terror alert from medium to high because they were responding to a growing slight of australians to iraq or syria. they estimate about 250 australian citizens have gone to

moment, there are a number of different individuals who are supporters of jihadists, be they in syria or iraq and syria. but there's not that many voices that are actually challenging the narratives this these guys are promoting and that does make for a very large problem. >> and what are the main narratives? how are they selling themselves? >> the primary narrative is that there's a war in islam and that these are the jihadists. the vanguard, which is protecting muslims, and also seeking to overturn the global status quo, so that means getting rid of israel. getting rid of the imperialist influence in muslim majority countries. so it's a very narrow jihadist ideology, but it does have quite a lot of persuasive power. >> is there any element to which the likes of twitter and others could be doing more, should be doing more to catch this early and keep it off? >> well, at the moment, social media platforms like twitter and facebook are doing quite a lot. they are getting rid of accounts that are known propagandists. however, it's a very difficult job to do. we know there are a number of very i

we don't anticipate conducting in countries other than iraq or syria. to the extent that isil poses a threat to american personnel in other countries we would not want an aumf to constrain our ability to use appropriate force against isil in those locations if necessary. in our view it would be a mistake to advertise to isil that there are safe havens for them outside of iraq or syria. i know this is hotly debated with passionate and persuasive arguments on both sides. the president has been crystal clear. his policy is that u.s. military forces will not be deployed to conduct ground combat operations against isil. that is what the local partners and allies want. that's what worked best in terms of the iraq experience. that is best for preserving the coaliti coalition. most importantly it is in the best interest of the united states. while we certainly believe this is the soundest possible policy and while the president has been clear, he's open to clarification on the use of u.s. combat troops to be outlined in an aumf. it doesn't doesn't mean we shoul

i won't commit our troops to fighting another ground war in iraq or syria. it is more effective to use our capabilityst to help partners on the ground secure their own countries' futures. we will use our air power, we will train and equip our partners. we will advise and we will assist and we will lead a broad coalition of nation who have a stake in this fight. this isn't america versus isil. this is the people of that region versus isil. it is the world versus isil. now, i thoroughly agree with that. if there are folks who think we ought to put our troops on the ground in another ground war so be it. speak out now. offer an amendment. that is your right and i respect it. but i strongly disagree with it. and i think you have mr. chairman in all the work with us you have crafted something that while every one of us would write it a tad bit differently in general we stand with the world against isil. and i am very happy that we are doing it. very last point. our ranking member soon to be chairman said this is going nowhere. why are we doing this? i think the c

we don't anticipate conducting in countries other than iraq or syria. to the extent that isil poses a threat to american personnel in other countries we would not want an aumf to constrain our ability to use appropriate force against isil in those locations if necessary. in our view it would be a mistake to advertise to isil that there are safe havens for them outside of iraq or syria. i know this is hotly debated with passionate and persuasive arguments on both sides. the president has been crystal clear. his policy is that u.s. military forces will not be deployed to conduct ground combat operations against isil. that is what the local partners and allies want. that's what worked best in terms of the iraq experience. that is best for preserving the coaliti coalition. most importantly it is in the best interest of the united states. while we certainly believe this is the soundest possible policy and while the president has been clear, he's open to clarification on the use of u.s. combat troops to be outlined in an aumf. it doesn't doesn't mean we shoul

and finally, on september 182014, i won't commit our troops to fighting another ground war in iraq or in syria. has the president's position or has the administration's senator murphy i would recommend to all of my colleagues. it is an extensive review of the constitutional power of congress with respect to military authorizations and it begins with a case that went to the supreme court. the authorizations did not authorize the president to use all of the armed forces or to conduct military okurgss. the president's intent as stated repeatedly to the american public and military is clear. the language in the chairman's work is not a restriction at all. it is attempting to carry out exactly how the president has described the mission. >> i would hope you might offer some thoughts tomorrow as we are contemplating amendments. to finally begin to express the will of the cart kl one branch. >> i think historically about whether we should be people come in and say presidential power and article two and know there have been restraints. given the balance of interest in this situation at this moment, gi

