. >> that is ben rhodes. >> we were expecting him to get a lot of questions, and i'm sure he will, about isis. to give you nature of the threat, the u.s. is facing, he's talking about ukraine right now. it gives you an idea as president gets pounded for golfing throughout this after execution and all of that. there are still problems in ukraine as well. there's a lot on the plate. >> a convoy of more than 130 russian aid trucks started moving amove ing across the border. >> pentagon issuing a new threat about isis terrorists at home. >> chuck hagel defends a white house and pentagon decision to release information on the secret mission to rescue journalist james foley. >> critics voice concerns about the disclosure jeopardizing other hostages who terrorists have threatened to kill if the u.s. continues air strikes against isis in iraq which has been happening. national security correspondent jennifer griffin live at the pentagon now with the latest. a lot on their mind at the pentagon. >> reporter: in fact, ed, foley's parents were interviewed earlier today and they said they felt much b

i'm going to bring in deputy national security adviser ben rhodes. he joins me now from the white house. ben, good morning to you. >> good morning, chuck. >> let's start with what is the military mission here? these air strikes have begun. explain the mission. is this about giving the kurds space to fight their own battle with isis? >> well, yes, chuck. the fact of the matter is we have people in erbil. if isis is allowed to advance any more towards erbil, we believe it could put the city at risk and that puts our people at risk. what the president has made clear is we are going to take limited air strikes as necessary so that there's a perimeter around erbil and the kurdish forces are engaged with isil in that fight. >> if this doesn't work and they're still able to continue this slow march, it frankly hasn't been -- in military terms it hasn't been slow, it's actually very speedy with what isis is able to do. if this doesn't work, is the president prepared to do more to try to stop isis? >> well, chuck, we're confident that the combination of u.s. a

sinjar in northern iraq, and that was basically all we got from ben rhodes. he was quickly heading into what he called a principal's meeting of national security advisers, the president's national security team. i'm sure this is at the top of the agenda at that meeting. in addition to that, we also heard from the national security spokes zwrn woman at the white house in the last several minutes that the white house is planning to send what they call a war powers notification to congress to inform leaders in congress that the president is now taking military action against isis in iraq. so the wheels are in motion, not only seeing air strikes taking place, more indications they may be coming and the white house is doing the legal requirements that have to be taken in order to make this really in xli compliance with the constitutional powers of the office, carol. >> which means they'll be talking to congress? >> thatthat's what that means. in cases like this the president launches air strikes, the president said this last night, national security officials said

. >>> and i'll talk one-on-one with ben rhodes about president obama's plans for iraq. u.s. employers posted 4 2/3 job openings. stocks were off today. the dow lost 9. the s&p fell 3. nasdaq dropped 12. >>> a study tonight with political overtones. the shale natural gas boom has turned things around for parts of pennsylvania with a reported 8,000 wells drilled so far. but next door in new york, there's no fracking and there's no boom. david lee miller looks at both sides of the border. >> reporter: times are tough for parts of upstate new york. statistics show a region called the southern tier recently lost 2.7% of its jobs. but directly across the state line, the economy in pennsylvania is booming. unemployment is lower and job creation is up, almost 9%. a key reason for the economic disparity, hydraulic fracking. the process injects water, sand and chemicals into the ground to fracture rock of which there is a massive supply in the region. fracking is banned in new york state by but allowed in pennsylvan pennsylvania. governor corbett says fracking has transformed the econ

but again the words the nuance is very interesting coming from ben rhodes today. previously american military action in the area have been largely a defensive posture to protect erbil, the consulate there, around the mosul dam, three more air strikes today, the ostensive reason because if that dam were undermined, it could sweep down the area into baghdad. anywhere it can to go against islamic state fighters who are quote unquote plotting against the united states. he said the goal is not just to contain the islamic state group but to provide the iraqi fighters and kurdish fighters with an opportunity to go on military offense david. >> and mike finally seven months ago, president obama in an interview with david remnick compared the islamic state with a junior varsity basketball game. how is the white house responding to that now? >> and that's thrown back on their team, just because they put on basketball jerseys doesn't make them kobe bryant. that's a very, very serious threat david. >> mike viqueria, thanks as always mike. >>> the islamic state group is no dif

