created to house combat airplanes and talk about the combat history of our air force. we have had f1 hundreds here before, but not this model. this was the one that did the most service in vietnam. this is the airplane that had the combat record we wanted to have. it was very important to have this airplane here. present of course is to airplanes that have actually fought in different theaters of combat. that's why this airplane was important. when this airplane was first designed, it was designed for an air to air combat airplane. and also in the ground. it had to give ability to do both. it had to give ability to drop nuclear weapons. it is a weapon of destruction. that is what it is designed for. that is how we used it. a very broad range of missions saw this airplane as a game and inventory. late in his life, during the vietnam war, this airplane did not have the skill set of the f4. it was not really used in an air to air role. it was used in the ground to it -- ground attack and troop support. the missionsof flown with this airplane in vietnam were interdiction f

people want to know about what our combat veterans experienced and having a man who flew it in combat we can make a gut level connection for visitors. this man risked his life flying this airplane and doing a mission that has almost been forgotten and certainly was under appreciated by many at home during the vietnam war. it is an opportunity to tell and to very much personalize the story. >> in january 9, 1962 i was assigned to the 20th attack fighter wing in england. they immediately sent me into test flight section. one of the airplanes that i worked on was 995. my cousin saw it in air force magazine. he saw the restoration job with a picture of the general standing in the gun bay door right there. when i saw it, it sounded so familiar to me. i went to a box of papers i had and came up with the 1962 inventory list and this airplane was on it. so i got all excited because i just absolutely loved the f-100. i worked on a lot of airplanes but the f-100 has been a true love my whole life. as bad as that looks, that airplane as beautiful as it has ever been. it just always was. when the

to houseum is created combat airplanes and talk about the combat history of our air force. we have had f1 hundreds here before, but not this model series. this is an f1 hundred d model. as one did most service in vietnam. this is an airplane that had a combat record we wanted to have. israel report and to have this airplane here. is to presenturse to those people who come to museum airplane set of actually fought in different theaters of combat. that is why this airplane was important. >> when the airplane was first designed, it was designed for an andto air, air combat plane air to ground. it had the capability to drop a nuclear weapon. this is a weapon of destruction. it is an absolute weapon of instruction and that is what it is designed for and that is how we use it. if a broad range of missions were assigned to this airplane is a came into the inventory. later in its life, during the vietnam war, this airplane did not have the skill set of the f4 for instance. it was really used in an air to air role. it was used in troops and contacts. the majority of the missions tha

these troops are going to be in combat. they may not be in the offensive combat role. i but to say they're not going to be in danger i think is misleading. i think we need to make sure that everybody knows this is a risk for our troops. >> yeah, and offensive. ivan watson's helicopter shots showed they are offensive in the process of being defensive. jim and colonel francona, if you could stand by. there's still so much of this story we have left to tell. we cannot talk about the people enough who are absolutely on the run for their lives. men, women, little kids. the elderly. some in cars. some on foot. some even barefoot, covered in dust, filthy, broiling, 120-degree weather. the desperate story of the refugees at the heart of this problem next. what if a photo were more than a memory? what if it were more than something to share? what if a photo could build that shelf you've always wanted? or fix a leaky faucet? or even give you your saturday back? the new snapfix app revolutionizes local service. just snap a photo and angie's list coordinates a top-rated provider t

the soldiers medal was for somebody that was not a combatant but had done heroic things in combat.here aren't in of these that were given. and, by the way, let me add parenthetically -- and this might -- when i first encountered this data i didn't believe it. but further research underscores it. the highest -- the most highly decorated branch of the united states army in world war ii was the chaplain's corps. they even surpassed the army air corps which had enormous casualty rates. i mean, the casualty rates for the army air corps were phenomenally high. but per capita, the chaplains were even more highly decorated. for example, there were 2,453 decorations for various forms of valor for the chaplains. 2,453. those went to 1,783 chaplains. in other words, a lot of these chaplains had more than one. well, one such chaplain is joseph o'connell. the yanks had gone in on the shore farther down the coast of france and chaplain o'connell, here's what the citation said. chaplain o'connell, upon witnessing a landing craft, received a direct hit by an enemy bomb, crossed a heavily mined bea

