990s. that is why they later returned to yemen and so

al qaeda groups did it. it could have been prevented, and lot of unanswered questions lead directly to hillary clinton and the white house. this is "special report." >>> good evening. i'm bret baier. for the first time, we're learning tonight that members of two al qaeda terror affiliates were involved in the deadly attack on the u.s. facilities in benghazi, libya, 16 months ago. that is one of the shocking highlights from the senate intelligence committee report released today. its chair, democratic senator dianne feinstein. some of the other highlights, matching the republican led house armed services committee tranvpts we brought you earlier this year, it was known almost immediately the attacks were not the outgroelth of a protest over a video, however, the importance of that intelligence was minimized. and to this day, the state department has refused to provide the senate committee with key witnesses and documents. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge has more specifics. >> the new senat

spent a lot of times on the semanticbetween core al qaeda and other al qaeda. and we're we have the directive of national intelligence saying the threat of the groups spread out is significant. >> significant and evolving. that's part of what the public may not realize at this point. steve makes a great point. clapper has testified on capitol hill in the same way he did today, many years before. what the public associates with terrorism is the wars in iraq and afghanistan and the death of osama bin laden and the idea those things came to a close somehow introduces the public to this idea that the terrorist threat is no longer relevant, no longer evolving. that's the difference and why today's testimony was so revelatory in a way because we don't think about the specifics of the threat anymore because we think they have gone away. >> george? >> when we think about core al qaeda, it conjures up the idea there's an organization chart, like microsoft, we know it's not a nation. we know it's not going to end with a battleship signing on the missouri and tokyo harbor

last legs the same media and politicians today tell us a very different story al qaeda is very much alive in fighting indeed across many countries of the middle east al qaeda is portrayed as a deadly minutes in this edition of crossfire we ask what is al qaeda today who supports it and who benefits from it. britain's prime minister is being accused of bribery by eco activists after he announced a lucrative incentive to areas which allowed fracking for gas despite widespread concerns about its safety david cameron is letting local councils keep all the money raised from the business tax levied on energy firms who drill in their patch he also but cash payouts to affected homeowners as well sarah first reports. local authorities that allow drilling to take place will receive one hundred percent of the business rates from the scheme that's double the fifty percent they could currently receive no government estimates say that that could be worth one point seven million extra a year each site that a council agrees and there are other estimates as well that say that the industry could attr

sunni militants and tribesmen nearby the fallujah and areas last week. >> al qaeda linked militants are continuing the fight for fallujah, despite failing to localhe siege, the tribesmen have come out to protest against military intervention. maliki -- nouri al-maliki has vowed to eradicate al qaeda . [speaking foreign language] >> i call upon all those who have been taking part to return to reason. -- open a new chapter to settle their cases. >> this morning -- this comes ahead of what he says will be a major assault against sunni fighters who have taken control of fallujah and parts of the and bar -- the and bar provincial -- the anbar provincial capital. footage, provided by the iraq he defense military -- the iraqi defense military, is set an attack inow which 25 militants were killed. for those who remain, basic commodities are hard to come by. >> the price of gasoline is 50,000 iraqi dinars. all of this because of al- maliki. and fathers are left behind to take up arms as the battle draws into its second week. >> thousands of african migrants -- toed to resume soon jerusalem to ta

that is not the same as al qaeda. even though the taliban is more like a shia ruled thing, they are still not al qaeda and they wereo problem when they there. what is going on? i do not understand why we keep saying the taliban is so terrible. but thehey are distinct leader of the taliban, omar, is the religious leader to whom most al qaeda senior leadership -- leadership has sworn loyalty. there is a strong connection. when taliban were governing in afghanistan, they provided safe qaeda on their soil. there is an interconnection between the two groups, even though they are separate and distinct. is, one of the primary sources of funding for the taliban today is the illicit drug trade in afghanistan. whatever their policies might of been when they were rolling afghanistan, they are benefiting from the growth of poppies and the drug trade in afghanistan today. john in new jersey, democrat, welcome. or obama posses were. it is america posses were. we need to be more unified in that. that is really all i had to say. it i