people cannot go to iraq or syria without some justification for doing so. >> what do you make of thesiege? we heard tony abbott talk about the political motivations. we saw the black flag with white arabic writing. what is your best assessment of what the threat is that is being dealt with here? >> in the last few months, you are seeing in australia crowd sourced terror. individuals who express some allegiance with the islamic state but who have probably never been in direct contact with it. was in melbourne, a police -- a teenager was questioned by police for posing with a black flag. this man looks like he is in his 40's. he has requested an official islamic state flag. it seems like this is very much do-it-yourself and that is hard to control. there is no chatter to monitor. >> in your experience, what is the process from here? what happens now? we have seen five of the hostages and escaping from the scene. how did that change things as they develop? things,ple of obviously. the fact that he is now talking to police. concerned thate if he was not there to negotiate, he would only

and did not happen in the countries of iraq or syria. barbara. >> thanks, angie. >>> right now, students at cornell university are coming together to remember a student from montgomery county. shannon jones grew up in potomac and was a senior at cornell. police say this be mman strangl her on thanksgiving day. he's pleaded not guilty. and will appear in court tomorrow. the school is holding a support meeting today for people who want to talk about shannon. >>> ohio state university is mour the loss of one of its football players. 22-year-old kosta karageorge found dead, five days after he went missing. police say he shot himself near his house in columbus, ohio, not too far from the osu campus it his mother says he has a history of concussions from playing sports. the last thing he texted, his mom said, i'm sorry if i'm an embarrassment but these concussionings have my head all messed up. he was a wrestler who walked on to the football team this season. he had multiple concussions. he had episodes where he was extremely confused and poss

is not a threat to the people of iraq or syria, but the people of iran as well. i wouldn't be surprised if there are images and if there's involved in the air, the way there is clear involved of the iranian guard score personnel on the ground. >> in diyala, where some fierce fighting takes place, some sunni officials believe iran and pro-iranian forces are using the battle as an excuse. >> translation: the distral government in baghdad is silent. we fear a foreign agenda to agenda diyala. we met the prime minister and the security demander, but no positive steps have taken place on the ground. >> iraqi officials say when people are ordering from their homes, it's because security forces need time to clear the area of explosives. iran and shia militias played a controversial role in iraq. officials made clear that with weakened security force, they couldn't take on i.s.i.l. or secure baghdad without them. it left of the iraqi government treading a fine line between relying on iran for help, and maintaining independents >>> officials in syria called on the united n

police stronger power to fight extremist groups like isis. 70 australia citizens are fighting in iraq or syriand estimated 100 more are operating within australia. back with me now political scientist and vice president of national security and international policy, center for american progress. thanks for joining me gentleman on a fast-breaking news day. officials in australia have more leverage in terms of combatting terrorism and extremism in their homeland. how much of what happened today do you think is a reaction to that, i guess we could call a crack down, and how much of it is inevitable given the volume at illity of the world. >> it seems it was his own case. he was very disturbed with criminal cases against him. he was using isis-rhetoric but it is an example of what police do in response, they heard shots fired and had to go in. >> the prime minister said he is politically motivated, we know he's not affiliated with isis, are you surprised they are giving him political motivation given how he is a disturbed individual with some kind of mental problems? >> well, he was disturbed and

being killing terrorists, defeating isis, the islamic state militants, wherever we find them, in iraq or syria, we are obsessed with keeping iraq together. and that means the obama administration is supporting the iranian-backed, iranian-owned baghdad government, which lured lords it over our kurdish allies, the only true allies we have in iraq. and also, while they stopped persecuting the sunni minority for now, as soon as the islamic state is gone, they'll start doing it again. it's incoherent. and meanwhile our allies, the saudis, have been dropping the price of oil because they're worried about iran's nukes. their primary purpose is to hurt iran to get its nuclear arms program off the rails. and president obama is undercutting them. you could not design -- a a female full of brilliant scientists couldn't design a columnsier, crazier more counterproductive approach to our middle east crisis. >> so what do you think the end game is then? you have the president saying pulling troops out of iraq, of course they're still going to leave some u.s. personnel who he admittedly will be under attack

