the fsa. an opposition force made up of defectors from assad's military., 2012, manny goes to homs. what he finds there is a story of a city being blown apart. >> homs was bad. they called it the capital of the revolution, because that's the place where suppression was the hardest. you had, like, every day, something like 15, 20 dead. so i every day, you have this constant movement of defiance from the population. >> one of the first evens manny films is a mass funeral for 138 people killed the previous night by shelling. people mourn their losses and swear revenge. two days later, manny accompanies fighters from the fsa in a ferocious attack on the former syrian intelligence building. government snipers are holed up in the upper floors as the fighters pour fire into the building. when the fsa moves in, manny finds himself right in the middle of the fire fight. >> every time i would follow them, i would think, first, am i doing the right thing? i know that we i'm running through the street, i can get a -- i want to be able to document what's happening. i'm

why are you confident that the fsa will go against isis?t say for syrian revolution, it is very important and the main goal is to collapse the regime. but as we begun as syrians to fight against the regime, we came to the conclusion that we have to fight against other extremist groups like isis. and isis is trying to control the areas which we liberate so we can't continue fighting only against the regime. it is very important to fight against the regime and against isis. it is very dangerous and very difficult. at the same time to fight against the syrian regime and isis. but we have, we don't have other choice. we have to clean the country from isis. we have to keep them out, to get rid of them. and then we can continue fighting. that does not mean we have to stop fighting against the regime now. >> general, last question. in the united states right now, there's a great debate about whether or not u.s. fighters must be on the ground to beat isis. do you believe the united states needs to have its own fighters fighting in syria and iraq in

isis hates fsa and they've been fighting them for over a year.we give arms to fsa they'll use them to fight isis and the assad regime but we can't be sure that somebody in that group won't turn on us and weapons will stay where we put them. it's a risk that president obama seems willing to take. >> thank you. appreciate the information. >>> just ahead, the voice of "south park." >> don't you see when you call your organization the washington redskins it's offensive to us? >> the cartoon creator stepping into the middle of the naming controversy involving washington's football team. ! i love the looks of it. [garage door closing] nobody touches my dodge dart, jake johnson. not even your best friend slash neighbor? no one. i can still get in craig. i'd like to see you try. all i'd have to do is roll in, dude. let's see it. i choose not to right now. come on indiana. craig, craig, craig. [in a british accent] is someone out there? don't do that accent on me! ♪don't touch my dart >>> the debate over the washington redskins game moved from criticism t

america would want the support of president assad to fight along side the fsa against islamic state.this is where it gets complicated. american officials are careful to say they are not trying to work with president assad. they said they informed him basically since they didn't engage the radar many in shooting down the american jets. they're trying to back rebels who are committed to overthrowing president assad. the complexity of that are causing problems with alleies o the ground. you can see a the issues for america trying to work out how to gauge the relationship with president assad and damascus. >> another appearance or certainly sound from one of the hostages threatened with being beheaded. >> this is a british taxi driver involved in the humanitarian convoy captured. his wife says she's received an audio file of his pleading for his life. she has been trying to reach out to cap tors pleading for his release. she continues to plead for his release. the situation is serious, and there is concern. the court found he wasn't a spy. she called for his release. there were calls for

what is the united states training the fsa to do? is it to take on isil?s it to take on the assad regime? is it to take on both and then the viability question cuts along the line are they capable? are they organized? are they disorganized, and mike, we've been listening to hearings on this very point. >> we've heard in the course of explaining how the attacks went down late on monday night saying there was an iraq-first strategy in a certain sense, and so that brings up a couple of questions. why did the president suddenly expand into syria. he made the speech two weeks ago. he had the authorization. the reason why it was iraq-first strategy because there was a force on the ground to take up the says and forming the iraqi army and peshmerga that the airstrikes would afford, would push them back from the ha had hadifa dam, and the mosul dam. the problem is with that strategy the president's own cabinet officers have gone to capitol hill to his intelligence officers and officials, and by their estimation of the 50 brigades roughly there are of the iraqi arm

