now she's getting married in amman. her wedding day is bittersweet. it's brought loved ones together but only briefly. >> we won't go back to iraq, says the groom. the couple want to leave this troubled region and start a new life, and they're not alone. hundreds of thousands of christians have emigrated in recent years. the trend worries church leaders. >> it's very important for christianity, for the principles, the ideal and the teachings of christianity to find and to have photo ops of christian -- >> the church is packed for an iraqi codil service. the christmas message is about peace and hope, but right now in the middle east there's a shortage of both. >> stay with us on "bbc world news." still to come, he's the many sfwrrm we go to jrnl you park your car. as you walk away, crunch! a garbage truck backs into it. so,you call your insurance company, looking for a little support. what you get is a game of a thousand questions. was it raining? were your flashers on? was there a dog with you? by the time you hang up you're convinced the accident was

now she's getting married in amman. her wedding day is bittersweet. it's brought loved ones together but only briefly. "we won't go back to iraq," says the groom. "there's no future for us there." the couple want to leave this troubled region and start a new life, and they're not alone. hundreds of thousands of christians have emigrated in recent years. the trend worries church leaders. >> it's very important for christianity for the principles, the ideals and the teachings of christianity to find and to have photos of jesus christ in this part of the region. this is the birthplace. it's so important. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the church is packed for an iraqi service. the christmas message is about peace and hope but right now in the middle east there's a shortage of both. >> still to come here, to many he's the big jolly guy who brings us presents. but what are the origins of father christmas? we'll go to turkey to find out. ♪ wellllll... ♪ earlyfit ♪ latefit ♪ risefit ♪ fallfit ♪ ballfit ♪ wallfit ♪ pingfit ♪ pongfit ♪ pingfit ♪ pongfit ♪ rowfit ♪ throwfit

adam coogle from human rights watch joining us from the jordanian capital amman. thank you for your time. >> let's move on to other news. >>> iraq's prime minister asked the united states for more air strikes and weapons to fight i.s.i.l. haider al-abadi made the request to the outgoing u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel who has been in baghdad. let's go to jane arraf who joins us live from the iraqi capital. is the u.s. likely to heed prime minister haider al-abadi's call? well, they are trying to do more. there are certain constraints. the u.s. does not want to get too deeply into the conflict with an uncertain outcome. the other are legal constraints. it wants to help and send weapons mented there's a lot of concern in washington if they speed up weapons deliveries, sent fighter jets and armour. what we see on the ground is with the u.s. air strikes, i canny forces have been able to push back i.s.i.l. forces in key areas, but in places around iraq's biggest remainry oil proved he is able to come back and keep fighting. >> reporter: this is the main army north o

in that case or an exchange of prisoners like that is somebody of concern to isis and amman might askor an exchange or they might not accept anything which would be really the disaster if they decided to do things otherwise. >> but shootdown or mechanical failure, isis now has a coalition pilot as a hostage. and the family of this young jordanian pilot in amman jordan now appealing for his release saying he was simply a soldier who was following orders. dana? >> how hard would it be to actually go in and try to rescue this pilot? this would be very difficult. it is something -- look, jordan has expert counterterrorism forces. the u.s. has commandos. they know how to do this sort of thing, but it's the kind of thing they have to get to very quickly. raqqa in syria where this is happening is a strong hold of isis. they probably likely now have this man surrounded by security in a very tight location, perhaps in the city or in a compound. so even if they know where he is, it's going to be very difficult to get to him any time soon. dana? >> barbara star at the pentago., >> congressman jo

now she's getting married in amman. her wedding day is bittersweet. it's brought loved ones together but only briefly. "we won't go back to iraq," say the groom, "there's no future for us there." the couple want to leave this troubled region and start a new life. and they're not alone. hundreds of thousands of christians have emgrigrated in recent years. the trend worries church leaders. >> it's very important for christianity for the principles, the ideals and the teachings of christianity to have jesus christ in this part of the world. this is the birthplace of christianity. it's so important. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the church is packed for an iraqi service. the christmas message is about peace and hope. but right now in the middle east, there's a shortage of both. bbc news. >> in other news, the former u.s. president george bush, sr. has been taken to hospital in houston. a spokesman said the president was experiencing a shortness of breath. he was taken by ambulance to the houston hospital where he'll be under observation. >> and arrest warrant was serv

