daesh-- bashar al-assad.naudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] >> assad would be allowed in the negotiations. that negotiations would lead to transition. that transitional government would be quite on thomas in the presence. there would be elections. i have heard from officials in moscow the lead inevitably lead to a solids the parts are. a senior associate to vladimir putin told me that assad is a butcher them yourself and a interested in keeping human power. the russians will also say that they did not control assad and they did not want to create an impression that they were giving up one of their own clan, so they went to the tube geneva and let process work. took then hillary clinton decided to interpret attempts of the geneva conference. she agreed with the goal states and i don't want to put all of the blame on hillary clinton because clearly she was under very serious pressure from some of our best allies, but she demanded that as a precondition for the conference there would be on agreement that assad wou

president bashar al-assad has made an offer of amnesty to rebels who surrender. aleppo has seen some of the worst violence in serious five-year conflict and it is strategic -- in syria's five-year conflict and it is strategically important to both sides. at least 16 people were killed in government air raids. the bombing and gunfire continued throughout the day. and well into the night. but it wasn't long afterwards that people rushed to rescue those trapped under the rubble. over a dozen people were killed and many others wounded in wednesday's airstrikes carried out by syrian forces. local media say the government is closing in on the rebel-held city of aleppo. also applies to the city has been cut off from raising humanitarian concerns s for the 250,000 people trapped inside. reports say president bashar al-assad is offering to pardon groups who lay down their arms and surrender to his authority. russia has been assisting the military campaign with airstrikes. on thursday, the defense minister said help would be provided to the residents. >> we need to start a

meanwhile, nbc's bill neely sat down with syrian president bashar al assad at his office yesterday.filmed by the presidential press office but there have been no editorial changes to the content. in this part of the interview, assad claims the u.s. and syria have different goals when it comes to isis. >> do you feel the united states is fundamentally misunderstood your war with isis, with what you might call a common enemy? >> again, it's not common enemy. for us unity in fighting not only isis and al nusra and every affiliate to al qaeda organization within syria, they are the same, all of them are terrorists. we want to talk not about isis, about the terrorist groups. we want to get rid of the terrorists, we want to defeat those terrorists. while united states want to manage those groups in order to topple the government in syria. you cannot talk about common interests unless they really want to fight those terrorists and they didn't do that. in iraq in 2006, they didn't defeat them. >> america is very genuine about fighting isis. isis is a threat to the american homeland. how can

more of bill neely's rare one-on-one interview with syria's president bashar al assad in damascus.up next on "andrea mitchell reports" right here on msnbc. ing like one. real is making new friends. amazing is getting this close. real is an animal rescue. amazing is over twenty-seven thousand of them. there's only one place where real and amazing live. book a seaworld vacation package and eat free. built a sandcastle?id? ha, no, i switched to geico and got more. more? 24/7 access online, on the phone or with the geico app. that is more. go get some mud... all that "more" has to be why they're the second-largest auto insurer. everybody likes more. mhm, i think so. geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. >>> and secretary of state john kerry has arrived in moscow today to meet with russia's president vladimir putin. they are expected to discuss a u.s. proposal to coordinate with moscow on military operations in syria for the first time, including setting up a joint command and control center. after more than five years of civil war secretary kerry is hoping that this deal wi

the russians won't mind at this point for the destruction of the terrorist groups to benefit bashar al assad and they don't want the local people surrendering to assad. we have to understand where we stand in our relationship with russia. the relationship is bad. the administration is talking about transsectional diplomacy within moscow meaning we don't have any linkages, we get moscow corporation where we have mutual interests but where we don't believe we have mutual interests, we'll continue with sanctions and we'll move infrastructure into baltic states and we're talking about an adversarial relationship with russia as far as nato is concerned. the administration was more successful in this transsectional diplomacy than i thought was possible because putin and his foreign ministers lab rov agreed to play ball on those terms. they took a position that their open to cooperation with the west first and foremost with the united states and while they are blaming the united states for the confrontation, they basically were saying, we're open for business. and, yeah you have sanctions against u