the free syrian army had some kind of agreement underground, and they are right now, some groups of fsa fighting alongside ypg against eye ses around the euphrates river. so in regards to free for the hostages, among the kurds is that there was a deal that has been done within the government, turkish government and that isis, the deal is that there are some ideas or allegations that turkish officials provided a train load of weaponry before this attack happened. so i talked to a muslim who is a head of the local kobani council, what they call it, the local government. he was saying that there are videos, and i think this video is now also published on cnn's site if i'm not mistaken. there are videos that the turkish train stops somewhere. and officials both on the turkish and syrian side of the border, they are very concerned that this is a situation. i can tell you that there is a big fear, a big concern. and what personally creates a concern for me is that the peace process, the status of, this can come to an end. this can be jeopardize. this can be an unusual, grave concern for me. s

isis in aleppo, and he himself said what made people at that time want isis was that as opposed to the fsa they were not looting from simply citizens. they were able to institute a policy of taxation, but also charity, and perhaps most importantly is law and order, as barbaric as it may be, these are ungoverned territory. anyone who would be able to have some governance and resources would not alienate the population quickly. >> i'm interested in your point outside sources become as important as inside ones become more complicated. does this also make them easier to smoke out? >> i think during this time period when after, of course, the u.n. resolution on foreign fighters there should be some mechanisms in place , who is going to turkey? many of us know names from kuwait, which in august were put by the u.s. treasury put on a sanctions treasury. a lot of people go to turkey and smuggle cash in plastic bags, even. so right now i think there should an push to really focus in on saudis, kuwaitis that are traveling to turkey. what kind of travel patterns are happening, what kind of communicat

the government has relaxed some of the rules governing fsa accounts. those are the accounts where you're allowed to set aside pre- tax money for health related expenses not covered by your health plan. well, the biggest change gives employers the option of allowing workers to carry over up to $500 of unused fsa balance from year to year. until now, the rule has been use it or lose it. now, the treasury department actually made that change late last year. but open enrollment had already begun so most companies didn't adopt it right away. more are expected to adopt the optional rollover policy this year so ask about it before open enrollment go inches. >> thank you. use it or lose it is gone. >> i definitely lost it. >> only $500. so if you take out $2,500, keep in mind you have to use the whole thing >> thank you. >>> still ahead, it started as a simple soccer club. >> then it grew and grew. hour our jefferson award winner is combining sports with a sense of community. ,,,,,,,,,, at kaiser permanente, everything you need is under one roof. another way c

the fsa has died.ll need to be reborn, rearmed, retrained, and new leaders for it will have to be found. that is not something that is going to happen quickly. it may not evening successful at all. the iraqi army, which the u.s. spent nearly a decade rebuilding after it fought it and disbanded it, is also going to have to be retrained and given new leadership. that is not going to be easy. there's no guarantee that it will work, because even when u.s. trainers were here, shoulder to shoulder in places like baghdad, it clearly didn't work. so maybe it will work this time. but those are two enormous challenges. and those are just two of the challenges facing this ambitious strategy. so bombing isis, weakeening them, finding their leadership and taking them out with drones, that's probably the easy part. filling in the gaps is going to be immensely difficult. >> so hang in there, richard. bobby it seems to me the question for the president, you bomb the people like hell. it has to be limited, because if y

we've had many fsa commanders sell the weapons they've been provided to isis. we try to pretend it's all nice and neat. there are warm and fuzzy moderates that can win and prevail over others. one of the concerns general dempsey and others have. syria the next morning is looking at the civil war among itself in the groups. so we have to avoid silver bullet progress most casings in this. it's a complex situation and simply training the fsa commanders at the saudi base does not fix the other dimensions that continue to lurk out there. >> and gideon, other than fighting against the dictatorship, let's say the dictatorship is toppled, what ideology are these rebels going to try and institute in syria? >> well, you know, that's assuming that the rebels are victorious. if the assad dictatorship goes, you'll end up with a huge patchwork quilt and there will be some islamists and jihadists that may not be isis and there may be some democratically minded. i think it's impossible to figure out what the situation an the ground will look like if assad goes. which is precis

and also the free syrian army, the fsa, that has collapsed. so the allies on the ground, they're not there, brian. >> richard engel inside iraq tonight for us. richard, thanks. >>> and now to this country, and why we so often say we are living in an era defined by terrorism. put it this way, this year's incoming college freshmen were in kindergarten on 9/11. it's been that long. of course we say that but on this day every year here in new york city as in other places it feels more like it was yesterday. tonight, nbc's kate snow shows us what it was like on this 13th anniversary of 9/11. >> reporter: there were moments last night that took us back to another speech 13 years ago tonight. >> and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. >> america will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat. >> reporter: the rituals played out today as they have every year. >> michael -- >> reporter: names read throughout the morning pausing only to mark those moments americans remember like a punch to the gut 8:46, 9:03. [ bell ringi