and i can tell you from talking to deputy national security adviser ben rhodes whn the last hour thathe president did not make an additional decision when these air strikes were carried out, wolf. that was implicit when he announced toes air strikes in the state dining room here in the white house. i did hear from been rhodes that what the president has given the u.s. military is what is called a green light. a green light to take out isis targets that threaten the city of irbil. those u.s. military advisers are stationed there. they have been working with the iraqis to look at the isis threat. basically, what happened according to ben rhodes that isis fighters were starting to shell kurdish fighters. if they feel like irbil is being threatened, those air strikes are going to take place. another very interesting thing that ben rhodes said, is that if those people are taking refuge in northern iraq are threatened, basically on the verge of being slaughtered by these isis fighters, that additional air strikes would take place. they were very clear at the white house in a background conf

that specific question to ben rhodes about putting people on the ground. could they be american people on the ground to try to help disperse and make that a safer circumstance. even ivan said he was terrified they were hurting people below as they dropped aid. the biggest question, how to get the tens of thousands of people stranded on that mountain top, where the temperatures expected to reach 111 degrees today and 117 tomorrow, how to get them off there. all the while, many are dying. joining me now to talk about this extremely dangerous and potentially widespread u.s. mission in iraq is barbara starr at the pentagon, our chief national correspondent jim sciutto, who's in washington, and then right here with me in new york, cnn's military analyst and retired air force lieutenant colonel rick fran cconfrancona. barbara, first to you, the military advisers, give me the lowdown on what's happened. >> hi, ashleigh. first, the aid being dropped -- when ivan was on the iraqi helicopter flying at very low altitude, so you bet, they were basically tossing the ai

ben rhodes just spoke to that. the russian artillery being used to cross into ukraine, which marks an escalation of the conflict, direct russian involvement, not just assisting pro-russian separatists. that is dangerous, and ben rhodes called on russia to not do that and to honor its commitment not to interfere with the territorial integrity of ukraine. finally isis, martin demp sis yesterday was saying that the -- a strategy to deal with isis is going to have to go into syria as well as iraq. ben rhodes just said a couple moments ago he didn't want to get out in front of decisions that have yet to be taken, but held out that strikes in syria -- though he noted we can do things with allies -- you have the potential for significant escalation in u.s. military involvement and that's being driven in part by reaction to that james foley execution, that gruesome video that was released the other day. johns. thank you very much. now that isis is being called the most dangerous what can be done to stop them? joining us is

right now ben rhodes is still with us. ident made in january to "the new yorker." was there a failure to appreciate what the isis terrorists were about? >> no. what we've seen since al qaeda have been degraded. you've seen a proliferation of different extremists groups. and what the president is referring to is we have to have the ability to look at the groups and assess what is the threat that they pose to the united states, to the homeland and what is the threat that they pose in the country where they're operating. what we've seen from isil is rapid capacity in the past couple of months because they've been able to get their hands on some heavier weapons as they've advanced across iraq. >> these isis forces pose a huge threat to christians, kurds, shiites, all sorts of people inside iraq. how much of a real threat do they pose to the united states of america? >> well, wolf, to date we have seen them focus on iraq and syria, not focus on the type of homeland plotting that al qaeda and pakistan has focused on. that doesn't