bashar al assad regime.ually fighting for what we want. , folks,not make sense and we must change course. we must. there are a number of threats out there. we have care is him and vladimir and of course now throughout europe. we have north korea, and unpredictable enemy, and who knows what they are going to do next? many other adversaries and challenges looking right at us in this new 21st century world. i know thereo say is a better way forward. we need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and destroy isis. commander-in-chief who will put america back in a position of leadership and strength. we need a commander-in-chief who protectp our allies and our national security. and the great news is that we have that opportunity this year in 2016. we need to make it happen. we have extraordinary republican candidates across the board who to articulating their vision get our country growing again and to ensure america remains a strong, stabilizing force around the globe. we cannot afford to have a or those who ha

. >> and a new wave of protests against bashar al-assad... >> narrator: civil unrest was breaking out. >> it was an ideal set of circumstances for abu bakr al-baghdadi to capitalize on. >> (chanting) >> narrator: protests against syrian president bashar al-assad had been met with force. (gunfire) >> there were peaceful demonstrations. these were put down violently, and that then sparked this cycle of violence. >> narrator: as the unrest grew, baghdadi secretly sent agents into syria to help fuel civil war. >> he wanted to establish the caliphate now. he wanted to take over towns, villages, and then cities. the border between iraq and syria could disappear if his organization controlled both sides of the border. >> narrator: in damascus, baghdadi's men used the bloody methods of zarqawi's insurgency to announce their presence. >> i was sitting in my ambaador's residence in the upstairs den, reading, when the two bombs went off. immediately, from my time in iraq, knew those are car bombs. that's not a normal sound here in damascus. >> narrator: ambassador ford dispatched a reconnaissanc

d.c., alleging marie colvin was assassinated by "sian members of the regime by syrian president bashar al-assad to surveil, target and ultimately kill civilian journalists." the suit names president assad's brother as well as other top military and intelligence commanders. >> it went up to assad's office, to the office of president, and his younger brother was put in charge of this apparatus that was specifically directed to target foreign journalists, and the intention was to silence them so that the assad regime could operate with impunity. >> brangham: but it's not just top officials colvin blames. she points the finger at a local woman she says sealed her sister's fate. >> this female informant i picture lurking outside the media center the night before and was able to visually confirm marie's location. >> brangham: there was a syrian who was able to inform the government the journalists are here? >> yes. they had already zeroed in using the skype, that's what she was using to report out, and they had the signal intercepted, so they had located the position, and this woman visually confirme

president bashar al-assad has offered amnesty to rebels who surrender. i asked our correspondent in the region to tell us more about these corridors. are few specifics but the russians are saying they will start large-scale inrations around aleppo coordination with the syrian government and that will entail four car doors, three of which would run to the south for civilians and some fighters who are willing to lay down their arms. northth would run to the for fighters fleeing with their arms. there is no mention of these corridors allowing anyone into the town but they are only allowing people to leave from the eastern held -- opposition held parts of aleppo. there won't be any aid allowed in the city itself but that city is now entirely under siege. cutlast route in was without being able to get access. there will be consequences. claire: people in aleppo are they likely to trust the amnesty offer? >> this operation is being set out by the russians as a joint operation between the russians and the syrian government. most of the opposition firmly conside

now her family is taking the syrian regime of bashar al assad to court accusing it of committing a war crime. the unprecedented lawsuit in washington alleges that the syrians deliberately targeted colvin and other journalists and murdered them. >> the lawsuit is designed to seek justice for the family of marie colvin. it's also designed to bring out the truth to air evidence of what happened. this has been a mystery ever since 2012. >> reporter: the mystery began in february 2012 when colvin and her photographer paul conroy drove into the city of homs. then under ferocious attack of the syrian government. >> around 7:00 a.m. the shelling started. >> reporter: colvin visited a clinic. even the seasoned reporter was shocked at what they saw. >> they're hitting civilian buildings up and the scale of it is just shocking. >> reporter: these would be among colvin's final words. shortly after the makeshift media center where colvin and a few other reporters were staying was shelled. colvin and the french photographer were killed. conroy was injured. >> as it turns out, they had been trying fo