that might set the stage for a potical dÉnouement for the syrian political problem, anand help the fsawe have about 10econ left. assad is lking for the same thing. the iranians are lking for the same thing w we are. does theree need to be better coordination between the three? that's absolutely coordinated. airspace if nothing else. >> we really apprecie >> the leaders of 28 nato nations recentntly met in newpo, wales, to map strategy. nato agreed to deploy a rapid reaction force and impose tough perceptions on moscow. we are joined by the washington a polish tvor network, and someone who attended the summit. george, let me start with you. what did the alliance get right and what did it get wrong? thenfortunately, i think alliance focused on rhetoric and provided very little substance. we will realize years from now that russia's war against ukraine is a defining moment of this generation. years from now, people are going to point to some of the decisions made at the summit. >> what was one of the poorer decisions, you think? article fives on and on protecting and reassuring nato allie

members of the free syrian army as well as to those moderate syrians who are not affiliated with the fsaat is a problem for some members of the committee, one of the major advice and consent bodies here in the u.s. government. they want to know how it is that the u.s. is going to be able to fight the spread of a group which it considers a fundamental security threat without actually taking the opportunity to try to push back against the government of president bashar al-assad. assad has been in a civil war for nearly three years with members of he opposition who do not want him to be in power anymore. they have been suffering great losses at the syrian army's hands. these members of the u.s. senate believe that the obama administration should do more than simply ask for money to provide weapons to the free syrian army, that they should be taking the fight as it were to the syrian government as well, that is something which the defense secretary as well as the top military officer, are not agrees to at least not right now. >>> for the first time, people in parts of eastern ukraine, the ce

i'm very concerned that the $500 million to train fsa vetted fighters? really? because we were about to hand over a lot of money one time before. and they end up being isis. i don't know. i didn't hear anything that was really crazy other than we're going to continue to air strike in sear gentleman. better step it p up and at the better do it fast. >> kimberly, did president obama say anything that was surprising? was it enough? >> i thought he looked pretty good. but he didn't move me. and he looked good today, too. i think this was a smart strategy actually. political strategy, of course he said what he needed to do. the president speaking in a prime time address suggests that it is more serious, makes people sit up and pay attention. that was a good move on his part. so i think in terms of that layout, it went well for him. i would have liked to of course see him go further, but at least now he can't back down from what he has said. >> all right. what did you make of the speech? i saw on a number of shows where you you performed admirably. did you find it pay

. >> translator: as an fsa fighter, i would come to a base, and there would be no food or money.ovided all of these things as well as protection. >> reporter: but he slowly realized his commanders were former leaders in saddam hussein's army. he found his leaders corrupt and brutal. >> translator: we saw the isil command were criminals. criminals who only take advantage of the minds of muslim men for implementing their own goals. >> reporter: this man urged him to flee by offering him a job in a different kind of religious inspiration. the shake used to fight with guns, but today he fights with ideas. he travels to syrian refugee camps to debate isil missionaries to argue their idea of command is brutal. >> translator: what is better to wait on the battlefield to kill a woman, or to create a man who can bring a whole nation to life with his thinking. >> reporter: today he totally rejects isil, but still knows the group is incredibly strong, so he is applying for an asylum in europe. so much has been made of isil's external propaganda, but they said the propaganda extends internal

can the fsa be trained? can these moderates actually do anything? we may be too late. they may be too weakened now, because they have taken a beaten from isis, taken a beating from the syrian military. syria is going to be the key to this and syria is going to be a very difficult situation. >> all right. i want to bring in chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, bring him into the conversation, too. put your feet to the fire, jim. so, the president also mentioned this regional coalition that was going to help america fight isis. how exactly is that regional coalition gonna help? >> well, the administration sees it as absolutely necessary and right now, secretary of state john kerry in the region with a shopping list, in effect, of the kind of help that the u.s. wants from these partners. for instance, from turkey. turkey is the key transit point for foreign fight nears syria, a real problem here, there are thousands of them. and it's the view of many u.s. officials that turkey hasn't really lifted a finger to stop that flow. they are gonna want that flow to