syria is a good place to start because of, you know, damascus or syria is not that far away and this problem of stability that i.s.i.s., syria, iraq, is presenting actually goes back to effect easily. the foreign fighters are not just from chesneyia. we are seeing those from uzbekistan and others from the stanes coming. >> charlie: and why are they doing? are they coming because they believe in the i.s.i.s. mission or -- >> well, part of it is the media play i.s.i.s. and their groups are doing are quite successful because they take cherry-picking bits of the qur'an and say this is what the qur'an stands for which is completely and utterly untrue. and they have been successful in media in reaching out to the youth all over the world, frustrating people without jobs, and the other part of recruiting is they're offering very good salaries. part of the problem we had with i.s.i.s. at the beginning and part of the reason the air strikes were so needed is the oil industry alone inside of syria, was netting them about $1 billion a year. so the salary for a recruit joining i.s.i.s. is about $1,000 a month, which is the equivalent of a col

we're not trying to create perfection in either iraq or syria.e've accepted, but certainly not trying to do that. so, i think that's the big assurance. >> so, if there was mission creep, that would be the direction of politicians here? >> it's the ministers to decide what objectives we seek to carry out and how we don't -- seeking to do so. >> thank you chairman. >> i'd like to go back to the issue of training. that mr. havard started to explore because you talked about, you said that the counter ied scoping that you were doing and you hope to have some decisions in a few days. now, i gather we have been employing private companies to p r(t&háhp &hc% we've paid 250,000 for 18 peshmerga to have four weeks of training. why are we using a private company rather than british armed forces? >> well, that was a foreign office program designed to deliver very quick effect into a peshmerga on the back of a request by the peshmerga and as i say, that was a foreign office program. i think what i have described is something that is much more institutional, w

is not a threat to the people of iraq or syria, but the people of iran as well. i would not be surprised if there are images and if there is involvement in the air the way there is clear involved of the iranian republican guard on the ground. >> reporter: in diyala province, where fears fighting has taken place, some officials believe iran and pro-iranian, iraqi forces are using the battle as an excuse to move out others. >> translation: we fear the change of diyala demographically. we met security and government but no steps have taken place. >> reporter: iraqi officials say when people are ordered from their homes, it's because security forces need time to clear the area of explosives. iraqi officials made clear that with weakened security force, they couldn't take on i.s.i.l. or secure baghdad without them, it left the iraqi government treading a fine line between relying on iran for help, and maintaining independence. >>> syria is blaming israel for two air strikes in damascus on sunday. for its part israel is saying nothing about the operation. nick schifrin

times, this will not be an exercise where we put american ground troops into combat missions in iraq or syriawe wrote the authorization to say that. it is not only a good idea because the president said it, it is a good idea because people like secretary gates says that putting people into missions is a big mistake. >> you created some exceptions. if it was necessary to protect personnel or operations on a limited basis. >> the other exception is since we are doing airstrikes, ground troops to spot. to minimize civilian casualties. there are some limited exceptions but there are those on the other side that wanted it to be a more robust possibility of including ground operations. >> is that what secretary kerry wanted? >> it is close. we looked at the exceptions and said it would be covered by that exception so they are clearly worried about contingencies. there are going to be contingencies that we do but we think we have crafted exceptions that are significant enough that if the president decides, contrary to what i said, this is a measure that requires the use of ground troops, we want be

view, it would be a mistake to advertise to isil that there are safe havens for them outside of iraq or syria democrats on the committee want a new uaumf to bar u.s. ground troops. >> i mentioned the secretary of defense in baghdad. what is his message for the baghdad leader. >> the iraqis greated hagel with a request for more air power and heavy weapons. hagel was noncommittal, we're told. this is his first trip to baghdad since the war with isis began. in fact it's the first time any defense secretary has been to baghdad since the iraq war officially enned december 2011. it is likely hagel's last trip overseas as defense secretary. >> they have to lead. they're the ones that have to be responsible for the end results. we can help, we can train, we can assist and advise, and we are doing that and will support them. >> hagel was addressing u.s. and australian troops at the baghdad airport. u.s. defense officials say that what iraq needs to fight isis is not more weapons but competent military leaders. >> after the release of this torture report from the senate, what are they saying around the