but across syria, the government of bashar al assad, backed by extensive russian help is on the offensive. and nowhere the situation more dire than in aleppo, troops are moving in. the combined syrian-russian offensive has intensified bombing of aleppo's main hospitals. nbc news obtained images taken just bombings. hospitals turned into killing fields. a little girl, injured and unattended in the midst of chaos. >> translator: the hospital is out of service completely said a nurse, and without it, even the smallest injury could lead to death. there are 350,000 civilians trapped in aleppo and they're running out of everything, even food. this family's refrigerator, like so many others near empty. russia and still open a so-called humanitarian corridor for people to leave aleppo. acttivists say it's just a way to clear the city before an attack and possible takeover, unsettling for the people of aleppo may be just beginning. >>> a somber and moving scene today at auschwitz, pope francis making a place where the german occupiers murdered people, most of them jews. his words were written in s

air campaign that it has mainly targeted other rebel groups in an attempt to bolster its ally, bashar al-assad but that said, it also took back the historic city of palmyra from the islamic state just a few months ago, so it looks like there may be a window right now for the two countries to work together to take on the islamic state and the al nusra group, which is a syrian branch of al qaeda. laura: syrian president al-assad said that russia has never asked him to step down. this was a key demand from the u.s. when it came to an agreement with russia a few months ago. alec: that's right. kerry is expected to try to breathe new life into the descended that has into widespread fighting again and to restart the detox -- the peace talks. those efforts look like they are going to be less successful, probably. is again, what we might see possibly coordination to fight the islamic state. we know that russia and the u.s. are already coordinating in syria to make sure that they are bombersheir planes and are not running into each other in the air. so, i think that this coordination is possible. russi

. >>> now to more of our nbc news exclusive interview with syrian president bashar al assad. tonight we hear assad blasting the u.s.-led offensive against isis inside his country. and again, this interview was filmed by the syrian presidential press office, but there have been no editorial changes to the content. here's nbc's bill neely. >> reporter: tonight from syria's leader, harsh words for president obama, calling u.s. air strikes against isis ineffective. is that a military fault or is president obama simply not being, let's say, ruthless enough? >> it's not about being ruthless. it's about being serious. it's about having the will. the united states doesn't have the will to defeat the terrorists. >> reporter: but assad has faced global criticism for air strikes on civilian areas and purposefully at times blocking food for tens of thousands including children. do you ever see pictures, photographs, videos of children, for example, in rebel-held areas? and i wonder if you have seen those photographs, what do you feel, sorrow, regret, nothing? >> my question, how could yo

tonight on ""nbc nightly news"" bashar al assad is going to join bill neel neely for an exclusiv interview. >>> first, "mtp daily" starts right now. >> if it's wednesday, it's donald trump's veepstakes parade. a steady stream of indiana encounters. is the answer to who's your pick actually a hoosier pick? it's "mtp daily," and it starts right now. good wednesday evening. i'm peter alexander in for my friend chuck todd. welcome to "mtp daily." 12 days until the democratic convention. five days until the republican one. less than 48 hours until donald trump is expected to hold a public event alongside his vice presidential pick. who is it going to be? today was a mad dash of veepstakes activity on the republican side. and the contest to become trump's apprentice of sorts. that is fittingly playing out like reality tv. today trump and his family met with mike pence at the governor's residence in indianapolis. they were inside for about an hour and a half. pence has become something of a favorite among veepstakes watchers. we're going to take a deeper look into how he went from talk radio host

syrian president bashar al-assad is critical, saying president erdogan is trying to impose a harsh islamist agenda that endangers both turkey and its neighbors. for more on this, we go live now to ankara. jasper, what is the state of emergency going to mean for the people of turkey? jasper: it means that the cabinet can rule by decree. it does not have to get votes in parliament to pass a law. the decree will have the force of law. parliament can still debate the decree, but they won't be able to cancel them. emma: for the people of turkey themselves, will they see a difference? i imagine the situation may be quite different there. jasper: well, i don't imagine that the french government has fired 60,000 civil servants in the last few days. i think that's the most worrying aspect of it. the government was doing this before the state of emergency was declared late last night. and before he declared that he was going to go down that route, president erdogan said that the purge would continue. he called it a "sweep" of people implicated in friday night's coup attempt. but, clearly, it has gone