h shouldn't the coalition be doing a better job of coordinating with the fsa?re doing their best but if we have the self-imposed limitation of not putting people on the ground to work with the free syrian army to direct those strikes, these are the kinds of things that can happen in warfare. >> i want to ask you about major general jeffrey harrigan. he said to reporters on monday, quote, about isis, they are now dispersing themselves to allow themselves and their situations to be more suffer vrvivorable, will. in other words, isis is adapting to the u.s. coalition strategy. i guess that's to be expected but does that mean the u.s. and coalition need to change the strategy at all? >> no. i think it means we've got to change tactics. look, nobody should be surprised that they are adapting to the air strikes. that's exactly what you'd expect the enemy to do on the ground. my question is, how are we going to adapt to a point where the enemy is now focused on how we're operating. this warfare is a matter of adapting and readapting to what the enemy is doing. that's

some of the most extreme, of course, this thing called islamic state, the more secular fsa.i think what that referred to is it might be more aspirational than anything else at this point to put up a fight to the islamic state. >> i want to pick up on that. the president's strategy assumes that this moderate opposition still wants to work with the u.s. after three months of being disappointed. if you know anything about american history, it's a problem. lots of promises get made to a rebel group and then nothing really happens. will it be different this time? >> the united states government, the strongest ally such as the uk, are the only game in town when it comes to this type of support that will be so critical at the end. the second thing to consider is that after -- after these terrible videos of the killings of the u.s. journalists, that would lead to a much more bold action by those opposed to it. so that's the thing right now that is the missing ingredient of u.s. resolve for an fsa. >> the president went on to say saudi ar saudi arabia, jordan and to work with the uae

at that point the fsa were on the back foot.e the right weapons, they were pleading for the international community to send more weapons. and these two groups really started to make some headway. when we went with them, we went to a prison which they were battling for. there were 350 prisoners still in the prison when bashar al-assad's bombers were attacking it. and they managed to free the prisoners. they didn't free them away from custody, but then decided they would be sent to some sort of sharia court themselves and tried once more. we didn't really feel they were a extreme group. they didn't much like having a woman in their groups, but it seems they have been fighting on two fronts, against bashar al-assad and the islamic state fighters, and it would look like these are the hallmarks of i.s. that conducted this suicide become taking out their leader. so it really looks like one of the main forces against i.s. in syria has now had its leader taken out. >> sue thanks very much in indeed for that. >>> that's it for this news

and it's going to take a long time get the fsa up to speed. >> colonel francona joining us live fromew york. we'll see you again next hour, then you can get your sleep and rest. >> thank you, errol. >> or not. you never know. thanks to him. >> he's such a resource and he does put this into perspective. he breaks down quite a complicated issue. >> we talked about the fact that we don't have forces on the ground, but we do have a perspective from the ground because of a young woman there in iraq or syria. >> and syria, one woman went undercover to show what life is like under the control of isis. jim clancy has her story. >> reporter: with a hidden camera recording as she walked, a syrian woman risked arrest or worse to document this scene inside raqqa, syria. the video was taken in march of this year. walking through the heart of that north central syrian city completely under the control of isis, she showed how the city had changed. the isis flags, the sfra paint slogans and incidents were people were forced into public prayer. she went out of her way to interact with militant isis.

alliances with the local militia in syria who are nastier by comparison than anybody that might be in the fsaover everything. so you know the problem of vetting. we have a united states senate that can't even approve ambassadors. it takes forever. >> yeah. >> how do we vet and find out whether a person, is it just telling us what we want to hear? i want to train to fight isis, but they want to fight assad, or fight the west, or shari'a law? we don't know what they're fighting for. >> this is an enormous problem and you have secretary hagel make it sound as easy as running fingerprints through a database. what we know, in iraq, there was a trained army there and they basically folded and a lot of those weapons that the iraqi army had ended up in the hands of isil. so this idea that we'll be able to pick these folks out, people that the obama administration have derided in the past as not reliable, definitely hard to think this is going to work out. the number one problem, we're selling a non-war war. >> it's what the british did when they fought us in the american revolution, hiring the hessia

course, the iranians, a supporter of the bashar al assad government there so any suggestion that these fsa, free syrian army rebels, opposition that saudi has said it will help equip and train never going to be something that sits easily with the iranians so watch this space i think is the clear story from this side here in the middle east and we'll await to hear what the president of iran says but first he is the first to speak and i think it will be a very powerful speech. >> certainly right about that. now separate from what world leaders have been saying on the national level, we did hear yesterday president obama, prime minister cameron both challenging muslim communities, a reference there to not just, of course, the middle east but muslim communities in the west and the uk and in england pushing them to reject the perversion of islam that really isis represents really a cornerstone of how they're able to recruit. what's the reaction been there to that point that muslim communities, you know, at large, that more than billion muslims around the world should do more to stop isis from b