and what does that mean what ben rhodes said? it means nothing. ben rhodes is the assistant national security advisor, not even the national security advisor said it let alone the president or the vice president. does anybody think that president putin is going to be intimidated by what ben rhodes said? i don't think so, martha. and that's our problem. the body language we're sending right now. >> tell me what you think is actually happening on the ground in ukraine right now, general? >> they have started a covert invasion. of course it really started with the taking of the crimea. and now they're moving into the eastern ukraine. this movement of 200-plus trucks is just the original signal to see what the ukrainians were going to do. president poroshenko wisely agreed not to stop them, i believe. but this means the covert invasion has started. they've already moved artillery and tanks in russian troops, et cetera, into eastern ukraine. and they're firing from russia into the ukraine. so frankly this is an invasion on the way and hardly anybody ev

ben rhodes, of course, you played that sound bite, the deputy national security advisor, when asked ifhe u.s. was contemplating air strikes within syria, there have been no perhaps presented to the president but the united states is actively considering what would be necessary to protect americans. and he said any consideration of air strikes would not be restricted by borders. rhodes justed a new construction, a territorial construction, he said not only would the united states go after those who are threatening in iraq but those who are plotting against the united states. those air strikes happening in iraq three more around mosul dam not to just contain the islamic state group tbowt but also fighting the islamic state group on the battlefield. david. >> the comments fro from rhodes, that seems to be leaving open what chuck hagel the defense secretary said yet yesterday at the -- yesterday at the pentagon, that would seem to include al qaeda before 9/11. what's that all about? >> and it's absolutely right. there's certainly a gap and we've talked about this david between the receipt

field by isis. >> pelley: in the interest of full disclosure, deputy national security adviser ben rhodes, who you just saw in major's report is the brother of cbs news president david rhodes. today, the white house urged israel and hamas to end their war. clarissa ward is in gaza. >> reporter: israel responded with artillery and airstrikes. one hit near a mosque, killing a 10-year-old boy, and it withdrew its delegation from cairo, saying it would not negotiate while rockets were still flying. hamas warned last night that it would not stop unless key demands such as lifting the blockade that has been on gaza since 2007 were met. many palestinians, like umaima abu al kheir, who runs a kindergarten here supports the decision to keep fighting. >> as a human being who wants to survive, who loves life, who wants to live, with all the children in my life, of course, i wanted the cease-fire to extend. but at the same time, all this bloodshedded for nothing. it can't be. if i want the cease-fire to extend, i want it to extend to get a result. >> reporter: are you willing to risk your life for th

ben rhodes saying we would go after them without regard for borders, inside syria.huck hagel, making very strong statements about the group. we have seen the huge change in rhetoric, which reflects' recognition inside the administration this threat is real and growing and could be brought home soon. what we haven't seen yet is what the change in policy will be. we have got very few details on how the administration actually intends to combat isis and destroy it. and then we have also got very few details about how this fits into a larger strategy to combat their ideology, to solve the overall problems in iraq and syria. so, yes, everyone now admits that this is a big problem that threatens us directly. but no one has told us what the u.s. government will do to actually solve it. >> well, let me just get to some more news. this is what we're learning as we're speaking. we're learning that isis fighters in the iraqi city of ji jillala are surrounded. they're there is same group that reclaimed the mosul dam after the u.s. strike pushed micis out of there. u.s. official

ben rhodes even said today, martin dempsey and chuck hagel, ground troops are going to be needed. for them to not be american ground troops but there's a lot of sectarian violence. do we have reliable partners on the ground? >> no. >> can we get an international quorum together. >> the only way people tell me you can get rid of these forces and radical forces within the islamic world is to have the islamic world push them out, like body, tissue rejection, reject them. we have the armies of egypt and yor dan and all other armies in the region. why aren't they getting together. george bush senior, a lot smarter than his son in this issue of the middle east. he put together an incredible coalition of arab league and others that had japanese and germans pay for first gulf war. i wish the president was down working on this. putting together a coalition, not a joke government if baghdad but people who want to get rid of isis, that's a war a lot of people would like to fight. we can't get rid of them. the arabs have to get rid of isis. we can't stay there forever. we can kill half of the