at the embassy we prepared for the worst-case scenario and evacuated 1,500 people moving them to amman, kuwait -- the president ordered four initiatives to hold the line and set the condition force a possible counter offensive. first we served intelligence over the skies of iraq, we went from flying o iningflying -- se established joint operations centers in baghdad and irbill restoring critical relationships with iraqi and kurdish commanders. third, we deployed special forces team with a focus on the defense of baghdad. and finally and perhaps most importantly, we supported the iraqis as they work to stachbtd up to a new and more inclusive government. throughout the summer months we work these four tracks sma simultaneously -- while supporting the iraqi political leaders as they set up a new government. for all of these reasons on august 8, when the president first ordered u.s. military forces to conduct air strikes in iraq, we were able to act with precision and efficacy. one month later, the iraqi parliament -- new and different leaders across every cabinet position. including oil,

spoke earlier today with muhannad hadi, the world food program's regional emergency coordinator, from amman, jordan. muhannad hadi, thank you so much for joining us. i want to start by asking about the suspension of the voucher program how did we get to suspension? >> basically the suspension is the decision the world food program has to take for the lack of funding. it's a decision we were forced to take and unfortunately, as a result, we have more than 1.7 million people, refugees, lacking food this month and the months after if the situation doesn't change. >> ifill: what is the value of food vouchers or this debit card system as opposed to just handing out food directly to the recipients? >> the most important thing about this voucher program is that it keeps the dignity, it retains the dignity of the refugees and puts the decisions in their hands. they're the ones who decide from where to do their shopping, what do buy. it gives the mothers the right to decide what do they want to feed their children on any night for dinner, and it also resolves issues of protection and a lot of tensio

amman, good morning. walk us through the details of this raid. the u.s. launched -- well other the weekend, it tried and rescued somers. it didn't go well. >> the reports we're getting right now suggest that the u.s. obviously this began several weeks ago, the u.s. carried out a raid the first time to try to rescue luke and the others. that didn't succeed. since then al qaeda issued a statement saying they were going to kill him. they were going to put him on a time line that was supposed to expire this saturday. so on early -- in the early hours of saturday morning, sent in a team of special operations forces belonging to the navy s.e.a.l.s. to the compound where they believed they were being held. it was at that point the u.s. special forces approached the compound. but something must have triggered the captives and let them know there was an operation to try to rescue the hostages that went terribly wrong. there was a "new york times" report i believe that suggested it may have been a result of a dog bark that the al qaeda captives heard the american s

at the embassy we prepared for the worst-case scenario and evacuated 1,500 people moving them to amman, kuwait -- the president ordered four initiatives to hold the line and set the condition force a possible counter offensive. first we served intelligence over the skies of iraq, we went from flying -- second, we established joint operations centers in baghdad and irbill restoring critical relationships with iraqi and kurdish commanders. third, we deployed special forces team with a focus on the defense of baghdad. and finally and perhaps most importantly, we supported the iraqis as they work to stachbtd up to a new and more inclusive government. throughout the summer months we work these four tracks simultaneously -- while supporting the iraqi political leaders as they set up a new government. for all of these reasons on august 8, when the president first ordered u.s. military forces to conduct air strikes in iraq, we were able to act with precision and efficacy. one month later, the iraqi parliament -- new and different leaders across every cabinet position. including oil, finance an

. >> amman and kelly, thank you so much for being with me. now, to why i'm here in nashville. my one on one with president obama and the release on the torture report specifically the timing of that release. where we begin our conversation. >> well i don't think there was ever going to be a perfect time to release this report. but my position consistently was that after having conducted this report, it was important to go ahead and release it. one of the things that sets us apart from other countries is when we make mistakes we admit them. and i think in my written statement, there's a lot of folks who worked very hard after 9/11 to keep us safe after a very hazardous situation, people were unsure of what was taken place. we took some steps that were contrary to who we are, contrary to our values. as some of the tactics that were written about in the senate intelligence report were brutal. and as i've said before constituted torture in my mind. and that's not who we are. and so -- although i am concerned about potential ramifications overseas we have taken precautionary steps