. >> but he realized his commanders were formerluth in the iraqi army, he said they lied and claim fsa fighters were actually israelis. he found his commanders disrupt and brutal. today he is still scared of them that's why he won't show his face. >> we saw the command were criminals. criminals that only take advantage of the minds of muslim men for implements their own goals. he wasless angry and more scared. her urged to flee by offing a job in a different kind of religious operation. today he fights with ideas. he travels to syrian refugee camps to debate isil missionaries to argue their version of islaming is brutal. he argued the same. >> what is better, to wait on the battlefield to kill a woman, or to help create an intellectual, a man who can bring to life a whole nation with his thinking. today he totally rejected isil, but he still knows the group is incredibly strong. so he is applying for asylum in europe. the only way he will feel safe, is as far from syria as possible. that was nick chef run reporting you can watch the second part of our special. coming up in our 8:00 p.m

as an fsa fighter i would come to a base and there would be no food or money. i.s.i.l. provided all these things as well as protection. >> reporter: but he slowly realized his commanders were former lieutenants in saddam hussein's iraqi armer. they lied and claimed they were in the army and corrupt and brutal. he is still scared of them, that's why he won't show his face. >> we saw that the i.s.i.l. were criminals, taking the minds of muslim men for implementing their own goals. >> sheik offered him to flee by offering him a job in the different religious inspiration. he was a moderate syrian commander but today he fights with ideas. he travels to syrian refugee camps to debate i.s.i.l. missionaries to argue their version of islam is brutal and distorted. he hardin argued the same to ab. >> what is better to wait on the battlefield to kill a woman or to kill an intellectual, a man who can bring to the nation his thinking? >> he today he totally rejects i.s.i.l. but he still knows the group is incredibly strong so he is applying for asylum in europe. the only way he will

there are great question marks against that particularly when you hear the president talking about the fsaeels about the west arming what he calls another terrorist group. back to you guys. >> so, becky, as we approach that very significant speech at the u.n. coming up tomorrow, how do we assess what options are now on the table? are things in the region just a bit more practical now that you have the fact that saudi and emirati planes helped out? will it be easy to cut off funding to these groups in light of this security council resolution. with arab nations taking part in these air strikes in syria, the coalitions coming together, have g geopolitics in the region changed and what should we be listening to from mr. rouhani later today? >> reporter: yeah, you make a couple of really good points. le's just tackle the geopolitics. before this operation against isis to a certain extent but certainly in syria, this region here and you'll be well aware of this, you lived here for quite a considerable period of time, the uae in what's called the gcc and there's been a real rift between some mem

got to go to congress because we, the american people need to know what exactly they know about the fsaee syrian army. they may trust them, i certainly don't trust them. if they said we'll give you $500 million, but let's talk about helping out the kurds and the peshmerga who are really in danger and who are really important -- is. >> right, right. >> honestly, i don't care what happens in syria. i'd just like to get isis out of iraq and out of, keep them away from turkey. if they want to go ahead and, you know, blow each other up in that part of the world, let 'em. >> all right. one of the things speaker boehner said, kirsten, is look me in the eye. there's no decision that's been made about how we are going ahead. does that tell you that this president has kind of been told, you know what? we've got to do this together, or has the president maybe made that decision? >> well, speaker boehner can't tell the president what to do necessarily. if the president thinks he has power under the war powers act and decides to go ahead, how are they going to stop him? i don't think that would be t

on the other hand, the fsa who they want to stand up as their ground forces, and they need a ground forceoing to work without one. they say we have been fighting assad and isis for a long time. we're not going to give up. but don't ask us to give up our ultimate aim which is fighting assad. the iraqi government said we're having no fight with you mr. assad, we're not violating your sovereign territory but this is going to happen against isis there. >> christiane, david gergen, thank you very much. we'll play a portion of the interview that she mentioned in this hour. >>> coming up, though, new fighter aircraft first used in the bombing campaign. we'll give you a look at the military campaign now being used in the strikes against syria. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowi

