in syria, we not only want to fight dash, but the other one -- >> bashir al-assad?> we do not support them by any means. if you remember, he was the origin of dash. he liberated prisoners from prison, and they are the leaders of --. dash. during years, bashir has not fought dash. and today, dash has a lot of oil and a part of that is sold to bashar al-assad. it has been decided, and it is has been decided recently to cut to cut theng financing. we have to organize ourselves. the u.s., france, the arab countries, the coalition. >> are you pleased that the americans are using their airpower in syria to attack? >> it is quiet ok. we have said today that we are supporting them, yes. >> what is it going to take in terms of, quote, boots on the ground to dismantle and destroy isis. ? >> there is a lesson from recent conflicts. you cannot win without the .themselves, the iraq in iraq, the iraqis, in syria, the syrians. in iraq, we think that thanks to our support, the iraqi step-by-step will be stronger. and they can beat dash. we are bringing air support. in syria, it is

>> in syria, we not only want to one --ash, but the other >> bashir al-assad?> would do not support them by any means. if you remember, he was the origin of dash. the liberated prisoners from prison, and they are the leaders . years, bashir has not fought dash. is a lot of oil in a part of that is sold to bashir. has been decided, and it is excellent, by the one recently, to cut the financing -- by the u.n. recently, to cut the financing. because there are states that form the das -- that fund dash through the oil. we have to organize ourselves. the u.s., france, the arab countries, the coalition. >> are you pleased with the americans are using their airpower in syria to attack? said today that we are supporting them, yes. what is according to take in terms of court boots on the quote,-- in terms of, to liberate ground syria, and is the only on the ground sufficient, and can they -- is thefficient? only on the ground sufficient, and can be be made sufficient? >> there is a lesson from recent conflicts, you cannot win without the support of the people themselves

give him the authority to train moderate rebels who are fighting both isis and syrian dictator bashir al assad. the president will also make it clear that he is prepared to order air strikes on isis targets in syria as well as iraq. as one senior official told me today, the president is prepared to go wherever necessary to defeat them. now, david, that's prepared. he hasn't made that order yet. and i am told it is not likely to happen right away. >> all right, we'll be watching tonight. jon, thank you. new numbers tonight, where americans stand on all of us. our newest abc news/"washington post" poll, 71% of americans support air strikes against isis in iraq. that's a huge surge in the span of just a few weeks. so, we want to get right to george stephanopoulos, who will be leading our coverage of the speech tonight. and george, what is at stake here? what does this president need to do? >> this is a high stakes speech, david. with a high degree of difficulty. here's the dilemma for the president. as you just pointed out, a majority of americans agree with him on air strikes. he's already autho

syrian army destroy isis and to give them strength that they can go put more forces against bashir al assad'syou have enabled the free syrian army which we know the right ones and we're going to enable them to be very successful. so people can say what -- that, but in reality of life, making the free syrian army stronger is the most important thing in syria. >> you know it's interesting when you think back to world war ii lining up with stalin against hitler. sometimes you have to do that. but let's talk about the fact that you know, our president has talked about the international community as joining him. it's like he wants a stable syria and a stabilized iraq before he does any of this. and we're not hearing anything about the arab countries joining us in this effort. >> on the bashar al assad issue, there is data that connects assad to extremist elements that were allowed to grow and expand under the watch of bashar al assad. the assad regime is not blameless for allowing isis to expand into syria and go into iraq. >> by that same thinking, and i'm sorry to interrupt you. but when you wan

bashir al assad. he will probably not be cooperative. and there is a very uncomfortable position from washington, if you help the rebels, are you helping him keep in power. the united states doesn't want him in power. that is why the coordination on one side of the border is very different than the other even if you do the same thing. >> but borders may not come into action when it talks about form of defeat. joining me now is buck mckian chairman of the armed services. the president said he does not need congressional approval for his plan to fight isis. are you all right with that? >> erin, we had a bill today that passed that chastised the president on violated the law for detainees out of gitmo. it doesn't matter what we pass. he will do what he wants to any way. what we have to be very careful about is half-way measures, the same-old, same old we've been doing. the same eric strikes that we've done in libya. i just came back to the country and i talked to leaders in israel, jordan and egypt. they are not happy we left chaos and did