then ben rhodes again was asked today, is our objective to defeat isis?paused and then said in the long term. okay. maybe you are not going to do it overnight. we should be fair to the president. as you say, secretary hagel didn't say this is a long term project. he said they are at the door. the president actually used the fras himself the other day. the wolf is at the door. meaning isis. chuck hagel said they are worse than al qaeda pre-9/11. how in the world is this a long-term project? this is a project for today. >> this is what i am -- and then you raised an interesting point of the politics of this from inside the white house. does he have the strength now to go to congress. >> no. >> given what happened this week foley's head cut off? that's an act of war. >> you are right. and to make that point that and i speak to alberto gonzales the former of the bush administration today. beheading of the journalist was sick. destructive, just unbelievable. and that has rallied the country to say we have got to do something about isis, number one, and number

we'll go live to tel aviv and we'll talk to white house deputy national security adviser ben rhodes. >>> plus, it's an unusual thursday primary day in tennessee, as lamar alexander tries to hold on to his senate seat and hawaii braces for twin hurricanes landing just as their primary is set for saturday. >>> and a very good morning from washington. it is thursday, august 7th, 2014. this is "the daily rundown." i'm kristen welker in for chuck todd. developing news this hour, a solemn movement at dover air force base this very hour. the body of army two-star major general harold greene is being brought home two days after his killed in kabul in an insider attack by an good afternoon soldier. greene is the highest ranking member of the u.s. military to die in the line of duty in afghanistan. we're expecting to see the dignified transfer live and we will bring that to you when it happens. >>> we want to turn now to the latest on the cease-fire between israel and hamas. talks continue in cairo with just under 16 hours left until the three-day cease-fire is set to end. israel withdrew its

so you heard ben rhodes hit a couple points repeatedly. he used the phrase, we want to evict isis from their safe havens and squeeze the space they're operating in. it sounds like containment, but he says it's not containment. >> well, look, if we can get isis out of iraq, that will be an enormous achievement. yes, there's still the problem of syria, and a lot of people are sort of anticipating that and saying, well, getting them out of iraq is not enough. i agree, it's not enough. it'll be one heck of a start, though. it's already a start that isis has been pushed back from some of the positions that they held only two weeks ago. this is the first time that this organization isis has faced any serious opposition in iraq. when they took mosul, the iraqi army up and left. didn't put up a fight. when they took sinjar, the peshmerga up and left. the first time they faced any kind of resistance is with u.s. fire and the peshmerga on the ground. it shows iraqis this is not some irresistible force, that they can be beaten. that's important. beca

i don't think ben rhodes wants to rule them out indefinitely, and certainly if there was an effort, we had a good opportunity to rescue some of those other journalists or there was an imminent plot, they're not going to want to say never. but we don't have the same capabilities on the ground in syria that we do in iraq. we don't have our intelligence people on the ground in syria. we don't have a government we can work with in syria. we don't have a capable fighting force like the kurds in syria. and as i think general dempsey pointed out, limited air strikes, alone, aren't going to have much effect unless they're done in conjunction with boots on the ground and as part of a well-coordinated effort. >> in terms of what the u.s. is doing in syria, and making those -- well, we know that the u.s. has taken action in syria in terms of its special operations raid that was disclosed this week by the white house. they said they wouldn't have planned on disclosing it, but they had to. they felt they had to because media outlets were going to report on it, anyway. we know that there has been so

strong words from ben rhodes, the deputy national security advisor from the white house addressing the growing threat. good morning and thank you for being with us. welcome to al jazeera. u.s. officials say the islamic state poses a serious threat to the u.s. and her allies. vice president joe biden says: for three years the white house resisted entering the syrian law. islamic state fighters have taken huge chunks of syria and iraq, trying to establish their own country. the group issued threats against americans and beheaded journalist james foley. the effort to stop them may expand into syria. al jazeera's jane arraf joins us from erbil. what will it take for the u.s. to really expand into syria? >> probably what it will take is a political recognition, that's what is required and sold to the american public. on the military side there's no borders here. when it moved across syria, and when you talk to military people, they are clear that to wail do any acknowledge to the group. to make sure they contain it. they'll have to target it. that's where the fighters come plough, where a l