but if we're going to address it, it's not with 3 to 5,000 trained fsas. >> but this could be a firstp. i mean something needs to be done and done quick. if it's going to take up to a year to trien these people, shouldn't this be going on immediately? by voting no you're saying it's a lame plan, but what's the alternative? >> well i think there are -- i think we really moved too quickly, quite honestly. i think it's very important to get all of these other countries in the game. and by that i mean boots on the ground and there has been a real that midty to do that. i also think that if they're going to vet these free syrian army individuals, we need to think twice about the vetting system we had with iraqi members of their army because indeed when isil came into town, many of them stripped off their shirts and ran away or joined isil. so i think there were still a lot of questions that were unanswered and it wasn't a plan, there was an exit strategy and we were hearing from both sides of the executive street that in fact we were going to have boots on the ground, we weren't going to h

in syria the problem is to organize the free syrian army, fsa and have them being informed on when therikes are going to take place. otherwise it will be the al-assad regime and hezbollah. >> if we are going to strike isis, they are a triple threat. we once reported 10,000 of them. there are now 30,000 of them. u.s. boots are supposedly not part of the strategy on the ground. and does the uk now take this and the president -- president obama more seriously in this fight? do they aid us in this fight? >> the uk now has additional reasons, including emotional reasons for public to support action by the government. this is going to happen. but what the government has decided to do is not to put forces on the ground. it is probably going to associate with the united states in air raids. it is going to most likely use special forces to hunt down those who purpose "p" perpetrated it. >> if we look at israel for a second we have not been talking about hamas because we have been focusing on isis. but look how israel has dealt with hamas in gaza. they take no prisoners. they bomb. unfortunately

some of them are not very moderate and the fsa has been certainly criticized in the past as being notery effective. after the reality, after the rhetoric of president obama's address comes the reality. one final thing. it's a volatile and complex situation. you can see behind me black smoke rising. right now bombing rebel positions. they're not isis positions. this is another theater in this very complex war. >> bill neely in damascus. thank you. i appreciate your time. >>> i want to bring in democratic congresswoman loretta sanchez of california, member of the house armed services and homeland security committees. let's start with what john boehner said about president obama's plan to defeat isis. this is what he said. take a listen. there were still questions and concerns that remain. for example, i sport the president's plan to train and i quip iraqi security forces in the syrian opposition. but i remain concerned that those measures could take years to fully implement at time when isil's momentum and territorial gains must be reversed immediately. >> what is your reaction to that?

it's now turned into hurry up and train as we seek to get the moderate or fsa fighters armed and trainedrunning. >> steve, pick up there. you were at the u.n. the president's speech significant for what he said but also for what he did not say. he really didn't mention assad. united states said they alerted ato the fact they were launching air strikes but they're not coordinating with him in any way. at the same time, don't these air strikes help assad? >> i think if you look at it in a binary way, you could say it helps him for a moment. in the broader issue, what i appreciate about the president's speech is it captured, you know, perhaps not the darkness of what he wrote in his great politico piece the other day but it captured to some degree the complexity and nuance of very unresolved religious and cultural divisions in that land that can't immediately be solveled by air strikes hitting one group. what the president is saying is we have to stand against isis, but we also need deal making across the region. we need to see leaderships in both the sunni and shia community begin to come

syrian soldiers were shooting at a mix of al qaeda sympathizers and supposed moderates, the fsa, which the americans want to use to fight islamic state. syrian soldiers say the west should help them fight jihadists. >> i come here because i want to fight these people. they are coming here to destroy our country. i want to serve my brothers and sisters and my families and my people, the syrian people, the great syrian people. >> the area that's been recaptured by the syrian army is devastated. rebels blew this school up when it was being used by syrian soldiers. at the village's only shop, this woman said her children were terrified by the gunfire. >> translator: we are moving from one place to another. i have been displaced five times. what future do you think they will have? >> reporter: the war in syria isn't ending, it's renewing itself, and its politics are getting more tangled and more bloody. jeremy bowen, bbc news. >> we've talked a lot on this program and elsewhere about the numbers of foreigners traveling to iraq and syria to join the islamic state. a lot of them coming from w