in syria, i happened to meet in turkey recently, like a month ago, with the head there against bashir al-assad and they will work with boots on the ground in syria. and i think that's all happening. we're not going to sit back and this president isn't going to sit back. he is acting in iraq. he is putting together a strategy. he did say in an inartful way. a better way to put it is i'm working on a winning strategy to go after isil. it is happening chris, already. this is a tragic moment in history. you can't imagine now we would see this barbarism, but we're seeing it. and anyone in the world who can justify it is an outliar. so we can put together a coalition and go after these people. frankly, we have to. >> let's look at what general zinni said on "meet the press" this sunday. let's look at this and you react to what you hear. here he is on "meet the press" on sunday. i talked about two brigades, he said, of american soldiers meeting isis. you watch and then react, please. >> the boots on the ground question is a tough one. i wish we weren't so paranoid about boots on the ground. we can't

if i was president bashir al-assad, i would feel anxious, not buzz the cecause the coalit bombing the headquarters of the islamic state. the co-lgs could change and shift targets in the future. one, two, three years. this coalition could turn against at sad government itself. in particular if the conflict basically continues to escalate. so the potential for this coalition, constructed by the americans, is very real. even though the assad government has probably welcomed the attacks. the assad government has made it clear, the obama administration has informed the syrian governments, of the impending attacks, that again if i were in damascus, i would worry this particular coalition could replicate, nato operation as the you know. which, which, toppled president, the late president moammar gadhafi. >> a new powerful alliance emerged in the region. the chair of contemporary middle east studies at school of economics thank you for your insight this morning, just past 8:20 where you are. thank you very much. we want to get you to the united states capital, 3:20 in the morning. senior whit

the regime of bashir al assad is fighting isis but the u.s. sad deposed for committing horrific crimes against his own people and other opposition groups like the al nusra front and a terrorist cell called khorasan, which was plotting attacks against europe, and are both affiliated with al qaeda. the coalition is hoping to train 5,000 moderate syrian fighters in saudi arabia. >> kroft: is there a moderate syrian opposition? >> president obama: there is. but right now, it doesn't control much territory. it has been squeezed between isil on the one hand and the assad regime on the other. >> kroft: these are the people that you said, the farmers, the doctors, the pharmacists, who stood no chance of overthrowing the government. >> president obama: well keep in mind two years ago, that was absolutely true. this is in response to the mythology that's evolved that somehow if we had given those folks some guns two-and-a-half years ago, that syria would be fine. and the point that i made then, which is absolutely true, is that for us to just start armin

is willing to provide lethal military equipment to moderate syrian rebels, fighting bashir al assad's regime in syria, why can't the u.s. provide lethal equipment to ukraine which faces security challenges? >> this is just a machine gun or things like that. we have all of that. >> when it comes to lethal military, what would you like from the united states? >> again, we like from the united states the instructors trained and equipped program, the radar and the modern communication security system. we have a long list of possible cooperation. and i think -- and i can confirm you that we receive a confirmation that we have everything of that. we should modernize my army. and this weapons is not just to fighting in this particular moment, in this particular war. this is impossible. we stand for peace, but for the american participation in modernizing the ukrainian army, this is what we vitally need. and we received today the final confirmation of this potential in the defense and security system. >> i'm surprised the u.s. is still insisting it is only providing nonlethal equipment to ukr

. >> general, isn't the definition the president is going to say this is the goal to get bashir al assadut of government, and the united states is going to help. >> the united states will lead this. because when you have the intelligence, which we have the radio electronics and some stuff on the ground through special forces, we will be driving the direction, the pace of the operation with our logistics and air support. now we don't want u.s. troops in those villages trying to identify friend from foe, going in and searching houses and stuff. >> but is it possible? >> and we hope it won't happen. we hope we can finesse our way through the iran issues with the iran versus the sunni and shiite forces. but turkey is penetrated by this force and threatened by this force and it should take action. kurds the same. the >>> and next, a year of mixed messages from the white house on isis and syria. that has been the way it is. weakening the president's corre credibility at home and abroad. next, a special report. ♪ [music] jackie's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today her doctor has her