this is not al qaeda 2003. and we're still a city of people and of tribes who are not that fond of the iraqi government. they're going to form alliances but one of the things we have to really talk about, i think, is the awakening, the tribes have turned against al qaeda and fought with the american forces. and then were essentially abandoned by the united states. their leaders have been assassinated. they're the people who are being called to fight al qaeda and it's not that clear they're going to. >> woodruff: that's my question, ambassador jeffrey what can we look to happen. maliki is saying you do this. but then he's got troops on the outside of the town, of the city. i mean can his forces year run al qaeda if they want? >> in the end he's got enough heavy armour, artillery and hundreds of thousands it of troops. so he can win any conventional battle. the question is does he want to do that in a city with some 300,000 inhabitants. we basically had the inhabitants evacuated before we went in in 2004. the tri

in the central city of raw dog tribal leaders from the area say mistakes like that helped boost al qaeda ranks. in regard to tribes initially united to defend against al qaida but then we saw the drone strikes were killing innocent people which has pushed the tribes to sympathize with americans and to support them directly but the rise of extremist groups here in yemen is also related to the country's scarce resources water being a perfect example now in some parts of yemen they've been able to come in and prove the infrastructure as well as resolve disputes over water fulfilling the function of a state in the state's absence. that's. taking advantage of the chaos following the overthrow of yemen's president ali abdullah saleh al qaida was able to. sees large swaths of land in twenty eleven under the name on sorrow shari'a the rebranded al qaeda offshoot fought with more than just guns aiming to win over locals with basic services in this propaganda video the group is shown streaming up powerlines in a long neglected abhi on province although western efforts to crack down on traditional

of course there is a presence for of al qaeda and the isil in al-anbar. they occupy some parts of al-anbar. there are a few dozens, a few hundred but this does not mean all people in al-anbar are al qaeda. but there is a political rebellion against the state. people believe they can reach an understanding with a state that does not respect peaceful demonstration and is pushing people to carry weapons. people of al-anbar, clans in al-anbar all iraqis agree we should fight al qaeda i feel and get rid of them. they are a dangerous scourge but also at the same time we shouldn't have a political process that would listen to the people and provide the people what they need and give the fund stipulated by the constitution, initiative of political rights. the armed force that is they need, they be part of the political process of decision-making in iraq. if does not happen, again we are in a crossroads. we can not, i mean the picture is not either white or black. it is gray and, we need to work on solving the political problems constitutionally. >> mr. speaker, i

it's nine pm here in moscow tonight network of terror iraqi troops fight al qaeda linked militants for the city of fallujah while another branch of the extremist organization carries a deadly attack in yemen we find out why the terrorist group's been thriving despite being hunted by governments in the region and these. which came here to try to understand how the world's been able to carry out large scale devastating attacks like the one memory right here but we'll find the rival played a game that does the u.s. understand why that's. also the headlines tonight a hero in the face of terror. she was so brave she didn't even cry i was talking to her all the time artie meets a man who saved one of the youngest victims of the blast in volgograd as the russian city remains on high alert. and violent clashes between the police and muslim brotherhood supporters least seventeen killed in egypt as the islamist movement calls to boycott an upcoming referendum on the country's constitution. giving thanks for being without international it's kevin owen who was visiting our top story there is menti

if he's not al qaeda, if he doesn't qualify as al qaeda, nobody does.er point. the administration is trying to say that al qaeda is, these 30 people in the mountains in pakistan or afghanistan, who comprised the leadership. al qaeda is much broader than that, and that's the threat we face. >> next up, senator marco rubio in the center seat. she keeps you on your toes. you wouldn't have it any other way. but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow. cialisadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can beore confident in your ability to be ready. and the me cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequent or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates forhest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache.