they made the first combat rescues during their time in burma. they had 12 stinson l-1 flying ambulances. another dozen of these. that's a really ugly plane, but i think it did some good. of the 523 original air commandos, 300 of them were pilots. those of you particularly who served know that that's an outray jously high number of pilots for the small number in that original unit. i'll just point out, here's dick cole, this is a guy named jake sarts. this is a guy named bill cherry. he was the pilot of the eighty that was flying rick enbacker around the pacific and they ended up having to ditch. they floated around for 24 days. i guess he didn't have enough of it because he came back to join the air commandos. that's buddy lewis, the baseball player. okay. operation -- stop that. operation thursday, i'm going to try to get it to go back. operation thursday was launched from bases in india on march the 5th, 1944. c-47s towed guide,700s towed gu 8,000 foothills and they landed behind japanese lines in burma. oh, yeah, it was at night. but 15 minut

>> it is combat. he says no combat troops on the ground. clearly they're engaged in combat if you're blowing up isis positions on the ground. dual message from the administration. they define this military operation as limited to protecting u.s. personnel not just in erbil but in baghdad and protecting yazidis stranded on the mountain. he goes on to say there could be a broader mission to help iraqis stand up to isis going forward. consistent with their past messages. they want iraqis to do this. they say a political settlement in the government, inclusive government is a key part of that strategy. interesting language, he used to say there is this somewhat broader mission going forward. the president talked about possible help offering to iraqis to stand up to the broader threat. how will that be defined? let's say you save the yazidis, you save the christians, you keep american personnel safe innin erbil and baghdad, who pushes back against isis? to this point, the iraqi military has not been up to

y que estos combates siguieron despuÉs del cese al fuego. >> las partes llegan a acuerdo, con fuertey claro. junto a las respectivas polÍticas. lo que dicen las fracciones que en tiempo de combate, en tiempo de guerra la comandancia militar tiene el mando. ellos tienen el control de todas las decisiones. mÁs encima porque no solamente existe la militar de hamas, si no otros grupos como otros grupos. pero lo que tenemos entendido es que estÁn peleando con una coordinaciÓn conjunta. hamas por ser mÁs grande, hamas por tener de pronto mÁs dinero podrÍa ser el líder de este grupo coordinador, pero es un grupo coordinador y dicen que tienen contacto con todos los grupos para organizar sus tÁcticas y estrategias. >> hamas no negÓ, ni confirmó si tenÍa un soldado israelí secuestrado. puede escalar mÁs el conflicto. >> hemos escuchado voceros internacionales diciendo que no tienen en su poder el prisionero israelÍ. sin embargo, hay que destacar que el tiempo de combate, en tiempo de guerra no estÁ nada claro si las fracciones militantes, las fracciones militares en gaza tienen una comunicaci

combat role winds down. kerry hopes to help resolve an ongoing dispute over who won the presidential election there in june. >>> now to the big weather story we are tracking tonight. the state of hawaii is of course used to changeable weather, but nothing like this. a state of emergency is in effect tonight for an approaching hurricane, and then another one after that. they have only been hit by three hurricanes since 1950. this is the first time in 22 years. and this first one is a life-threatening storm. the hope is that by passing over the big island first, the storm will lose some of its energy before hitting oahu and then maui. it has to hit that big island first. jacob rascon is in helo. good evening. >> the big island is expected to get hit first. the outer edges of hurricane iselle are closing in with wind gusts up to 85 miles per hour. on hawaii's big island, it's now or never. the first of two hurricanes about to make landfall. shops and boats are all boarded up. as most of the island is taking she