--we go now to london, bashir al-assad, the syrian president.nd patrick london cockburn middle east , correspondent for the independent. his new book is called, "the jihadis return -- isis and the new sunni uprising." president obama says we must degrade and destroy. is this the new line in the sand? will this deal with the violence in the middle east with this group and the related group, khorasan? >> no, it is not. as he said himself, it will take years, and the first day of bombings, the bombardments, are usually the best, and pictures on television of large buildings being blown up looks very effective, but usually the buildings have nobody in them. workmber, this did not when the u.s. had 150,000 andiers in iraq in 2006 2007, so i doubt it is going to work now. it is going to make it more difficult for the islamic state to put its gunmen into convoys and launch risky attacks on bases and towns, but otherwise it is not going to have a decisive effect. , where see that in iraq we have been bombings since the beginning of august, and the islam

bashir al assad, effort to take on syrian free army, if isis, isil rosen t ein the wake. whatever is left of syrian free army to train them in a year. what will you have in a year you. don't have a basic infantry soldier. i am not optimistic. frankly we don't have 12, 15 much month. the air campaign will solve short term problems going after the financing, so on, so forth. the rally, in the arab modern, military, aviation, there is only been one war, no battles won. one war stopped by any form of air strike, world war ii. hiroshima, nagasaki. don't think that is on the table. taken a lot of options off the table. hamstrung us. it doesn't give us a lot of other options. that still need off to be on the table. we are telegraphing, we are, we are, and we are with hoefholdin options on the table. we should never do that. >> bobby, you spent all the time in iraq. covered it for a lot of years. problems are well known with iraqi military. a new government in place. the government is quick to say, new president. prime minister. still no interior menster. no defense minister. sti

but the plan also backs rebels who are against bashir al assad. the u.s. is helping some forces against bashir al assad and helping some forces with him, continuing the civil war. >> those air strikes also continued u.s. action against another terror group over fears that it was planning attacks here. pete williams has more on that part of the story. good morning. >> several u.s. officials say it was not an imminent threat in the sense of a specific attack about to happen. instead, they say it was a growing worry that the terror group was at the stage where it could be ready to carry out an attack. for months, the u.s. has been nervously watching as the khorasan terror group developed a plan to smuggle explosives on to planes. >> we had intelligence suggesting they were moving far along in their plotting. >> reporter: new security rules this summer, requiring passengers to show that their carry-on electronic devices would power on. special attention was paid to laptop computers because of intelligence indicating the group was testing a bomb design

at one time they wanted to get 50,000 troops to back the moderate rebels to force bashir al assad out of government. in one sense they're keen to be part of a coalition that's going to shape the future of syria. so, you have a plus there. they have their own problem that young men are going in their droves going from saudi arabia to syria to join groups like the islamic state, isis. so, that's a problem for them. but isis itself has already said it will target the saudi monarchy. it wants to create a caliphate. the caliphate includes obviously the -- islam's two holiest shrines which are in saudi arabia. the king of saudi arabia is the custodian of those shrines. so for the royal family of saudi arabia this is a very personal fight as well, so you've got that in the plus corner. their desire to shape the future of syria in the plus corner, their wealth. so, there's a lot to play with there. we've seen saudi arabia as well in yemen, for example, the president's talked about tackling terrorism in yemen as well. we've seen saudi arabia there play a role. one of its agents brought out a v

left it open for quite some time in the hope that they might be able to bring down by sheer al-assad -- bashir al-assad. we've seen a huge amount of money, weapons crossing the border and now oil going the other way. in addition to the strikes we are carrying out against isis, a concerted effort on the turkish border would severely hamper isis activity. >> what would forced turkey's hand, jonathan? >> i don't know. words frome stern the united states. i think we have been very reluctant to call turkey out on this given the fact that turkey is a nato ally, that it has been a long-standing u.s. ally, but if you look at their activities right now, they are not exactly behaving like allies, they have been very ambivalent about to , and then onlition top of that, we just heard the other day that they were able to release a number of their hostages by making an indirect deal with isis allowing 50 of free isis cap is to go from another terrorist or an invasion inside syria, so we are seeing a lot of doubledealing from the turks. >> other arab nations that have also been very lukewarm in joining up wi