as the syrian war drags on al qaeda is reaping the benefit today's cross talk we hear how the terrorist network has managed to gain so much ground and who might be behind it. so long ago western media and politicians told us al qaeda was defeated or at the very least on its last legs the same media and politicians today tell us a very different story i'll quote it is very much alive and fighting indeed across many countries of the middle east al qaeda is betrayed as a deadly minutes in this edition of crossfire we ask what is al qaeda today who supports it and who benefits from it. you know we've received. britain is struggling to claim back control over part of its legal system from the e.u. the u.k. government insists it has the right to to sentence the worst criminals to life in prison with no chance of parole but as laura smith reports from london a top european court says that practice runs roughshod over human rights setting up a legal showdown. if we're talking prison sentences it's already very breath and to me. but if the european court of human rights has its way it will becom

these al qaeda groups, look, this is not the old al qaeda of 2003. the old al qaeda of 9/11. is the rise of the the al-qaeda affiliates. young, fierce fighters, very much committed to their own agendas. and this is an area without that central governmental control that nick is talking about, that is free for them to operate. and make no mistake, you look at the map, this is right up against the syrian border. so you have a rat line of fighters going in and out of syria. you have an increased capability to train, fight, recruit, finance. these are the worries that the u.s. has, that this whole new area is emerging of al qaeda strength of this new affiliate group. and it may be very tough to stop them. >> and nick, button this up for us. the civil war in syria, the fact this is spilling over into iraq. explain how these two arelated. >> reporter: sure. what isis is doing in syria is grab land. they have had the longest and best of all the rebel groups strategic plans coming, using years of experience in iraq. putsing some of the first fighters on the ground, rebel fighters insi

on our see this morning iraqi troops fight al qaeda linked militants for the city of fallujah while another branch of the terrorist network is a deadly strike in yemen we find out why the group appears to be thriving despite being hounded by governments around the world. which came here to try to understand how the world has been able to carry out large scale devastating attacks like the one that read it right here look behind the drive up highway one that is the u.s. we understand. that. also had learning from us. a hero in the face of terror. she was so brave she didn't even go to when i was talking to her all the time to meet some man who say one of the youngest victims of the recent bombings in volgograd is the russian city remains on high alert. and clashes between egyptian police and supporters of the muslim brotherhood leaves seventeen dead as the islamist movement to ban the boycott of the upcoming referendum on a new constitution. along kevin are you watching r.t. international where it delighted to have your company our top stories in this morning was just mentioned iraqi security

it is not true to say the sunnis are all al qaeda. the sunnis are a target of al qaeda. sunni leaders.g sunni politicians cannot move freely because they are targeted by al qaeda. at the same time they are targeted by the government and some militias, who are doing something similar to what al qaeda is doing. the shiites are more free to travel around shiite provinces. we need to determine which is the common enemy. carries legitimacy outside of the state. al qaeda is an international enemy to all countries and should be fought. i believe the shiites understand what is happening in iraq. the majority of them agree with iraq --stice is bad in is back in a rack al qaeda will be easily defeated. >> the last ring i want to talk about if the united states. you are here in washington. i don't think it is because of the weather or the desire to see our monuments one more time. i believe there is some reason to do with the security of a rack. i would like you to share some sense of the role you would like to see the united states play in this. how can the united states be constr

there is much sympathy for the al qaeda fighters. >> so how is that al qaeda managed to overrun falju,and armadi? >> it got broken up by the iraqi army and excited the people in feeling they have had enough and prepared to take a stand against the prime minister. and so i they that opened the doors for the al qaeda people to come in and take over the place stations and things like that. >> you mentioned taking a stand, secretary of state kerry saying we are willing to support iraq but not put the booting on the ground. kwhoo is he likely to demonstrate? >> the iraqi's welcome intelligence from the united states and equipment like the drones and things like that. the problem is knowing what is happening on the ground and the americans got a great deal of expertise in iraq itself and he's looking for political, practical support. >> you mentioned political support, that is a hot topic right now, what do you say to republican critics like john mccain saying this is the obama's administration fault in pulling out in the first place. >> i don't believe that is correct. i don't think that t