speaking to marines at camp pendleton california we're not going back into iraq in any of the same combat mission. dimensions that we once were in in iraq and very specifically this is not a combat boots on the ground operation. now the hundred thirty troops sent to iraq on tuesday will be tasked with assessing the security situation in the country's north while considering options to help the trapped iraqi refugees who started receiving humanitarian airdrops just last week in addition the u.s. announced it will be arming peshmerga kurdish forces with weapons and equipping them to help ward off the isis. increase push into their kurdish territory now this decision further adds to the growing number of u.s. armed forces there in the region and this is where things get kind of complicated

a combat boots on the ground operation. we're not going to have that kind of operation. >> these 130 personnel are not going nobody a combat role in iraq. they're there on a temporary basis to make assessments about how to get the population off that mountain. >> we've just learned from state department spokesman marie harf that u.s. air strikes have carried out 17 air strikes in days to protect erbil. >> jennifer, based on the reporting, do you have a sense where all of this is heading? >> well, anytime you send military advisers and you start called limited humanitarian crisis operations you face the likelihood of being sucked in combat. what happens if a u.s. helicopter gets shot down and an american service member is taken hostage? those troops will be in firefight and combat before you know it. remember somalia and black hawk down. the president is reportedly going to make a decision about whether to airlift the yazidis off the mountain in the next few days. the president returns to washington for a few days on sunday.

combat boots on the ground kind of operation. the pentagon confirming tonight through an anonymous u.s. defense official that a team of fewer than 20 u.s. military personnel did hit the ground today in iraq, at mt. sinjar, where civilian refugees have been trapped by isis militant fighters. in addition to helping iraqi forces that are supposed to be fighting those militant and in addition to direct air strikes, u.s. troops have also in recent days begun dropping food and water and supplies to those trapped civilians. have you seen any of the footage of those drops? the footage of them dealing with civilians on this mountain. these are not just being done by

we're also going to hear about private industry's role in combating these scams. the bottom line is that the government alone cannot prevent these types of scams. private companies that sell prepaid debit products or offer wire services are the last line of defense for consumers before their money is sent and lost forever. fortunately, some of the larger retailers are beginning to take proactive steps to protect their customers. and in addition to issuing consumer warnings about scams, many companies are now training their employees to identify and warn potential victims. and we have some good news today from the green dot corporation. it makes a product that has been one of the cards of choice for fraudsters in many of these schemes. we heard about first in the jamaican lottery scam. green dot has announced plans to retire the moneypak card from store shelves nationwide. they've seen how this product has been used by scammers and have decided to do the right thing, and that's to pull the. green dot, wal-mart and cvs submitted statements for today's hearing, which

in our continues effort to combat the -- continued effort to combat the numerous fraudsters, the federal bureau of information and the national -- of investigation and the national white collar crime center established ic iii. the ic iii receives, develops and refers criminal complaints regarding the rapidly-expanding arena of cyber crime. the ic iii gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authority of suspected criminal or civil violations. for law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, the ic iii provides a central referral mechanism for complaints. for law enforcement and regulatory a agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, the ic iii provides a central referral he can nhl for complaints involving internet-related crimes. as complaints are reported on line, the ic iii electronically compiles the data. trained analysts review and research each come -- complaint, deferring to the particular law enforcement agency for criminal, civil or administrative action as

the mission is not to engage in combat. make an assessment on how we move that population into a safe place. >> when you think that isis does pose a problem to the united states? >> the president has ordered this village terry action to iraq because of the threat they wee. by definition absolutely believe it poses a threat. we are focused with dealing with .hat threat the airstrikes we have launched have given space to engage. we are always monitoring not peopler facilities and but also monitoring potential against the united states. are they providing a safe corridor or refugees to get off that mountain? >> we have a range of options and we will rely on what the teams report back. you look at core doors, airlifts, different ways to move people who are in a very dangerous place on that mountain to a safer position, and that is exactly what our team is doing now on the ground in iraq. >> is he willing to consider the option of sending a certain number of troops in there for the purpose of establishing something like, you kno