. >>> an nbc news exclusive, rare access into syria for a one on one with embattled president bashar al assadnue he's locked in a civil war that's cost 250,000 lives. our bill neely sat down with the president at his office and it was filmed by the presidential press office and there have been no editorial changes to the content. >> mr. trump has no experience in foreign policy. does that worry you? >> who had this experience before? obama or george bush or clinton before? none of them had any experience. this is the problem with the united states. you have to look for a statesman who has real experience in politics. not because to have position in congress for a few years or minister of foreign affairs, for example. he doesn't have the experience. >> a man with no experience in foreign policy in the white house is not necessarily dangerous, in your view? >> if anyone who doesn't have experience in any position, white house or in the presidential palace in syria or another country, of course it's dangerous for the country generally. >> how do you think history will remember you? >> i hope tha

martha: when you listen to the words of bashar al-assad in an interview he did this week.he united states doesn't have the will to take out isis and he feels everybody basically knows that in that part of the world. is it too late for this president to change his posture and initiate military moves? will people just have to wait for the next president? >> our rules of engagement are too restrictive. while we focus on isis and al qaeda, iran continues to move forward, they are continuing preparation to launch another series. iran remains a threat and yet this administration is helping. we have to make sure iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon rather than giving them billions of dollars to destroy ourselves. we know where al-baghdadi is, but we don't take any action. i look at miss clinton's comment, we need more intelligence and collaboration. intelligence itself doesn't provide the battlefield dynamics to actually take action. we know where al-baghdadi is. we know where isis is. but if we are not going to take action, regardless of how much intelligence you get, it doesn't ma

al nusra with them, that takes the pressure of assad. al nusra's been going after assad. in fact, syrian president basharn an interview with nbc still critical of the united states. have a quick listen. >> the united states doesn't have the will to defeat the terrorists. it has the will to control them and use them as a cause like they did in afghanistan. >> so why is the pentagon so opposed? because number one they do not trust the russians. the russian promises are something the pentagon isn't counting on. they think the russians may still just move ahead, bomb civilians, bomb assad, opposition groups and not go after isis all that much. so, you know, talk about staying tuned. this, if it happens, could be a big problem for defense secretary ash carter. ana. >> all right, barbara starr. you'll of course stay on it for us, thanks. the u.s. military is also trying to confirm today an air strike near mosul, iraq, killed a senior isis commander known as omar the chechen. they thought they killed him in syria in march but now thinks they may have only wounded him in that incident. the pentagon can confirm a

even syria with bashar al-assad. do we need to be talking to these people in that we have a common enemy right now that we can all unite against? >> of course we do. this is essential in putting the kind of coalition that can make a difference, putting together a coalition that can defeat isis and its ideology. what doctor jaster is talking about is important, we need to unite with the vladimir putins of the world even though they are odious people, we agree on the danger posed by isis and diplomacy is working with those finding common ground and those who support your immediate goal. trish: thank you to all of you, breaking right now we have the house intelligence committee releasing everybody, the 28 redacted pages of the 9/11 report and this revealed that some of the hijackers were in contact with and received support or assistance from individuals who may be connected to the saudi government and two of these individuals were alleged to be saudi intelligence officers. joining me now, retired four star general at f

constructive conversation that could begin a political transition into damascus and the removal of bashar al assad. neither of those things have come to fruition so obviously we're going to continue to talk with them because they're a key player in the region. but it does not diminish the fact that there are real tensions between the united states and russia right now and russia is going to be watching this process today unfolding in the united states. >> now, i know you have supported hillary clinton, you're speaking on either behalf tonight. but if you could look at it as objectively as you can, what could russia's interest be? we're told that -- i was told by the republican national committee chair reince priebus that they were not hacked and we are told by american intelligence officials and independent contractors that the dnc was hacked and that russia's fingerprints are all over it. why would they go after the democrats and not the republicans? >> well, the question leads you down a potential conclusion. there's all kinds of reasons why they may have done something to one side and not done