chairman that calling all of these different groups al qaeda emboldens al qaeda. that is something we don't want to do. if we can separate them, and have strategies that take some of them out, which we do, not just with kinetics. i support the limited use of drones but i also support other strategies, think we will give further. finally the world is extremely dangerous but viewing this set of threats is the only threats that i don't think are going to help us get to a place where the u.s. can project our power, all of our power, our smart power in the way that we need to. looking at failing states in how we can support them is a high priority. helping a transition to democratic with a small d regimes is another high priority and building modern world structures. some of the structures we deal with are pretty antiquated. that can project the whole of the world against for example the possibility of a nuclear action between india and pakistan and those are government decisions probably although possibly could he loose nuke driven it seems to me are also priority so

al qaeda has taken control of parts of syria already. for more we go to imran khan. >> fighters from the al qaeda-linked islamic state in levant claim to have taken over the main highway into fallujah. one man shouts, "god is great", and points to a burnt-out vehicle claimed it be from iraq's army. iraqi forces travelled to fallujah to battle forces. the frontline moved to the outskirts of fallujah. >> sunni tribal leaders are not allowing israeli fighters to enter the town. it's a sign of how little they trust the government of nouri al-maliki. the prime minister is not backing down, describing the operation as vital to the security of iraq. >> translation: there's nothing left in that sovereignty. we have to uni-item to fight for those -- yin ute to fight for those destroying processes. >> the sunni tribal leaders in ramadi. the other main town in anbar province have secured the city. fallujah is tense. >> sunni tribal leaders say they've been harassed targeted and arrested by government forces and are calling for the reform of the sah

the sunnis who are now under attack had had turned against al qaeda and joined us in defeated al qaedal maliki had taken the extremists and the shiites in basra and into bagdad as he was a nationalist and not just a sectarian and we needed an agreement and presence and obama liquidated it and as a result he has created a vacuum in which al qaeda has come in and is strong not only in iraq and in syria and it is a catastrophe. >> a lot of activity on bing, in agreement there with you, charles, and as you look at questions, will militants take over forces of iraq, yes 98% across the board. will militants erase gains across the board, yes. and your feeling about the u.s. involvement in iraq war, it was a mistake, 41%, it was worth the cost, 51%, no feeling at all, 8%. it is a tough question, elise, and one that lawmakers obviously deal with as they look towards now afghanistan and the dealings with the karzai government in setting up a status of forces agreement there. >> that is exactly right. and in fact senator john mccain who is one of our leading voices on these issues was in afghanis

al qaeda doesn't. al qaeda sees the middle east as one big potential area. we're ham strung by these artificial areas. >> once again, this administration is having to backtrack on something that was said because it's apparent now with these revelations just moments ago that al qaeda is not on the run, at least in iraq. and the u.s. is sending some sort of help. lieutenant colonel ralph peters, always great to get your insights. thanks so much. >>> fox news alert right now. representatives for the family of the girl declared brain dead after routine tonsil surgery just announcing that jahi mcmath is safely on the ground at a health care facility. more information for you right after the break. father jonathan morris is here. he's going to weigh in on what role religion should play in her parent's decision to keep her on life support or not. so ally bank has a raise your rate cd that wothat's correct.a rate. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons. look, you don't have to feel trapped with our raise

and al-qaeda is on the run and osama bin laden is dead. al-qaeda is on the path to defeat and osama bin laden is dead. i kept that promise. >> and okay, kt, al-qaeda is on the path of defeat and on the run, or is it what james clapper said. >> even the president said al-qaeda. jv is the only thing. and we got rid of core al-qaeda. the problem is the mexed message. i worked on state of the union speeches for the defense parts in the presidents in the past. what it said in the speech is drives budget. oh, the president said they are on the run and on the ropes. i guess it is all finished and we don't need resources to look for al-qaeda. we'll build more aircraft carriers and when we did that in the 70s we never saw al-qaeda come because we didn't have the resources necessary to find them. >> michael, is the president right or james clapper right? >> i think alisyn is the loose language and on the run, that is not helpful. and what we need to do is change the mined set that we measure progress against al-qaeda and how we measure that is compl