do i look at it as potential combat mission? there's a couple things that have to happen for that to take place. one, the isis will have to make a move to try to take out the attempt to try to move the yazidi people out of there. and they will have to start it make a fight out of it and we do have a national interest in making sure that isis 's abilit to mess thing up in the middle east is maximized and that may take -- it certainly will take the action of the iraqi government. and the key to this is now that maliki lost support from iran, there has to be a government form that is acceptable to the sunni tribal chiefs and they should be leading the charge. there doesn't have to be an american large scale combat role on the ground. but that's a hard thing to pull off. with all these different moving parts. >> patrick, look, you've been over there, so let me ask you, bottom line question, special forces, apparently right now, special forces, some are on the sinjar mountains, assessing whether more forces should be sent. there are

is not going into combat in iraq. they're going to do a humanitarian mission, if approved by the president. if they came under attack, as all u.s. forces do around the world, they would have the right to defend themselves. but the white house, the pentagon knows full well, they are walking into a political minefield on all of this. however, they really are moving ahead and you saw ben roohodes say, they expect options from the u.s. military in the next several days. it will be up to the president to decide. wolf, i can tell you, there are planning to send a small number of u.s. military personnel to that mountain in the coming days to have a look firsthand. it may not be publicly acknowledged but they're going to have a firsthand look at some point at what exactly is going on there, wolf. >> that's why they sent those 130 military advisers in. they're now on the ground in northern iraq. some of them presumably will go to that mown ta, get a firsthand assessment, report back ton the top brass and the president. >> that

combat troops out of iraq. let's break away right now and listen in to rear admiral john kirby at the pentagon. >> a couple of weeks ago secretary hagel resupplied efforts in addition to support from the united states and central government of iraq and baghdad. secretary hagel will announce today that seven additional nations, albania, denmark, italy, france, united kingdom have committed to helping provide kurdish troops with help. more nations are expected to contribute. the secretary is grateful for these allies to work alongside the military. this will greatly assist the brutal forces and the terror threats that they face from isil. secretary hagel has made it clear that to counter this threat, the need is only going to grow. the united states looks forward to working with our friends. >> what ammunitions are talking about? >> this is an important point. what is great about this effort is so many of these partner nations have in their stocks more than we do the kinds of equipment that kurdish forces use whi

forces may be coming back, not for combat but for rescue. but time may be running out. those who've made it down tell us those who are still there are tired and getting weaker by the day. lester. >> keir simmons for us tonight. keir, thanks. >>> the exchange of fire has resumed in israel and gaza after a three-day cease-fire came to an end. the israeli military says at least eight rockets were launched into israel and it responded by striking several targets inside gaza. this is all happening as discussions continue about trying to once again extend the cease-fire for several more days. >>> back in this country tonight, another day of sudden flood emergencies and high water rescues, this time in long island, new york, where well over a foot of rain fell in just a matter of hours, shattering records and trapping drivers on the highway. the deluge extends far beyond there. flooding neighborhoods and homes in several states. and tonight flash flood warnings continue near boston and up through other parts of new england. we get the latest on all this from nbc's rehema ellis

large numbers of germans troops have been flown into combat. the president of cause of lincoln had made it clear he was not in the least disappointed by eisenhower's slow progress. this was exactly why u.s. forces were in the marin training -- mediterranean and not northern france to my main lead to learn how to fight and gradually how battle.t the germans in president was swiftly proven right. defeat at germany hands was shocking, but not shameful. north africa was an opportunity to learn the lessons of combat, of command. cooperation ofn army, air, and navy, fighting together with our allies. in the ensuing months of 1943, in tunisia and sicily, we heard about thosestories invasions. the united forces did exactly that. learn how to defeat the forces in battle. invasionf launching an when hitler had over 25 divisions waiting for us to defeat the beach. as the united states forces, young general eisenhower himself, learned these tough lessons, the president laid down the further strategy for them to follow. mediterranean, they would have the fi