or changes do you expect in that resolution. >> the guts of this resolution is we're in a mission the president described to the american public on the evening of september 10 battling i.s.i.l, iraq and syria put a sunset provision saying there would need to be a reauthorization within three years or it would expire. i don't think that will be continue versal with the new senate. the one point of controversy is what we put in, a limitation on ground troops. the president said five different times to the american public, this will not with an exercise where we'll put american ground troops into combat missions into iraq or syria, so we wrote the authorization to say that. it's not only a good idea because the president said it, it's a good idea because people like former secretary gates said putting big numbers of ground troops into military missions in the middle east is a big mistakes. >> al: you created exceptions, didn't you? >> yes. >> al: if it was necessary to protect u.s. personnel or operations. >> yes. >> al: on a limited basis. nd the other exception is probably important is since we're doing air strikes, ground troops to spot and tell airstrikes here's the best place to go to da

my question is the military said -- says we cannot do it alone in iraq or syria. you might've heard that in 10 years ago we didn't. and as hillary clinton says, we need to pay attention to what these guys are up to. but given the current state of the global war of terror, do you believe in tone and track, we are on the right course to deal with this? >> no, not currently. i don't. and remember, some notion you will sit down and drink tea with people who cut people's heads off and use rate as a political cool, it is nonsense. we are absolutely we are fooling ourselves at a cocktail party with rpt is up. these folks are fully committed to using violence to subjugate populations. they have killed more muslims than christians or jews. i think -- which is why we have lost an opportunity about a year and a half ago to pull our sunni nation leaders, this was the opportunity to stand together with our sunni nation leaders. our arab league partners. to start pushing back at what is extremism which risks more muslims than it does christians or jews or americans or europeans

residents have tried to help the terror group with at least a dozen more currently fighting in iraq or syria. ram twod canadian soldiers with his car killing one and within days another so-called lone wolf shot a third soldier dead at canada's tomb of the unknowns in ottawa. a self-radicalized convert stopped and attacked new york city cops with a hatchet. a law enforcement bulletin obtained exclusively by fox news shows thompson was obsessed with radical islam with more than 277 search terms for jihad. when it comes to tracking western recruits or working with isis, a former ranking member of the house intelligence committee says the u.s. is handicapped by the wikileaks revelations and now the democrat-led senate intelligence report on the cia interrogations. >> this is a close ally. you know, their society is very parallel to ours. the laws are very similar. this is happening there. this could be the united states tomorrow. >> and today in a series of raids federal authorities confirmed the arrest of ten people with france's homeland security minister calling the disruption of jihadi recru

terror alert from medium to high because they were responding to a growing slight of australians to iraq or syria. they estimate about 250 australian citizens have gone to join jihadist groups. for more context on how australia has become vulnerable to terror we have a reporter from australia's 7 network. emma, good to see you. >> you too. >> you're in los angeles but you're in contact with your colleagues, your crew who were there in the we hours of the morning they heard two words from police hostage down before the raid even started. walk me through what they saw. >> that's correct. our crews had an extraordinary and very sad vantage point, if i may say outside of channel 7 studios there in martin place, directly across the street from this cafe. our studios have huge big glass windows that stair directly into that cafe. our entire building, our news team, our cameras were evacuated and put out on the street somewhere safe. but late into the evening as this siege rolled on police allowed one of our crews to go back into the newsroom where they had again an extraordinary viewpoint down into tha

australian citizens from joining that fight or traveling to turkey or you know getting into the iraq or syria. we need to remember that there are at least 100 australian citizens who have joined isis in the war. they are currently fighting with isis in iraq and syria. that's not taking into account the hundreds of other people back here who are supporting them. that is extremely alarming to authorities. they have tried to combat that as you say with those laws recently introduced to stop those people from traveling abroad and join islamic extremists. they cannot stop the people already there. they have certainly extended the intelligence gathering and monitoring the chatter and hence the raids. many raids that have been taking place right up and down the east coast of australia and in brisbane and here in sydney and also in melbourne. there have been a number of people arrested and an number of attacks foiled. certainly, i think why this is so alarming to australians is there has never been anything quite like this on australian home soil related to terror or related to the fight on isis. >>