they are continuing their support of hezbollah and, of course, of the syrian president bashar al-assad, they were doing that before and are doing it more intensely now. so the opposition that you're hearing to the deal here in washington is all about the other things that iran is doing, and you're hearing candidates including donald trump who said to me in the interview i did with maggie haberman back in march, there was a terrible deal. in his next sentence, he says, and it's even worse because european companies are getting all the benefits from it. now boeing is getting a big recorder and congress is trying to step in to stop that. there is a lot of disagreement among the opponents of the deal in washington even among republican opponents about how one would throw a monkey wrench into the works here on sanctions relief. >> rose: one aspect of this was it was supposed to widen the breakout period. has it done that? you would seem to think so if they had done some of the provisions of the deal. >> the breakout period was supposed to be extended to one year. there's some question about

state tv showed syrian president bashar al-assad at prayer services in homs.ernment forces recaptured the city earlier this year. rebel groups said fighting continued elsewhere. a judge in south africa sentenced paralympian oscar pistorius today to six years in prison, for murdering his girlfriend in 2013. the double amputee could have gotten 15 years. pistorius stood silently in the court in pretoria, as a judge handed down the sentence. she called him a "fallen hero." back in this country, a congressional commission reports the veterans affairs health care system is still plagued by "profound deficiencies." it finds quality of care differs widely, and veterans still face long waits. the findings come two years after revelations that v.a. officials falsified paperwork about wait times. and european markets slipped again, amid concerns about britain leaving the e.u., but wall street made modest progress. the dow jones industrial average gained 78 points to close at 17,918. the nasdaq rose 36 points, and the s&p 500 added 11. still to come on the newshour: prot

meanwhile: syrian president bashar al-assad has denied his forces targeted american journalist marie colvin. she died in an artillery attack while reporting in syria in 2012, and her family is charging in a lawsuit that the regime wanted her silenced. but assad tells "nbc nightly news" that colvin was to blame for her own death: >> she worked with the terrorists. and because she came illegally she's being responsible of everything that befall on her. nobody knows if she was killed by a missile or which missile and where did the missile come from and how. nobody has any evidence. >> woodruff: assad uses the term "terrorists" to describe all of the groups fighting his forces. and back in this country, wall street resumed its rally. the dow jones industrial average gained 134 points to close at 18,506. the nasdaq rose 28 points, and the s&p 500 added 11. still to come on the newshour: speculation grows around donald trump's v.p. pick. a country in crisis-- inside venezuela's economic collapse. a rise in employment contracts that restrict workers' freedom, and much more. >> woodruff: we

. >> sreenivasan: also today, syria's president, bashar al- assad, offered general amnesty- for rebels who give up their weapons and surrender over the next three months.ho back in this country, wall street turned in another so-so day.n t the dow jones industrial averagi lost 15 points to close at 18,456. the nasdaq rose 15 points, and the s&p 500 added three. and, a light show over parts of the western u.s. last night, turned out to be a chinesene rocket, burning up in the atmosphere. social media users captured an object flaring up, and leaving streaks of flames behind it. sightings were reported from california to utah. it's unclear if the rocket posed any danger to those on the ground. gr >> sreenivasan: the u.s. food and drug administration today asked blood centers in two t florida counties to suspend blood donations, until each unit can be screened for the zika virus. this comes as state health c officials investigate four nonat travel related cases of zika which may mean the first cases of local zika virus transmission by mosquitoes in the united states. for an update on all th

bashar al assad are saying russians aren't telling me to leave as he and the russians gain momentum in syria, as that society and that stateless society wre isis operates continues to be a state little society there is an interesting question. do we maintain the civil war there which allows isis to operate or do we talk to the french and others to say we can't stand this level of violence and we will cut some kind of deal with the russians. the second and final question, anderson, is equally difficult. europeans, belgians, french, brits are asking questions over time about how much information we share about citizens who have not committed a crime. you are a french citizen and an american citizen and if you're up on a website, if you've traveled to syria or turkey should we share information about our citizens that prevent them from travel before the citizen has done anything wrong? an interesting question and an important question that will come up again in the wake of these attacks. >> joining me by phone is the editor in chief of the french news magazine paris match. i am sorry it i