not just the combat side of these guys. >> well, i set out to right, essentially, combat stories. i wanted to tell what these guys were doing that i found to be amazing. but as i started interviewing them and getting to know them and e-mailing with them and talking with their families, i said there's more than just combat. it's more than the linear plotline that the bang-bang shoot 'em up stuff. that's exciting. but when you marry that up with this other half of the guy that i know -- >> uh-huh. >> -- it became incredibly compelling. and that was something i had to, had to incorporate. and i'll give you an example. one of the guys is a marine named james hassle, and james was an 18-year-old kid, and he enlisted in the marines, felt like it was his calling, his destiny. but his mother was furious. she was patriotic and wanted to defend the country, but she didn't want her son to do it. and so james in this heated moment that i describe in the book, he finally says to to her, he promises her that he's going to come back from iraq in one piece. and that promise was really driving her

some with combat experience in afghanistan or chechnya. >> combat specialists and also doctors are very important. those are the people we need the most urgently, but we except everyone. during a war, you can learn in two weeks what it would take six months to a year to learn in times of these. we now have enough people there who can help show newcomers the ropes and get them fit for combat as quickly as possible. >> british correspondent harriet salem has long suspected russians were among the rebels and not just in leadership ranks, but she could not prove it. then, in may, this happened. rebels asked her and her colleagues to accompany the convoy turkey -- taking 30 dead fighters back to their homeland, russia. >> seemed to be a turning point, a game changer. it was out in the open that there were russian fighters. the real issue now is about who these people are, whether they are mercenaries, whether they are patriots that have come here to fight for the cause. and it's also a question about numbers. the authorities here have been very keen to downplay their numbers. some people sus

i have some unclassified summary of evidence before the combatant status review tribunals.or mr. faust sal, it said the detainee engaged in hostilities against the united states or its coalition partners, maybe there is a difference between us and our partners for mr. was i.q., said the detainee participated in military operations against the coalition. at some point there was evidence they were involved in hostilities, military operations against the coalition, western there? >> yes, they were mid to high-ranking members the taliban government, of the taliban. so, yes they were part of planning but what my point was we have no direct evidence of any direct involvement in their direct attacks on the united states or any of our troops. they were part of the taliban at the time some were given to us. we picked two of them you, captured two, but yes they were combatants. >> your point was they didn't pull the trigger but they were senior commanders of the taliban military who directed operations against the united states and coalition partners, is that a better way to do it? >

some with combat experience in afghanistan or chechnya. >> combat specialists and also doctors are very important. those are the people we need the most urgently, but we except everyone. during a war, you can learn in two weeks what it would take six months to a year to learn in times of these. we now have enough people there who can help show newcomers the ropes and get them fit for combat as quickly as possible. >> british correspondent harriet salem has long suspected russians were among the rebels and not just in leadership ranks, but she could not prove it. then, in may, this happened. rebels asked her and her colleagues to accompany the convoy turkey -- taking 30 dead fighters back to their homeland, russia. >> seemed to be a turning point, a game changer. it was out in the open that there were russian fighters. the real issue now is about who these people are, whether they are mercenaries, whether they are patriots that have come here to fight for the cause. and it's also a question about numbers. the authorities here have been very keen to downplay their numbers. some people sus

military is in combat in the skies over iraq. isis if it could would certainly make every effort to attack u.s. war planes over iraq. there are pilots in many of those cockpits. some are unmanned drones. but you have u.s. air crews over ir iraq. so for the u.s. military, i've talked to an awful lot of guys about this, military personnel, they're not fond of the phrase "boots on the ground" with the distinction of combat boots. their feeling right now is they're being asked to perform a combat mission. >> right. >> and they are very, very aware of that. >> barbara starr, appreciate you calling in for us this evening, thank you for that. let's go to our cnn military analyst and retired lieutenant rick francona. do you think mission creep? >> i certainly do. >> is that what this looks like it could be? >> this started off as an effort to protect american people in irbil. then help the yazidis get off that mountain. this is neither of those. this is supporting iraqi military peshmerga on the ground in a combat operation. i don't see