at the embassy we prepared for the worst-case scenario and evacuated 1,500 people moving them to amman kuwait -- the president ordered four initiatives to hold the line and set the condition force a possible counter offensive. first we served intelligence over the skies of iraq, we went from flying one platform per month to 60. second, we established joint operations centers in baghdad and irbill restoring critical relationships with iraqi and kurdish commanders. third, we deployed special forces team with a focus on the defense of baghdad. and finally and perhaps most importantly, we supported the iraqis as they work to stachbtd up to a new and more inclusive government. throughout the summer months we work these four tracks simultaneously -- while supporting the iraqi political leaders as they set up a new government. for all of these reasons on august 8, when the president first ordered u.s. military forces to conduct air strikes in iraq, we were able to act with precision and efficacy. one month later, the iraqi parliament -- new and different leaders across every cabinet position.

, in part because of their power, but they want to modify the system, tweak it to be regional heg ammans we do. there are people in the middle east including the iranians and the iranians are the driving force behind assad, and isis, that have an alternative universe view of the world, and they can never be our allies, so a question only right now of prioritization. priority is isis. >> we have a question from the gentleman in the second row. and the microphone is coming. >> captain cooper, africa command with my colleagues here. good to see you again, gentlemen. something that every region is faced with and you have the perspective. i want to piggy back off the general's questions, accounting for capabilities and will of states, partner states, and looking at you both mentioned engagements and opportunities, have you all seen from your perspective as chiefs of mission, an increasing aversion to risk, and is that potential aversion to risk a risk to implementation on the policy side all the way down to a tactical level? >> yeah. the obvious one being not putting advisory teams out with t

general allen and i saw him in amman about a month ago working very closely with jordan both on the security side about suring up the defenses of their board rer and also trying to limit the extremist presence in southeast syria. there's a lot of focus on the aleppo pocket in northern syria which is a focus to the turks and us and everyone. jordan is more focussed on the other areas. we need to help them. but jordan is a front-line state and that's why we're providing them substantial security assistance and humanitarian assistance to deal with the refu yee crisis. our friends in the region are just impacted by this crisis everyday and that's why part of the president's central policy in his counterterrorism support in building partner capacity is focussed on this very issue, the neighbors of syria in making sure they can with stand this crisis as best they can. >> can you talk a little bit about camp liberty and any of the abuses by the iraqis? i know you're on the discussion. >> i get a briefing on this every single day and get reports from both the residents and also from the united natio

general allen and i saw him in amman about a month ago working very closely with jordan both on the security side about suring up the defenses of their board rer and also trying to limit the extremist presence in southeast syria. there's a lot of focus on the aleppo pocket in northern syria which is a focus to the turks and us and everyone. jordan is more focussed on the other areas. we need to help them. but jordan is a front-line state and that's why we're providing them substantial security assistance and humanitarian assistance to deal with the refu yee crisis. our friends in the region are just impacted by this crisis everyday and that's why part of the president's central policy in his counterterrorism support in building partner capacity is focussed on this very issue, the neighbors of syria in making sure they can with stand this crisis as best they can. >> can you talk a little bit about camp liberty and any of the abuses by the iraqis? i know you're on the discussion. >> i get a briefing on this every single day and get reports from both the residents and also from the united natio

nbc news foreign correspondent amman modine. >> keeps ignoring me -- >> i'm just trying to say helloway too early. that's early. >> willie, good weekend? >> yeah. >> george graduated karate belts. >> cute. >> does he do like -- >> yeah, he's got -- he's 5 so it's early days of his karate career. it's not bruce lee yet. >> he's 5. >> how fun is that? >> that's actually fun. you know we're exposing our kids to like the greatest movies of all time. we're talking about "star wars." last night -- >> oh, no. >> jack and kate scarborough sit down and jack rekwecquests -- >> "star wars." >> no, he's already seen it. one of the great summer movies of all time. >> because this is december. >> "raiders of the lost arc." somehow knew about the rock rolling down and everything. >> is that a good one? >> oh, god. >> oh, oh. >> what? >> get behind me, satan. why do you say things like that? just to tear a hole in my soul. >> no, that is awful. >> huge news today by the way. friday. came out friday. and i'm looking forward to us leading news with it. i'm sure all the networks are going to be running