deputy national security advisor ben rhodes saying president obama could decide in just days whether to send in ground troops to rescue thousands of religious refugees who are trapped on a mountaintop. and fox news also confirming a team of american special ops landing on mount and spending 24 hours there to assess the best way to evacuated refugees. landed in mount sinjar iraq time. greg with the very latest. greg? >> greta, yeah, a lot of action in this part of the world. those extra troops that have come here to northern iraq are based in this city not too far from where we are and we believe those special force operators that spent that time, you were talking with on mount sinjar to the left of this location this space as well. a lot of action over there as you noted their mission was to assess a possible evacuation route for those ethic minority. it is confirmed by fox news that those special operators, some 20 of them are now safely off of that mountain. the battle is by no means over. centcom is also confirming today yet another missile strike against isis positions nearby mou

ben rhodes talking about those plotting against americans. and it's been protecting americans in erbil and elsewhere. the mission of these airstrikes is not simply to contain the islamic state group, remember in the estimation of secretary of state chucsecretary chuck hagel, they have been thwarted. >> there has been an escalation in how the obama administration talks about the islamic state. when you start talking about a group more dangerous than the group responsible for 9/11 that obviously gets americans to pay attention. >> reporter: i was going to say, yes, the no boots on the ground edict is still in force. not american combat troops. where does that leave the united states? according to the top officials over the last several days that leaves them relying on and encouraging iraqi forces and peshmerga to carry the fight out on the ground. are u.s. policy goals achievable with the combination of airstrikes and others carrying the combat load against the islamic state forces, and that remains to be seen. >> earlier i spoke with the forme

ben rhodes is not rolling out using u.s. ground forces in a rescue mission. since isis began its march of terror in iraq under june, deploying more than 800 u.s. military to iraq, conducting roughly 25 airstrikes on the insurgents including another one today with many missions flown by u.s. pilots. the president hasn't put a timetable on the involvement but an armed showdown is a very real possibility. on top of all that, prime minister nouri al-maliki has thrown the country into a constitutional crisis. no matter how you describe our involvement as a humanitarian mission, or helping kurds beat back isis, u.s. military is back in iraq plain and simply and our press sense growing. a retired army general and msnbc military analyst, patrick murphy, army veteran and host of taking the hill. general, i will start with you. when you look at sending more forces over there right now, to take a look at the possibility of sending even more for a rescue mission, being defined as a humanitarian mission, total new getting close to a thousand new u.s. forces have been sent

deputy national adviser ben rhodes said the u.s. would not be deterred by any borders. >> we've made it very clear time and again, if you come aftafter americans we'll come after you no matter where you are. >> can they be defeated without addressing that part of that organization which resides? syria? the answer is no. >> the pentagon says sees no sign that isis has crossed the border into the united states. those watch this group grow in strength shows the group is planningen attack on the u.s. home. >> they're crazy and rapidly planning blowing up a major u.s. city. isis, they are really bad terrorists. they're so bad that al qaeda afraid of them. >> the president may now be regrelting his choice of words in january when he mocked isis in an interview with the new yorker. quote. analogy we use around here sometimes and i think is accurate is if a jv team and puts on lakers uniforms doesn't make them kobe bryant. >> jen, from your reporting inside the pentagon, do you get the sense that it is the pentagon pushing the white house f

and so far i don't think we've heard -- it's different coming from ben rhodes and general dempsey. haven't heard the president say things that are commensurate with what george quite correctly points out, this is a big job. it's going to take a while. he hasn't gone there yet. >> charles. >> look. i don't think the issue is the president was unaware of taken by surprise. i think this was willful blindness to the nature of the threat. for the 5 1/2 years he's been in office, he's tried to minimize the whole idea of the war on terror. he abolished the term. he gave a speech six months ago saying the war on terror must end, it's creating damage. he has said the tide of war is receding, but he did that by defining the threat and the enemy as al qaeda central, as if the enemy is a club that lives in pakistan or parts of afghanistan and that's it. so whenever you had an explosion of islamic radicalism in mali or libya or elsewhere, it was considered something else, as he said, a jayvee team. this is a willful attempt to while away the war. now with isis, the pretence to pretend or otherw