i appreciate the opportunity to discuss the commission's role in combating telemarketing fraud.as we've heard, the injury inflicted by telemarketing fraud is on no. however, stories abound the harm is just but emotional as well. to tackle phone fraud, the ftc uses a three prong strategy. the federal and international counterparts, education and outreach and an initiative to spur technological innovation to the tools that help consumers avoid unwanted calls and also help one for search tracked on the fraudsters. first, law enforcement and with a focus on impostors scans. each of us in her own life seeks out and relies upon trusted sources here that is the very thing scammers years whether they pretend to be from the government, family member hide behind a recognizable name. the person in his summa trust is more than a door opener. it's an invitation to come in and sit down. and when successful, people lose money coming in or miss amounts of money at her testimony indicates during the past two and a half years, consumers report having lost when the $200 million to impostors scans.

we're not going back into iraq in any of the same combat mission. dimensions that we want we're going in iraq very specifically this is not a combat boots on the ground operation. the troops will assess the security situation in the country's north while considering options to help the trapped iraqi refugees who started receiving humanitarian aid airdrops from the u.s. late last week defense secretary hagel said late tonight that it's unlikely the u.s. will undertake iraqi rescue missions because the number of refugees on the mountain has declined now in addition the u.s. announced it will be arming peshmerga kurdish forces to help them ward off isis as they continue to push their way into the kurdish territory. and the u.s. is not the only one sending arms into the country france is now weighing in on the battle for iraq french president francois alond announced the country would be sending arms to the kurds and humanitarian aid to ethnic is edis who are trapped on that mountain in singe are there's also word that the u.k. may soon be sending milit

for merits and for valor in combat they have to go through a psychological evaluation and then they go through hundreds of hours of additional training and qualification under our supervision under this also under the supervision of the of the state department or military customer before they could go out so it's not like we're just hiring someone off the street we're hiring proven professionals that are again tested evaluated stressed to make sure that they're they're competent and able and have good judgment to serve in those kind of situations and what about they use of drugs while so heard in court was that individual a slip ups or and to just look the other way to let the employees blow off the steam. well that's another one of those nonsense charges and we had routinely drug tested the men they were certainly drug tested as part of the prescreening hiring process but not only were were normal drugs not permitted but steroids as well any kind of. body altering or mind altering drugs was not permitted and as a former it was a firing offense and and and if someone was found to have

it was unlawful enemy combatants is the phrase used to them so if they were not being held as prisonerswar is that the administration position that at the end of our full involvement in afghanistan we would have to release them? i don't delete it is. that really needs to be clarified first of all with regard to the size and the second of all how many more inmates are there in afghanistan that might be put into that category but at the end of 2014 we would feel like we have to release. it's my understanding that it's none of them and we didn't put them in that category prisoner of war category they would have to be released at the end of the hostilities at the category they are in is very confusing if we are going to live up to our own constitutional values. the final issue worth exploring and where i am in more substantial agreement is on the congressional consultation. it's important to engage. you didn't take the top leadership to talk about it. they are trusted including the location of osama bin laden. it's the 30 day requirement. i know the presiden president ig statements when he

how worried are you about the state of preparedness once combat troops leave? >> i think president karzai's concern -- i share his concern. the afghan military force has been trained to shoot and do -- to do small tactics. the institutions of security, the ministry, the logistics and the intelligence function are still lagging. >> what impact do you think the killing of the american general is going to have on trust between coalition troops and afghan troops? a in immediate terms, it's little counterintuitive. on the longer term it will it wrote it as we saw after the early wave of insider attacks about two years ago, some very aggressive afghan activities to try to reduce or eliminate that threat erie >> do expect we will see that now? it's not long until u.s. combat troops leave. >> i think we will see an effort to do that, but that effort will leadershipped by the vacuum right now in afghanistan. >> it's coming with the backdrop of squabbling about the presidential election. to organize the unity government that secretary of state kerry had the candidates ag