my question is the military said we cannot do it alone in iraq or syria. you might've heard that in 10 years ago we didn't. hillary clinton says -- [indiscernible] but given the current state of the global war of terror, do you believe in tone, we are on the right course to deal with this? >> no, currently. and remember, some notion you will sit down and drink tea with people who cut of people heads and use of rape, it is -- we are fooling ourselves. they are fully committed to using violence to subjugate populations. they have killed more muslims than christians or jews. i think -- which is why we have lost an opportunity about a year and a half ago to pull our sunni nation leaders, this was the opportunity to stand together with our sunni nation leaders. it risked more muslims than christians or jews or americans or europeans. and so, we risk that but cause we thought we were going to disengage from the world. what is so striking to me, i have to political policy to really watch it from the inside with all of the access from the classified information to

my question is the military said we cannot do it alone in iraq or syria. you might've heard that in 10 years ago we didn't. it will replant and says -- hillary clinton says -- [indiscernible] state of the current the global war of terror, do you we are on thee, right course to deal with this? >> no, currently. and remember, some notion you tea withdown and drink people who cut of people heads -- we are rape, it is fooling ourselves. they are fully committed to using violence to subjugate populations. they have killed more muslims than christians or jews. we have-- which is why lost an opportunity about a year and a half ago to pull our sunni nation leaders, this was the opportunity to stand together with our sony asian leaders -- sunni nation leaders. it risked more muslims than christians or jews or americans or europeans. cause, we risk that but we thought we were going to disengage from the world. what is so striking to me, i have to political policy to really watch it from the inside with all of the access from the classified information to watch that

. >> reporter: dozens of flags for the islamic state flying high, not in iraq or syria, but in jordanlared the southern city of ma'n their new fallujah, another i.s. capital. today, things are calmer. but people here know that on their northern and eastern borders, the islamic state has never been closer. the islamic state's flag didn't fly for very long here. the protests were very quickly put down. since then, the jordanian government arrested dozens of its members. but you don't have to go very far here to find support and fundraising for the islamic state. it's particularly the young and the poor here who are drawn to i.s. after friday prayers, i met omar, an islamic state believer, and i asked him how he could justify the murder of british and american hostages. >> translator: the simple response is it's right to torture and behead them. this is how we take rights back. we do not refer to the u.n. they are faithless. and this would be blasphemy. we use shari'a law. >> reporter: surrounded by a crowd, he felt no need to hide his identity nor temper the brutality of his views. >> t

in kobani and syria, the really big issue is that the forces against isis or much of them are assad's forces, assad's government. the u.s. and west oppose assad's government. at least in iraqeither. it just takes us back, ronan, to this question of how successful this strategy can be, because even if mosul is taken and isis is pushed out of that part of northern iraq, they still have raqqa, their stronghold in syria. and how do you go about trying to dismantle that when the government in syria is a government you oppose? >> of course, all of this fitting into that broader narrative of the obama presidency turning out to be not so much about winding down these conflicts that his predecessor was marked by. interesting picture there. nbc's keir simmons, thank you for that update. >> you bet. >>> we've also turned to you on a big question today. we to want reveal the results of today's hashtag benefit. we asked you if you think nfl's new policy on domestic abuse, and we just heard commissioner goodell outlining that policy in a press conference, goes too far? 48% said yes, it does. 52% said, no it doesn't. a lot of sports fans out there who think things need to change. thank y

because they've had i think up to 250 people have gone to join various militant groups in either iraq or syria. and some of them have come back, dozens have come back, carol. so they've pushed some of these laws which one of them is to make it a crime to advocate terrorism. another is to make it a crime to travel to certain conflict zones. these laws not even the united states and other countries have been able to pass so the australians have been active aggressively so it's interesting he was so active on social media, speaking out. apparently these laws had not been passed by the time he was doing this. >> so how do negotiators get him out thereof? they have this knowledge. that's helpful. >> well, i don't want to give too much about what the police are doing for the safety of the hostages but obviously cutting back a lot of this media, making sure whatever is filtered out to the media, in the mumbai attacks, as was said earlier, the terrorists were using the media and deciding what to do based on what was going on in the media. so for the safety of the hostage s so at some point hostage tak