just a little while ago, the deputy national security adviser to president obama, ben rhodes, said president obama should get options in the next few days on how best to help them. >> we don't believe it's sustainable to just have permanent air drops to this population on the mountain. some of them have been able to escape. again, we want to get options in place to move them to a safer place. there are a range of ways for doing that. again, we're going to be cooperating with kurdish forces who are also operating in the region, other international partners and, again, our goal here is to work with the iraqis and international partners so these people can get off the mountain to a safer place. again, we don't believe that involves u.s. troops re-entering a combat role in iraq. >> our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what kind of rescue operation are they considering? >> wolf, basically two pgsoptio on the table at the moment. one is by ground. transport by some sort of vehicle convey to a safer location. this may be problematic. a lot of territory that would have to be secured. many of th

ben rhodes, thank you for joining us. the islamic state fighters are saying that the u.s.strikes are not hurting them at all, that they're going to keep going. how much damage are the strikes doing? >> well, we wouldn't expect the i.s.i.l. fighters to say anything different. the objective is to stop advance of i.s.i.l. that threatens, and we have been having an impact. we have hit targets they have been shelling and advance aing toward the city and we want to create a periphery where they cannot threaten the people or the city. >> the yazidi m minority group e stranded. there was a report today several hundred yazidi women have been taken hostage by i.s.i.l. how far does the administration's commitment go? >> well, we have been very disturbed by these reports for a period of days, included executions of yazidis at the base to have the mountain and taking women and forcing them to convert and marriage and horrible conditions on the mountain. there was a water drop and we are going to continue the humanitarian air drops to reach the population on the mountain. at the same ti

you just heard ben rhodes say, this organization is deeply rooted, been in this region for ten years, so it will take a long time to evict them. i mean, first, you have containment, then destruction. it's not just the u.s., you need help from the front. but who? >> oh, absolutely. we need the kurds. we need to arm the kurds. i know that's distasteful to baghdad, but they're doing quite well against isis. we need to arm the sunnis, who are against isis. that's going to be distasteful. and we need to keep the shia out of anbar province. and we need to -- you know, we need to bring in the joint special operations command. this is an enemy who tends to do us harm. and if they need to go into syria to decapitate this organization, we have to do it. i don't see another way. i don't like conflict in the middle east, because it's always messy. we always get it wrong. but in this case, we're dealing with a new beast that's got to be taken care. >> a cancer that needs to be eradicated, according to president obama. bob baer, thank you, as always. very much. and as we have been telling the story

here's deputy national security adviser ben rhodes just last hour from martha's vineyard. >> i can assure you that we have done everything that we can possibly do to try to bring home our hostages. it's an incredibly different circumstance in a place like syria, again, where you have such a violent conflict raging. but we've used all of our military, intelligence, diplomatic resources that we can bring to bear to try to pull a thread to find out where our hostages are, to try to rescue them when we saw an opportunity to try to work with any country that might have any means of locating them. tragically, we weren't able to rescue mr. foley. but we're going to keep trying for all of our hostages, not just in syria but around the world. >> our top-ranked military officer has delivered his strongest words yet about the islamic state says, we can't address the problem without acknowledging syria. his words came right during "the cycle" on thursday along with a chilling assessment from defense secretary chuck hagel. first, general dempsey. >> this is an organization that has an apocalyptic end