tonight on ""nbc nightly news"" bashar al assad is going to join bill neel neely for an exclusiv interviewtarts right now. >> if it's wednesday, it's donald trump's veepstakes parade. a steady stream of indiana encounters. is the answer to who's your pick actually a hoosier pick? it's "mtp daily," and it starts right now. good wednesday evening. i'm peter alexander in for my friend chuck todd. welcome to "mtp daily." 12 days until the democratic convention. five days until the republican one. less than 48 hours until donald trump is expected to hold a public event alongside his vice presidential pick. who is it

erdogan has called for syria's president bashar al assad to step down, and had been angered by russia's support of the dictator. last year, turkish jets downed a russian plane accused of entering their air space from syria. but turkish analysts say ankara increasingly sees russia as an important partner, not only in the fight against isis. >> ( translated ): russia provides balance for turkey. turkey is part of western security institutions like nato, it's in the un and trying to be >> reporter: those swings in alliances continue, as syria's war tests country after country. and as frontline state turkey faces some of the most daunting challenges of all. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson in istanbul, turkey. >> woodruff: now, to my interview with the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, samantha power. she was here in washington yesterday to speak on the plight of refugees, now a record 65 million worldwide. i spoke with her yesterday afternoon at the state department. ambassador susan power, thank you very much for talking with us. >> you were calling this situation right now th

nbc's chief global correspondent bill neely sat down with president bashar al assad exclusively. we want you to know the interview was recorded by the presidential press office, but there have been no editorial changes to the content. bill, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. this was a fascinating insight into a man who's been at war for five years. it wasn't just that he's defiant, he was confident, sure of victory and that he said is done to russia. as you hear, he was critical of president obama. some of the rest might surprise you on isis and on donald trump, whose inexperience in foreign policy doesn't bother him. from what you know of mr. trump, is he smart enough? >> i don't know him. when i sit with him face to face i can judge him. >> he seems to president of the united states putin. does that give you hope that maybe he's a man you could do business with? >> if he's genuine. i think he's saying the right thing. every person whether agree or disagree with president putin they should respect him. >> reporter: he told me american air strikes against isis are in

there are camps who say bashar al-assad is the problem, the only one who can bring order to diametrically opposed ideas, look at the debates over interest rates and quantitative easing, led to a number of speculative bubbles in the market that have a lot of people thinking in 2008 but on the other side economic growth, the imf numbers are not very cheery so you have two completely, seemingly butting heads, don't want to get too heavy with the metaphors but deciding what is the biggest problem there are times you have to trade one problem for the other, this one i am going to let it go. >> your book -- i preordered it from amazon and it came two days ago and it was right at the time i went to see the new movie eye in the sky which is about drones and the moral dilemmas of drone usage, stunning movie for me that really hit home but it made me think as i was reading your book, your concept, almost like rational self-interest, companies can use it to see their rational self-interest but what about making moral judgments where the judgment is one collateral damage is perfectly fine by united s

that is, if moscow agrees to get syrian president bashar al assad to stop targeting u.s.ups there. cnn military analyst, retired major general joining me now. i read this report. you and i know, everyone knows, the u.s. and russia are basically on opposite sides of that war. russia is supporting assad. the u.s. on the other side, granted there's isis, who makes it a little messier there. how is this going to work? how are you going to find some overlap of interest to make cooperation there work? >> >> jim, i love what you said. isis makes it a little messier. if you start at the top, you realize there is no convergence of interest between the united states and russia, or you could say more precisely, there's precious little convergence of interest. in other words, we can probably find a few things we can do together. but assad is not going anywhere. one of the preconditions from the u.s. is he's got to go. russia says no. if you start there, you have an immediate barrier that you have to find your way around. that becomes the real sticking point. >> so let me ask you this