problem when it comes to the house of representatives debating and voting up or down on an aumf on iraq or syriar any other war for that matter. we have that -- we could do that ourselves. we don't need anybody to tell us we can do it. we don't need the white house to tell us we can do it. it's our constitutional responsibility. so, yeah, we did have a long meeting. we had a lot of discussion. it was a spirited discussion, but at the end of it all, we got nothing. and i regret that very much because the issues that we talked about last night are very, very serious and we owe it to the american people, we owe it to our men and women who we put in harm's way to have these serious discussions and we are not having that on the floor today. and with that i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from minnesota, ms. mccollum. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. . ms. mccollum:00 --

iraq or sere yarks but this is not america's fight alone. he says, i won't commit our troops to fighting another ground war in iraq or in syria. it is more effective to use our capabilities to help partners on the ground secure their own country's futures. we will use your air power. we will train and equip our partne partners. we will advise and assist and lead a broad coalition of nations who have a stake in this fight. this isn't america versus isil. this is the people of that region versus isil. it's the world versus isil. now, i thoroughly agree with that. if there are folks who think we ought to put our troops on the ground in another ground war so be it. speak out now. offer an amendment. that's your right and i respect it, but i strongly disagree with it. and i think you have, mr. chairman, and all the work with us, you have crafted something that while everyone of us would write it a tad bit differently, in general we stand with the world against isil. and i'm very happy that we're doing it. very last point. our ranking member soon to be chairman said this is going nowhere, why are we doing this? i think the chairman

or just the wrong amount. >>> secretary of state john kerry asking congress for new flexible war powers in the fight against isis. the secretary said lawmakers should not limit military action to iraq and syriar prevent president obama from deploying ground troops if he eventually finds it necessary. his testimony on the before the senate and foreign relations committee is the first time an official publicly described what elements the white house wants to see in a new authorization for use of military force. a committee vote could happen later this week. >>> an m.i.t. economist who helped shaped obamacare is apologizing for quote glib and thoughtless intelligence for voters. gruber appeared tuesday. earlier on video, gruber had claimed that obamacare passed only because of what he called the stupidity of the american voter. before congress, he repeated his apology dozens of different ways. >> i sincerely apologize for conjecturing with the tone of expertise and doing so in such a fashion. it's never important to make once seem more important or smarter by demeaning others. i new better, i know better, i'm embarrassed and i'm sorry. >> he said that a lot. he did, though, strongly defend obam

>> i should say we don't have a rating on iraq or syria. these are the countries that are most impacted. we think particularly vulnerable might be lebanon, which is now housing refugees. this is a huge burden on the economy. it is increasing the pressure and potentially the tension between the socioeconomic and religious groups inside the country. we see jordan as having a similar sort of strain, not quite as bad and turkey much less so. the question is much more interesting regarding what does all this mean for the resolution and progress on the kurdish situation in turkey itself. but the most impacted countries europe itself. >> which countries are under the biggest geopolitical threat for 2013? >> i think ewe crepe, russia is the key event to watch. >> thank you very much for joining us. >>> and as more pensions leave the hedge funds in the u.s., we're going to talk to cambridge associates on whether that trend will continue here on the other side of the bond. that's coming up. >>> the largest public pension fund in the u.s. decided to d

and unlike iraq or syria, they have no one to fight there. there is no government to push back against them. they're already implementing a court system. they're already implementing their laws and enforcing them. they're implementing basically the outlines of a real government in an entire province in libya where they're completely unchallenged. it's not outside the realm of the possible that in short order and faster than the ability of this committee to come back together, have a debate, bring a vote, take it to the floor, have it pass out of somewhere else, as well. it is quite possible they could shift many of their operations to a safe haven such of that. especially we've identified safe havens in writing in law. which is the biggest concern that we should have, this is a situation that has the potential to develop much faster than any language we could craft a deal with it. the second problem we have with it is success in this endeavor and everybody in this committee i would hope everyone agrees with this. will require us to put togeth