it does matter to my fellow citizens in the united states during if al qaeda is on the rise anywhere, it does affect us. member afghanistan? -- remember afghanistan ? the reason 3000 americans died on 9/11 and not 3 million is qaeda and their affiliates cannot get the weapons to kill 3 million of us. if they could, they would. stabilitys to create and marginalize al qaeda throughout the region. unfortunately, as senator mccain has predicted for a long time, the absence of the force allows security to break down and the vacuum was filled by the emergence of al qaeda in iraq. i would like to go over some testimony in june, 2010. general austin was about to take over from general odor narrow -- in iraq.al -- we were inside the 10 yard line when it came from being successful in iraq. in other words, the search at work. -- the surge had worked. president bush made his fair share of mistakes in iraq, but you his credit he adjusted policies. gave general petraeus all the troops we had to give and stood behind him. over a two or three-year. over a was another -- two or three-year span, there

all of of these groups are affiliated with al qaeda. "the new york times" claims, "republican arguments appear to conflate purely local extremist organizations like ansar al shari'a with al qaeda international terrorist network." here are the facts. in an interview yesterday with cnn, the senator from california acknowledged correctly that ansar al shari'a which played a major role in the attack is linked to al qaeda. the chairwoman is drawing on the work of our intelligence committee which yesterday released its report on the benghazi attack and i aftermath. in that report, you will find numerous references by the intelligence community before the atack that make clear the nature of the al qaeda threat in bebenghazi. the claims that al qaeda had not intill greated benghazi rest on the same rhetorical sleight of hand that holds that while groups may align itself from al qaeda, may shire similar terrorist goals as al qaeda and may evening call themselves part of al qaeda, but if they are not sitting along the pakistan-afghan border, are n

forces, many welcomed in al-qaeda. u.s. and iraqi troops tried to take back the city in april, 2004. they pulled out after hundreds of civilians were killed in the first battle to retake fallujah. the second time around, civilians were warned to leave ahead of what would be the most fierce american city for vietnam. elliott ackerman was 24-year-old second lieutenant when the marines went into fallujah in 2004. he was awarded the silver star and the purple heart for literally dodging budgets to get his men to safety. >> in the battle, early on, what happened was we were going house to house and filling out things, the insurgents realized when we found there was some in a building, instead of sending marines in to go room to room, tactically that we would surround a building or a home and destroy it, so much as it wasn't worth sending a marine into the front door to get killed when you knew the insurgents were there. they figured out that and adapted to it. so much as they would weight until the first marine walked through th

syria's military objects to al-qaeda linked target in syri syria. in malawi politicians accused of stealing millions while it's people earn $1 a day. >> and i'm julie mcdonald in london with all the news from europe including the warning from a giant ukrain ukrainian p, and the country is on the brink of civil war. >> we are getting reports that turkish fighter jets have attacked targets inside syria. let's go straight to istanbul. let's go to anita mcnaught. a convoy was attacked by these fighter jesus . >> turkish reports initially using tank fire and artillery fire and that took another leap upwards and fighter jets are enjoy in a bombing raid. to put this in context for you, this is not the first time. the turks began to retaliate in kind like-for-like, if you will, artillery shell for artillery shell. they took down an assad military helicopter that had crossed into turkish air space. what we've seen at this point is any action taken by turkey against fighters of the islamic state, the al-qaeda affiliated groups which include foreign fighters w

