. >> ben hubbard, we wanted to ask you, a visit, a surprise visit by general martin dempsey there in iraq. tell us a little bit about the nature of this visit. >> well t seems like the main focus of the u.s. effort right now is trying to get advisors in place earlier this month that they were going to basically double the number of american military advisors here to about 3,000. so they are trying to get these in place mainly to arm, equip and training missions for the iraqi military and also trying to get some of the tribal fighters on board from some of the sunni tribes, particularly in anbar prove incident. these are groups that people remember hearing about the sunni awakening in iraq when u.s. forces were still here. this was -- these were -- these tribes ended up playing a large role in cooperating with american forces to get rid of al-qaeda in iraq, the predecessor of the group we now call the islamic state. >> so there is a lot of effort going on right now to figure out how to get these fighters back on board and get them in a place where they can actually challenge the grit

strategy when it comes to the first to join us on the phone by skype actually, ben hubbard from the "new york times," their middle east correspond events joining frus over there in iraq. mr. hubbard, welcome. >> thank you. >> could you tell us? we heard about the possible beheading of this -- another american this morning. what exactly do we know at this point? >> well, what we know for sure is that isis released a very sickening, gorey video about 15 minutes long that begins with very detailed footage of some beheading of a number of syrian government soldiers that they say that they captured at a battle in syria and it ends with showing us the same, you know, militant with a british ac-70 we have seen in some of these previous beheading videos with a severed head and officials haven't been able to verify this footage, but, you know, it bears things in common with the previous videos we have seen of discussions of western captives. >> when was he taken captive, and how long has he been held? >> he's been in can can'tivity for a while. i don't remember when it's been but he is an aid

. >> ben hubbard is based in baghdad, reports for the new york times, their middle east correspondent giving us an update on u.s. strategy against isis there in iraq. mr. >> the isis threat is among several issues currently before congress. although there was a vote in september to allow for the training of syrian forces, there was not a vote on authorizing specific military action. that is an issue which could come up in the current lame-duck session. on capitol hill, the next congressional session was the focus for house republicans, who chose their leaders for the 114th congress. , the majority whip, and the conference chair were among those voted to continue in their positions when the new session begins. they are expected to be joined by house speaker jon weiner, who must be voted into his post by the entire house chamber when mammals -- members assemble in january. about their agenda for the lame-duck session, as well as their goals going into 2015. >> good afternoon. americans have trusted republicans with control of both the house and the senate. we are humbled by this opportu

strategy when it comes to the first to join us on the phone by skype actually, ben hubbard from the "ew york times," their middle east correspond events joining frus over there in iraq. mr. hubbard, welcome. >> thank you. >> could you tell us? we heard about the possible beheading of this -- another american this morning. what exactly do we know at this point? >> well, what we know for sure is that isis released a very sickening, gorey video about 15 minutes long that begins with very detailed footage of some beheading of a number of syrian government soldiers that they say that they captured at a battle in syria and it ends with showing us the same, you know, militant with a british ac-70 we have seen in some of these previous beheading videos with a severed head and officials haven't been able to verify this footage, but, you know, it bears things in common with the previous videos we have seen of discussions of western captives. >> when was he taken captive, and how long has he been held? >> he's been in can can'tivity for a while. i don't remember when it's been but he is an aid w