and not conventional combat forces but they are combat forces. >> general, what does this scenario, the fact that prime minister maliki saying, look, i am not getting out of office, you have to -- this will get ugly, how much does that complicate it? >> well, it does in terms of itself potential, but, listen, let's look at maliki where he is politically, his open party, the dowa party, has supported somebody else, state of alliance was, a collusion formed among shias supported the alternative candidate, the cleric who everyone adheres to in iraq and iran, has moved away from maliki and wants a new government, and listen to, thats iranians support sistani. so maliki has no support, if he threatens force like he is doing, the fax is that -- fact of matter circumstanc is, if sis not' them to more they will not move. >> your reaction to head of nato saying that there is a my probability that russia could launch a invasion of ukraine. do you agree? >> well, i don't think that putin has given up on what he wants that is eastern ukraine. if wifif he can't get it througt this time doing, ukrain

combatants and noncombatants. you can attack deliberately combatants but not deliberately noncombatants. casualties happen but they are nonintentional israel acts that way. in the case of the terrorists, it's the act opposite. they intentionally and deliberately attack noncombatants. this equation is turned over on its head because that means that the ability of democracy, to respect the laws of war and respect human rights and civilian lives and try to minimize civilian lives, they are responsible for the civilian deaths caused horribly and tragically. they sacrifice their own people deliberately. the more civilian deaths, the better, from their point of view. >> during your press conference yesterday, you have video evidence of hamas firing these weapons in these heavily populated area from mosques and schools and one of the press outlets -- and you were challenging the press now that they are not under the intimidation of their videos but you were asked specifically not to show videos that you have for fear --

no combat troops in iraq. this is not going to be an elongated struggle in iraq with american combat forces an the ground in any capacity. the president is doing this simply to offer security to iraqi people any way moving forward in iraq will not have the u.s. military. so president obama once again very, very cautious in how he intervenes militarily in iraq, not wanting to do anything that would go against the 2008 campaign pledge of ending the war and go against what we've seen of drawing don tdown the war. no update on if there will be more strikes. no update if this is the only one and no uch date on essentially where this ends. you also mentioned earlier no, update on support of our allies for military support. simply more on the humanitarian side. so the u.s. once again going it alone in iraq to a degree. >> thank you for breaking it down for us, luke. there are, of course, still expectations that the president will go on vacation tomorrow. do you see that plan changing? >> so far right now, it's expect

american combat forces into iraq. >> this is not a combat boots on the ground operation.ot going to have that kind of operation. >> despite these assurances, there are reports today that the u.s. is currently weighing a rescue mission for those trapped in the sinjar mountains. it would mean boots on the ground, maybe just not combat boots. it hasn't been approved by president obama. u.s. officials say the rescue mission is one of many options the u.s. is wearing. ben rhodes clarified exactly how these troops would be different. >> the president's one limiting factor that he's communicated repeatedly in public and to the military is we don't want to be reintroducing u.s. forces into a combat role on the ground. he's open to recommendations in which the united states is helping to facilitate the removal from these people on the mountain on a humanitarian mission, which we believe is separate from saying u.s. forces are going to be redeployed in iraq in a combat roll to take the fight to isil. >> the report came hours after the pentagon announced it spent ma roorines and spe

careful on the wording "offensive combat troops" because they're not intended to go into combat. but this seems to be boots on the ground. if they're shot at, they would shoot back. it does put lives at risk and does open up the door to something bigger, doesn't it? >> reporter: it does. the administration is slicing the definition of combat pretty thin here. they're not combat troops because they're not at the tip of the spear going out pointing their weapons trying to take ground from the enemy, but they're certainly troops on the ground and in danger. ben rhodes, the president's national security adviser, made the point today that, listen, force protection is a priority for them. if they come under threat, they would, of course, return fire under that threat. when you're part of a country like this in iraq that's a possibility. this is something that americans have to prepare themselves for, that when you take part in even humanitarian operations like this, there is risk. >> thank you very much, jim sciutto. a big question for america tonight is whether the country wants to ta