islamic front commander and even sometimes with isis, to take on a particular regime target or even an fsa target, free syrian army target, they'll do that. when that battle is over, the he'll make different alliances so everything is so fluid up there and i said last night so many moving parts in syria, syria is going to be the most difficult portion of this strategy. >> i only have time for a quick answer on this, but when the house speaker said somebody has to have boots on the ground should it be americans? >> it depends. if we really believe that this is a threat to the united states we shouldn't outsource our fighting. >> thank you for that. do appreciate your insight. america's highest paid athlete has his own story of domestic abuse. boxer floyd mayweather didn't pay a very big price in the court of public opinion for his domestic violence conviction in 2012. he's getting ready for a mall ti million dollar fight in las vegas this weekend. find out what he's been saying about ray rice and what he's saying to cnn about it all. get 4 lines for just a hundred bucks a month. with unlimi

the fsa and other groups may not be as bad as isis, may be palatable partners in some ways, but none of them are perfect. all of them have their own agenda, not the same as the united states. >> thank you very much, evan kohlmann. brings me to our next guest, congressman brad sherman of california, senior member of the house foreign affairs committee. secretary kerry will appear before in about 20 minutes. thank you for your time. >> good to be with you. >> not sure if you heard all of what our terror expert evan kohlmann just discussed, but one of the concerns is the arab partnership that secretary kerry will likely be questioned about today, regarding boots on the ground, and the agendas, the many agendas as evan points out could be at play that don't necessarily work to benefit of the united states. what do you need to hear from secretary kerry today? >> well, everybody is looking for perfection. we should have perfect partners, we should immediately destroy isis completely with no casualties. and i would prefer to hear from everyone, but especially the secretary, the real facts,

going to be the fsa, my friend. they're going to be the assad forces, the hezbollah forces.hat's why i'm saying tonight in damascus and beirut and tehran, those units are saying should we move? should we wait?it should we wait for the americans to destroy them and then shouldo we be the first to move?as >> bret baier in washington for us, this is a difficult prospect what the president called the fantasy players won't be ready for a year. now we've got bombs in the air a and the possibility of all these other fighters coming in from these other nations. >> yeah, shep. i mean, it is serious. it's a three dimensional chess game here that they are trying to get these fighters on the ground.on but as you mentioned they're nou a trained force as of yet. there are some estimates they could be in country in three months.e but it's going to take some time. a couple things to think about t after these bombing runs happenn about these as we mentioned har targets for isis, command and control, their arsenals also training grounds that have been spotted and intelligence has singled them

or fsa. >> against everyone who wants to overthrow. >> right. you have this tremendously tangled contentious, dangerous part of the world in which you have these two powers. these historical enemies who find themselves aligned in certain ways. >> yes. and let's not forget about turkey and saudi arabia here as well. saudi arabia in particular because of the funding they can provide and qatar as well. the funding they can provide to groups such as isis. saudi arabia denies they're funding isis, but there certainly has been money flowing to a group such as isis or isis itself inside syria or iraq. fundamentally for the united states, our interests right now are aligned with iran's interests in the middle east, empb when it comes to assad. >> i would say that the -- there are many people in the israeli government who would beg to differ, to put that -- michael orrin recently said the lesser of two evils was isis over iran. he said that in denver in, in colorado recently. >> that would be shocking. if they were the lesser -- >> i'm just saying. there

because they also haven't yet stood up what could be an indigenous ground force, and this is th the fsa, free syrian army. >> i was just about to bring this up. are some of them ready to fight right now. >> let's give you the facts and figures. these people have been fighting for three years. they have basically held assad, then al nusra, all these groups that have been popping up, they've held them at bay but they've never hat enough support from the west or anywhere else to defeat them and push them back so they're holding their own, holding the line, but they don't have enough to convert and they haven't been given up until now the kind of heavy weaponry, the kind of real training, the kind of equipping and arming and standing up. this is not just giving a few ak-47s. it's not even giving a few anti-tank missiles. it's a long, thorough training and equipping process that you then field this army into the field. >> okay, so that sounds like it will take a really long time. so the air strikes have started over syria and they're taking out command-and-control centers and supply faciliti