they claimed, the republicans, that this was a planned terrorist attack by al qaeda, meaning that al qaeda was stronger than president obama claimed during the election in 2012. for the republicans, stronger, al-qaeda, weaker president obama. he says no, it was chaotic, to be continued. >> there has been no clear evidence that al qaeda is affiliated with the group. the "new york times" did a big investigation and says it did not seem al qaeda had a role. the groups now considered terrorist groups are not, as we know, affiliated with al-qaeda, correct. >> the real issue is this is a new form of terrorism that will exist. >> was there an order from the head of al qaeda to carry out the attack in benghazi. there's no evidence. what we are facing are local mill tant groups sharing the ideology that will carry out the attacks. we face a threat, whether it's core al qaeda or not. >> is it indicative of a focus of the administration, to focus on al qaeda, and the militias that can inflict damage. >> it's a good strategic move and the threat is local militias. there's a political fight and re

flying the black flag of al qaeda. the bloodiest war that was -- conflict that was fought in our entire involvement in iraq was the second battle of fallujah. 95 brave americans killed, over 600 wounded. what do we tell these young people and their families, what do we tell them? i'll tell you what we have to tell them. we have to tell them that their sacrifice was squandered by an administration that wanted out and didn't want to remain and consolidate the gains that was made through the blood, the sacrifice of american blood and treasure. mr. graham: i'd be glad to respond to senator mccain. number one, to the average american, i understand being war weary. iraq and afghanistan have been long, difficult wars, cost a lot of money and a lot of american lives. but the point of the war is to make sure that radical islam is contained and eventually defeated and that's going to take an effort on our part. does it matter that the al qaeda flag flies over fallujah and ramadi? i think it does. i think when al qaeda occupies a

the two main things, kurtz, the two main things, al qaeda and the tape, are wrong. wrong. all right? according to almost every intelligence expert in the world, this ann sar al sharia group has ties with al qaeda, and they don't even mention it. >> whether or not this group has ties to al qaeda or not, they were local extremists out to kill americans. >> doesn't matter. you have to mention the other side, and they did not. all right. god help me, i'm giving goldberg the last word on this. goldberg, you've got it. >> well, if you conclude that al qaeda was not involved, by the way, president obama was running for re-election in part saying al qaeda was on the run. if you conclude al qaeda was not involved, you leave out a credible evidence to the contrary, it makes you wonder. that's all i'm saying. it makes you wonder about whether they had motives or not. now, i happen to agree with howard that two years out, they are not sitting there and having a secret meeting where they pull down the shades and give the secret salute and say let's do something to help hillary. >> they

what is in it for them to keep al qaeda out? >> well, i have to say that my source for this now is twitter. i have twits today coming from ramadi saying that abu risha who is the good guy, believes that andu ago mad who is the bad has been killed in the battle. he has been killed three times, this may be the fourth time. but it does indicate that the problem here for al qaeda that the sunni tribes were handled very badly by prime minister mall aki have somehow cut some sort of deal with prime minister mall agoee, probably for money but definitely for some political power and this is ambassador crocker's area but i certainly hope that prime malaki has learned a lesson from this. >> woodruff: and on that point, ambassador crocker, how does all this affect the ability of did-- of the prime minister to have any sort of stability in this country. we've been watching increased violence, there have been suicide bombings, virtually. we've been reporting on it every day, in iraq. how does all this play into his ability to keep his countr

drone strikes reports on how it's forced al qaeda to adapt and evolve its strategy . it's a bone chilling video of the man driving this s.u.v. is on a mission to kill as the truck barrels into an army base and yemen's szabo province a sickening act of terror was captured on film omar oh it was more than fifty two soldiers died that day but al qaida went beyond simply claiming responsibility it released this video showing computer generated maps in preparation for the attack an interview with the bomber it even included english subtitles an al qaeda leader is then shown chiding a group of captured soldiers know that you and the americans are in a sling trench the american drones are in the sky and were on the ground of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula was formed in two thousand and nine turning the weak state into a breeding ground for some of the most high profile plans to attack the united states in response a steady barrage of a u.s. hellfire missiles but the shaab tack revealed a group that still both organized and deadly the problem with the drones critics say is