the president traveling with ben rhodes, one of his top advisors as well as susan rice among others. we'll get a briefing chris later this afternoon from ben rhodes, from eric schultz and we'll be asking them those same questions. >> thank you so much kristen welker at martha's vineyard. anyway, thank you, "washington post" editorial comments, i generally always agree with your opinion. >> so much more fun to disagree. >> >> that day will come. that is done for "andrea mitchell reports." tune into hard ball and we'll talk about the press conference coming out of the new england white house. we'll be back after this. ronan farrow daily is next. s to. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with o

deputy national security advisor ben rhodes says there's already a strategy to do that. >> we are who iing training and equipping and assistance to the iraqi security forces and kurdish security forces fighting them on ground in iraq and also providing support and military assistance to the moderate syrian opposition. what we would like to see is those efforts squeezed where iceal operates. >> meanwhile, vice president biden says iraq must heal the sectarian divisions in that country that are fueling isis and he says the u.s. is prepared to support an emerging government structure he calls can functioning federalism. in the "washington post" post he said it would ensure equip theable revenue sharing for all provinces and establish locally rooted security structures such as a national guard. vice president biden pushed a more extreme version of this dale partitioning iraq during his 2008 run for president. julie? >> wendell goler, thank you very much. >>> and in gaza now, more blood shed following an israeli missile strike that hit a 12-story apartment in downtown gaza city. the strike

we just heard from one of the white house's top security advisers, a man called ben rhodes, and he was saying that the u.s. reserves the right to take action against anyone threatening its interest and saying, "we are not going to be restricted by any borders." he referred in those comments to the killing of james foley as a terrorist attack, perhaps changing the terms of reference over the murder of that journalist earlier in the week. we have also had top military officials referring to that border it as something that is really nonexistent now and practice on the ground. put all that together and certainly some hints that something might be on the cards. >> moving into syria would be quite a step. could the signal that the u.s. is ready to change its policy in dealing with the assad regime? >> there have also been some calls along those lines. i think most prominently from a former british former's -- foreign secretary who said that it was necessary now to work with president assad against the islamic state. this was put also to chuck hagel and that briefing yesterday, and he emphat

ben rhodes warned from martha's vineyard speaking directly to the terrorists in syria and iraq, we are going to come after you. so the white house has been trying to explain what the president meant when he said we do not have a policy yet, and yet it was his own cabinet that laid those expectations. >> mike viqueira is at the white house, and since we're talking about the white house putting the blame on the pentagon, let's dip in to the pentagon briefing, admiral kirby is briefi briefing -- giving a briefing. let's listen. >> if isil has drones of their own? >> reporter: yeah. >> i have seen a press report, but i have nothing that would back that up at all. >> reporter: yesterday president obama said that some states in the region are ambivalent about dealing with isil. some of them are financial [ inaudible ]. could you elaborate on that? do you have more information. can you say some gulf states are from one hand facing isil and on the other hand financing them? >> no, i'm not going to elaborate on that. tom. >> reporter: the president said there is no strategy yet for isil. talk a

etop security advisors likes of susan rice or ben rhodes and the entourage. we were expecting the president to come home tonight. this is something the white house announced when they gave the itinerary. the whistle house has stayed mum about the details of these two days at home in washington. requests of whether he will be dealing with iraq or immigration. we are expecting to see movement from the white house with an executive action over the next weeks or months. it is a question mark. we will be watching to see what comes out of the white house. he gets home around midnight tonight. it will be a latening with an early start tomorrow, morgan. >> the clock strikes 12. joining us live from washington, d.c. thanks so much. as college edge students head back, college administrations under pressure from the white house to adopt counselous sex standards. we will examine the issue on the week ahead tonight at 830pem eastern. coming up, bad weather has caused a lot of damage in texas. but now, northern states are also becoming concerned. meteorologist ebony deon w