a billion dollars as early as the next few days to fund moderate syrian rebels opposed to the bashir al assaday or nay? continuing resolution. >> you're voting for ebola money. >> a separate, half a billion -- funding appropriation. >> at this point, i'm leaning. >> to vote against it? >> yes. >> what about authorizing a formal vote that would give the president authorization to go to war against isis? zblfrg is in the language. you can't talk in a general sense. i have and do support the president using air strikes. i think that they are working. i support that. but i many very, very nervous about two things, ground troops getting caught -- our young people getting caught in war. i'm chairman of the veterans xhichlt i have seen what the war in iraq has done to hundreds of thousands of young people. and i worry about that. second of all, i don't know why the taxpayers of vermont have got to defend the royal family of saudi arabia, which is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. >> they're try ing ing to put together a coalition but are looking toward the united states. a lot of people like yo

its aggression in iraq as it had been all the time we were there, as well as their support for bashir al-assad and his support for what exphas other terrorist -- support for hamas and other terrorist organizations. meanwhile, in libya, remember, we -- nato went to war in libya as well, primarily using u.s. assets and money. our complete and utter neglect of libya following the neglect of moammar qadhafi, did not end that war either. it merely created a security vacuum that was quickly filled by radical militias and terrorist groups with ties to al qaeda. if we learned anything from 9/11 -- and i just returned from a gold medal -- gold congressional medal service in the capitol -- if we learned anything 13 years ago, it is that vacuums get filled and we don't fill the vacuum with constructive self-governance and respect for the rule of law and individual human worth and dignity, then that vacuum will be filled by terrorists and others who reject all of those fundamental values of our country. and we didn't learn it. we didn't learn the lesson. we didn't learn it in libya. we didn't learn it in

the at least same goal as the united states and its allies, which is to topple the regime of bashir al-assada minority report compared to my colleagues and i am sure they will correct me. will jump in first, and then we will bring you in. >> we want will ok. >> no problem. group -- thesan name we have been told -- i do not know if that is what they call themselves or not, but it is part of an organization in syria that is a direct affiliate in al qaeda for the past year or so. sarah was a part of the islamic state in iraq and it broke away is now answers to al qaeda. to -- in i have read the media, and a lot of us are getting up to speed in the group, it is part of the old guard. many were camped out in the ran, and we do not know a lot about them. private members had logistics in iran. it has been said many were under house arrest. i do not know if that is the case. he seemed to have more free and then we understood. there were often in communication with al qaeda leadership. it seems like a lot of these members were the ones that went from khorasan or eastern air on over into -- iran over

al assad, the president of syria. they negotiated for a settlement, bashir broke the agreement the turkish president thought he and it'sy bitter personal fight and so i think that turkey has been willing to use whatever resources it thought might get assad out of there soon and for a long time, for two years those were increasingly extremist muslim fighters who had operating points, base camps on the turkish side of the border. i'll tell you, you walk across courageousists could walk across the middle of the day anybody can. >> let's move on to qatar. qatar has not only been a disappointment, they've actually seem to encourage isis. at what point does the united states of america stop having a schizophrenic relationship with a country that's clearly not our friend? >> qatar thinks that it can play both sides of the street. qatar has the largest u.s. air base in the region. in the middle of the country is where we launch our biggest planes, direct operations. so qatar thinks it's america's friend. at the same time on its television, in its foreign policy it works actively with people who are going against u.s. interests

al qaeda veteran who spent many years in. . -- in iran. he and his group are very involved in trying to recruit westerners. they have no fight against bush are all shot -- bashir assad. concern to many americans ising up to this headline is this another step that brings us closer to u.s. troops on the ground. on,ill have michael turner and many in that party are calling for boots on the ground. >> that is something the administration has categorically ruled out. i think it is unlikely we will see that in syria anytime soon. >> willem marx, thank you for joining us. back to the u.s., avi is it taxng shyer to reduce bill. the u.s. is calling for a crackdown on tax and version. i am joined by peter cook. break this down for us. how does treasury secretary jack lew plan to keep companies from moving overseas? >> he will make it more painful, at least in terms of making -- paying their taxes. there are a couple of steps the treasury announced. they go further than a lot of people expected. a crackdown on what is called loaning to ans -- foreign entity and avoiding u.s. taxes -- now, a lot of those loans will be treated as a u.s. event, taxable. there are now new rules re