>> well, i did support the equip and train mission for the syrian fsa, but, again, before i say what i would vote for, i want to see the language first, but i do think this, that they should -- the islamic state, whatever people want to call them, they're neither islamic or a state in my view, i think that they are a real threat and i think -- but i think the real question is, getting the politics right. making sure that we stabilize iraq by making sure that there's an inclusive government in baghdad. these are the real questions. cutting -- working with the turks to make sure that the smuggling and the -- >> but -- >> -- recruiting routes are closed off. these are the things that are really going to win the day. >> but on this issue of whether or not the president actually has the authority to do what he's doing, there's -- he's resting on the authorization that was passed right after the attacks on september 11th, and this authorization -- now, we have two lawyers at the table, laura and congressman ellison, but this is very specifically tied to september 11th. it authorizes forces

in europe, we have seen whether fsa guessing an agreement to make the change.enable the finance and to be put in place. it is a fundamental issue. a lot of airline management despite everything and the balance of power. external supplies as well as internal supplies. in this case here, exactly the point to be made. where air france will grow in the short-haul and the other point is long-haul. fundamental changes in long-haul traffic and that is what carriers are doing in north america, increasing presence. it does not connect in european cities to fly over to the indian continent -- country and beyond. also long-haul. >> we may be talking about low-cost as well. >> we are beginning to see it. we are are ready seeing with norwegian. the majority of growth from what i would call the emerging or economies in europe. what ever you want, it will come from decisions taken by airlines in a the region. furthermore, with seeing the benefit whether the 787 or 330 now. whether norwegian outbound from europe or in a bound, [indiscernible] not only looking at low-cost short

because they've got plenty of money, that there's no doubt in your mind that if we do it right, the fsa viable? >> with much less support than we've been giving, they've actually held ground and advanced in a few places. >> and i share that view. the thing that's frustrating to me, all of this stuff that people accept, they've made a deal with isis, they can't fight, and having known them as you've known them a lot better than i do, they'll fight and they need our support in order to do that successfully but they're not about to become part of isis or al nusra if from time to time they have to have a cooperation because of their straitened circumstances. >> that's absolutely true they're in a tough situation, a two-front war is never fun, but i'm very impressed that they've held up as well as they have despite the difficult circumstances. so in my view, i conclude that it is an excuse that people use, frankly, to not have us involved, and i don't expect you to comment on that. but here we are, again, i want to sort of pursue what i was pursuing, the line that i was with secretary kerry.

the strategy here is premised on the idea that degrading isis will enable a moderate -- the moderate fsa and other rebels to have a chance to really get more of a monopoly -- to be the leaders of the opposition. right now they're fighting two friends. they're fighting the regime and they're fighting isis. so the idea of the strategy is that an end state that sees a diminished isis that gives a chance to the opposition and leads to the transition and power sharing agreements that have been agreed upon de facto at geneva and the other political -- >> how long is that going to take? and i don't have an answer for that. none of us do. but in a fatigued country for war, i mean, i represent rural alabama where there's so many needs, infrastructure, education, breaking the cycle of poverty, in the united states, in the united states. that they're tired. they want to know if and when this would come to an end. so ambassador crocker, when you answer, can you also suggest a time frame for this success? > very briefly, congresswoman. a raq success looks like stable reasonably inclusive government i

moving back and forth from the fsa, free syrian army. it's been difficult to target what would be a moderate opposition. nonetheless, there is the term you probably heard vetted, right? there will be a vetted opposition in the sense that arms aren't just going to go willy nilly to anybody with their hands out. that there would be those moderate groups vetted within and, you know, coordinated with the syrian national coalition, which is the group that the united states recognizes as one official -- as the official group or official group. the opposition group is syria. so who are those names? i don't know. but this is not a perfect situation. actually, they're all only bad choices. so you have to pick, you know, what i see as the least bad choice. and there is awareness that one of the big concerns is will these weapons being provided to a vetted, moderate opposition fall in the hands of unsavory types, right? will they make their way to isis? just months ago, you probably couldn't even tell who was with isis and who was not in isis. will

the strategy here is premised on the idea that degrading isis will enable a moderate -- the moderate fsa and other rebels to have a chance to really get more of a monopoly and to be the leaders of the opposition. right now they're fighting two fronts. they're fighting the regime and they're fighting isis. so the idea of the strategy here is an end state that sees a diminished isis in terms of capabilities in syria that gives a chance to the opposition and leads to the transition and power sharing agreements that have been agreed upon in some senses de facto at geneva and at the other failed political -- >> i want to know how long that's going to take. none of us has a crystal ball, but in a fatigued country for war are, i mean i represent rural alabama where there are so many needs. infrastructure, education. the cycle -- breaking the cycle of poverty in our state, in the united states of america, they're tired. they want to know if and when this would come to an end. ambassador crocker, when you answer, can you also suggest a time frame for this success? >> very briefly, congresswoman,