left him in place, and had a rebellion against qaddafi the way there was a rebellion against bashar al assad hell and civil war spreading across the region. libya wasn't perfect but would have been worse. martha: she would not have backed the nudging of hosni mubarak. he has to define herself is different, when you look at the growth of islamic extremism all across northern africa and see what is happening in europe, these daily attacks, difficult to make an argument they are on top of this. >> no one has solved the terrorism problem and only someone as simple minded as donald trump would imagine the american president can rave their want and terrorism will go away. that is not the way it works. that may happen on reality tv but in the real world there are multiple problems. martha: say if you cross the redline -- >> you are talking president obama again and let's talk what happens in the real world. hillary clinton understands where we have to be tough, where we have to be smart and where we have to make agreements rather than throwing our allies under the bus. martha: good to have you here

i know you will listen with great interest to the word of bashar al-assad who his speaking out in an this morning and here is some of what he said about how our fight against isis is going. >> the american illegal intervention, it's expanding and taking over new areas. they have been expanding and prevailing. it's only when the russians intervene. they don't have the will. they don't have the will to defeat the terrorism. martha: he said the president is not serious about this fight, the united states is not serious about this fight. >> here's where i'm at in warfare whether it's military or economic. there are three components to winning it. determination, a willingness and resolve. i think where we are today is our inability to clearly define this enemy. this is a global problem, martha. this is not a tactical problem. this is a global problem. we have to recognize it for what it is. we have to clearly define the enemy. one of the first tenets of anything in any type of warfare is know your competitor and know your enemy. we have not been able to clearly define our enemy. what i la

governments, a major obstacle to a peaceful resolution is the future of the syrian president, bashar al assadnow a top u.s. intelligence official doesn't sound optimistic about syria's future. >> we need to be able to have some sense that assad is on the way out. there can be a transition period, but it needs to be clear that he is not part of syria's future. until that happens, until there is at least the beginning or the acknowledgment of the transition, you're going to have syrians d-- syrians dying, many are trying to reclaim their country for the good of syria's future. many also want syria to be the safe haven for terrorists. i don't know whether or not syria can be put back together again. whether there's some type of federal structure where the various confessional groups are going to have the lead in governing their portions of the country. >> the u.n. estimates about 400,000 people have died in the syrian conflict so far. >>> now to weather. terrible flooding, mudslides, i should say, landslides are developing. typhoon another topic dominating the headlines this hour. our meteorolog

we need to talk about a sunni force to get bashar al-assad out of power. interdictions,r a shipment of arms -- so america needs to lead again and come up with that global policy prices in syria. should point out this is all part of the rehearsal for the convention that gets underway tomorrow. donald trump says it is time to rethink our role in nato. should we? putin is looking at weakness there. you talk to people in europe and i have met several heads of state. they are asking for u.s. leadership right now. we are asking them to invest more in the military. a point in time where we are showing weakness to putin and a time when he is being very aggressive in not just crimea and ukraine and georgia, but even in the baltic states. so, i'm very concerned about that. we need to show leadership and a solid front. have pretty good real estate for one of these conventions. >> i have never been to one of these. georgia is the eighth largest state. it is one of the states the trump campaign has said lever important. i talked to the georgia delegation of lunch. we w

support for ill legitimate sectarian, authoritarian regimes bashar al assad in syria or the iraqi governmentu know, why did the government buy bogus or faulty bomb detecters? i'll tell you why because someone was making money. iraq is one of the most corrupt countries in world. we're going to stop buying these devices that don't work which are not saving anyone's lives, do you think the average iraqi is going to be gratified by this sentiment? isis knows this. isis operates in plain sight in baghdad. they're running car dealerships to make money. >> what? >> yeah. everything is for sale, particularly in the middle east. they worked with the assad regime in syria, work with iraqi officials in iraq. i would not be surprised in the at least that this truck bomb got into in area in central baghdad because some cash changed hands. >> michael weiss thanks so much. >>> still to come, donald trump breaking his silence after a campaign tweet that sparks charges of anti-semitism. let's feed him to the sharks! squuuuack, let's feed him to the sharks! yay! and take all of his gold! and take all of his g