when it comes to the house of representatives debating and voting up or down on an aumf on iraq or syria or any other war for that matter. we have that -- we could do that ourselves. we don't need anybody to tell us we can do it. we don't need the white house to tell us we can do it. it's our constitutional responsibility. so, yeah, we did have a long meeting. we had a lot of discussion. it was a spirited discussion, but at the end of it all, we got nothing. and i regret that very much because the issues that we talked about last night are very, very serious and we owe it to the american people, we owe it to our men and women who we put in harm's way to have these serious discussions and we are not having that on the floor today. and with that i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from minnesota, ms. mccollum. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. . ms. mccollum:00 -- ms. mccollum: i would like the record to reflect the views of mr. van hollen earlier about not having amendments where we can fully discuss in the house the two-year funding

going to encourage the terrorists, whether it's taliban in afghanistan, isis in what used to be iraq and syria or elsewhere to continue on their way. because they do not see the united states as being an effective opponent. >> and the president did reverse himself somewhat. he's increased the number of troops staying in afghanistan to 10r 10,800. but you know what? we've got plaintiffs troops mor than that. what are we to do? >> because of the contingent that might have been left in iraq, i think these numbers are inadequate. they're mostly concerned with force protection, appropriately, no question about it, but they're not going to do much in the way of offensive action. the afghan government remains, i think, incapable of resisting the taliban, and i wouldn't do anything dealing with isis to strengthen the hand of the baghdad government. but i don't see the president changing course on this. i don't think the election has affected him, and i think his vision, which really stems -- rests basically on the idea that if he can only convince iran to give up its nuclear weapons program, if he can on

the front specifically to make an operation in france, instead of joining the organization in iraq or in syria>> i'll tell you what interested me. according to lemond newspaper, about a quarter of those who left to join the struggle abroad are converts to islam, most of them come from ordinary french backgrounds. what is motivating these people? >> first of all, the french background doesn't mean that the people are not muslim. we have a huge number of muslim, we have a big community, muslim community in france so that doesn't mean anything. because muslims are french, a part of them. it's not the point. the other point is effectively, that we have most of the people have been converted, but is it reborn people that were muslim originally? and again, become more, i mean, more closer to the islam and the practices of islam and so on. we also have some people that have not at all any islamic origins, this kind of islam, this kind of picture of islam considered by those people like being a picture of bad guys or i mean, the fighting against a real ideology. so it's kind of new project, life proje

and unlike iraq or syria, they have no one to fight there. there is no government to push back against them. they're already implementing a court system. they're already implementing their laws and enforcing them. they're implementing basically the outlines of a real government in an entire province in libya where they're completely unchallenged. it's not outside the realm of the possible that in short order and faster than the ability of this committee to come back together, have a debate, bring a vote, take it to the floor, have it pass out of somewhere else, as well. it is quite possible they could shift many of their operations to a safe haven such of that. especially we've identified safe havens in writing in law. which is the biggest concern that we should have. this is a situation that has the potential to develop much faster than any language we could craft to deal with it. the second problem we have with it is success in this endeavor and everybody in this committee i would hope everyone agrees with this. will require us to put toget

are at least 30 journalists that have been kidnapped in syria, most of them by jihaddist rebels, and that's impressive. more than ever in iraq orfghanistan. >> and it's worse in syria than anywhere else, but it's also virtually impossible to report on the wars, or the drug cartels or the drug wars without endangering yourself. >> the real dangers are for local journalists. the vast majority of those dying are russian journalists or mexican journalists. there was a rash of killings with european journalists. and jihaddists, they all do it. >> patricia, as you spoke to other journalists that burp talking to earlier, it has a tremendous affect on them when their colleagues are getting targeted and kidnapped. >> yes, definitely. we spoke to one journalist in mexico, and he left mexico because he was not only getting threats by his family, but he was getting threats. their families, and how it impacts the community at large and the information that they get. it happens over and over. people are practicing sensorship because they don't want to end up statistics. >> they spend a lot of time on the mexican drug carpet els, and how they