. >> reporter: ben rhodes is on the president's national security team. why isn't it in the u.s. national security interest to have a plan to evict isis from iraq permanently? >> it is in the u.s. security interest to deal with isil, and the way we're going to do that is working with the iraqi government. >> reporter: the iraqis have been pleadinge political brother in baghdad and after seeing so many swift and menacing advances on the battle field by isis. >> pelley: in the interest of full disclosure, deputy national is the brother of cbs news president david rhodes. today, the white house urged israel and hamas to end their war. clarissa ward is in gaza. >> reporter: israel responded with artillery and airstrikes. one hit near a mosque, killing a 10-year-old boy, and it withdrew its delegation from cairo, saying it would not negotiate while rockets were still flying. hamas warned last night that it would not stop unless key demands such as lifting the blockade that has been on gaza since 2007 were met. many palestinians, like umaima abu al kheir, who runs a kindergarten here s

. >> sreenivasan: yesterday ben rhodes made the quote, we're not going to be restricted by borders which is a fairly aggressive foreign policy stance. >> that's certainly the first time we've heard that, and i think the administration is starting to recalculate exactly what's involved in some of its internal preferenceit may have to overcome to effectively confront the isis threat. >> sreenivasan: and here's how it gets a little trick nethe middle east in the sense that last year, there wasn't enough support by the international community to go after the assad regime. and now, we essentially attack an enemy of our enemy, are we essentially helping bashar al-assad? >> the short answer is yes. and that's what makes this so complicated. this is why we've not struck isis in syria as no one has wanted to give even the aappearance of giving aid and support to the assad regime. but i think we're now coming to a reluctant acceptance of the fact as bad as the assad regime is-- and no one is downplaying how awful the assad regime is-- the isis threat is both worse and a more real danger to the uni

africa but they have a result on the loose african leaders to counter growing chinese influence ben rhodes a u.s. national security advisor denied it was an attempt to play catch up with china and i'm not sure what the substitute take part so far but i'm i'm waiting with bated breath when you mention catchup of course i think of john kerry got your boy he's got fifty seven varieties of ways to cure the world's ills but china is on the move they're making a move people are getting concerned they want to restrain the well we're going to get to the can far and the next headline this one is the. collapsing. collapse. melvin foote founder of the constituency for africa a group promoting african interests in washington said it was disingenuous for the white house to claim the summit was not in large part the response of china they'd ministration will tell you that but it's at the front of their mind america is losing influence and respect in africa he said i hear it when i ever i travel there so when he gives a quote exactly what he's hearing when he goes to africa often as part of his lobbying

ben rhodes suggested that the united states will not be stopped by the border between syria and iraq. marty dempsey chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said that the threat that isis poses cannot be stopped unless you address their sanctuary in syria. the question becomes, what kind of action will the united states take? and would it be enough to stop the threat or simply to contain it for a short period of time? will the united states go after their sanctuaries or will it go after its leadership? that remains to be seen. in addition to this whether the united states will take that bold action of going into syria. in iraq, the united states was invited in. in syria, it would be very different. they would not be invited in. gwen: the language that seemed much more apocalyptic this week. and i don't know whether it was because of the execution of james foley or because they know things we are just beginning to know about how dangerous this is. >> this has been building over weeks now. and the president regrets calling them the j.v. squad compared to quade. we've seen them beheading ir

. >> here's what ben rhodes said when i asked him what the long term strategy is regarding isis. >> provide assistance and equipment to those iraqi forces who are taking the fight to isil so we can squeeze them in the space they're operating in and ultimately address that threat that they're posing not just to iraq but to the region and to the united states. >> senator johnson, you heard him there specifically mention a threat to the u.s. what do you think needs to be our long term strategy? >> we need to defeat them. we had deputy assistant secretary to the state in front of our committee on july 24. he said isis is far more capable of manpower, resources, and fighting effectiveness than what we faced in 2007. they're funneling 30 to 50 suicide bombers into iraq every month. he said they could easily funnel those suicide bombers into western nations. we need to be highly concerned about this. this threat is a gathering storm. it's not going away. like congressman engel said, we can't bury our heads in the sand in this one. we may be war weary, but isis/isil is not war weary. they're highly