or al qaeda or el nusra or corazon or whatever network they worked with in syria and iraq, they can utilize them to have attacks. from the middle east or southeast asia, going to syria and building that network, ten times more dangerous. >> are you worried about, doing those things in the name of islam? >> sure, those individuals are dangerous. and it's very difficult to figure out where they are. because individual nature of the threat, the individual nature of the radicalization process, and of the you know operational process, it goes from radicalization to being operational is very personal. and sometimes very short. however, i think with every threat, i look at it as an equation. threat equal intention plus capability. the intention will always be there. you're always going to have people who want to attack us. will they have the capability to do it? that is what our system is designed, the national security system is designed to identify and disrupt. however they need to be successful only once. we need to be successful all the time. >> that was ali suffant, chairman and chief executi

syria and iraq. i want to address how dhs helps protect the homeland from foreign fighters who are not from syria or iraq but travel there to participate in the conflict and may then seek to attack the united states on the u.s. persons, u.s. interests, or u.s. allies. for today, let me discuss the islamic state of iraq and labonte. i will not give this as a full threat briefing on isil. that would be best done in a classified setting. present,t to say, at dhs is unaware of any specific, credible threat to the u.s. homeland from isil. however, isil has encouraged supporters to carry out attacks, and such attacks could be conducted without specific direction from isil with little or no warning. in addition, terrorist groups have shown interest in attacks on u.s.-bound airplanes terry terrorists have tried to conceal improvised the close of devices in commercial electronics in areas of the body they think will not be thoroughly searched, and in shoes, cosmetics, or liquids, in order to defeat airport security screening. and let me turn to seven specific security measures put in place in response to the

if they see a journalist in syria or iraq getting beheading, they tell themselves, i'll never be in syriar iraq. they see another incident, i don't work in the pentagon. i don't work here, i don't do that. but when you see innocent people off the sidewalk or in a coffee shop or in a restaurant, then people say to themselves, wait a minute, that could be me, i do that activity in my daily routine, i could get caught up in a terrorist act. that becomes more terrifying. >> bob baer, i want to remind our viewers we're waiting for bill bratton, the new york city police commissioner to walk into that room. you see the live coverage we'll have. there it is right there. he's going to be coming in with john miller, deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism. looks like they're getting ready to open with a statement. and then answer reporters' questions, responding to what happened in sydney, australia, as well as some of the demonstrations in new york over the past few days. this is a pretty terrifying thought that what happened in sydney potentially -- we all hope it doesn't -- cou

deal wes thanks to the worked up with the turks. >> they working in syria or iraq? in syria. >> last question. sorry i'm out of time. last question, are we going to put more boots on the ground, american military in the middle east to defeat isis? >> the president's policy is not to put combat forces on the ground in iraq, but we have advisers and trainers that are working right now -- >> middle east. i'm not going to talk about iraq. in the middle east, are more americans going over to the middle east to the fight against isis? >> we have about 30,000 troops in the region. >> i yield back. >> mr. conley? >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. ambassador, certainly i think most of us wish success in your endeavor, but i have to confess to you, listening to you makes me feel like i'm in the scene of the wizard of oz. we're being counciled to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. meaning the previous iraqi government, which we supported way too long in terms of ma lacky and the damage he did in absolutely severing relations between the shia and the sunni, which con

syria and iraq. i'm going to address how dhs helps protect the homeland from foreign fighters who are not from syria or iraq but who travel there to participate in the conflict and then may seek to attack the united states. u.s. persons, u.s. interests or u.s. allies. let me talk about the islamic state of iraq. i'm not going to do a full press briefing on isil, that would be in a classified setting. any credible threat to the u.s. home land from isil, however as has been noted, isil has encouraged it's supporters to carry out attacks and such attacks could be subjected without specific direction from isil with little or no warning. in addition terrorist group skrs shown interest in attacks on u.s.-bound airplanes. terrorists have tried to conceal impro viszed exploeive devices and commercial electronics in years of the body they don't think will be thoroughly searched and in shoes, cosmetics or liquids in order to try to diffuse airplane screening. first aviation security. in early july, secretary johnson directed the transportation security administration to enhance screening at a number of oversees