that's the isis claim. but schultz says the white house has, quote, no indication to corroborate those claims. presumably presumably we'll be hearing more along those lines from the president's national security adviser, susan rice, who's getting ready to deliver remarks on u.s. national security over at the brookings institution. we also heard earlier, no confirmation at all from the state department. deputy spokeswoman marie harf r the white house obviously concerned about these reports but no confirmation whatsoever. we'll take a quick break. much more after this. shopping online is as easy as it gets. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list now it is. start shopping online from a list of top-rated providers. visit angieslist.com today. >>> let's get back to the breaking news we're following. a claim by isis with no proof, no confirmation that an american female hostage has been killed in a jordanian air strike. here's what the

. >>> isis attack denied. a major offensive by the terrorists met by kurdish fighters on the ground and coalition strikes from the air. what is the end goal for the terror group and what's next? >>> i love my father and my brother but that's a little of what jeb bush is expected to say next hour. major policy speech as he looks to lay out his own vision ahead of a possible presidential bid. what he says about his family legacy and president obama. >>> cold is an understatement folks. another blast of arctic air is on the way if it can get much colder. it will force the temperature to lows not seen in two decades. who is getting the brunt of it? good morning. thanks for joining me. i'm kate bolduan. john berman is off again today. we begin with breaking news out of iraq at this hour. after hours of deadly fighting near the northern city of erbil, kurdish fighters fought back a major isis attack. the battle was followed by air strikes pounding isis targets from the air. plus there's new information this morning

now, this battle did not end well for isis. we are told at least 34 militants were killed and kurdish forces now fully control the city and the surrounding area as well. elsewhere in iraq isis is parading its trophies after overtaking a military base that was supplied and equipped with u.s. military weapons and vehicles. this video emerged just a few hours ago showing american-made armored transports humvees, and automatic weapons in the hands of isis fighters. u.s. military officials are not yet sure when or where that video was shot. >>> also this weekend the u.s. military is discussing strategy and how they're going to support an iraqi military mission to liberate the iraqi city of mosul where between 1,000 and 2,000 isis fighters are believed to be dug in. the new u.s. defense secretary isn't committing to a timetable, but iraq's prime minister said this week they expect to launch an assault on mosul in the coming months. michael weiss is joining us here. he wrote the book "isis: inside the army of terror." despite isis' se

but to destroy isis the u.s.i arabia all those countries you mentioned, to do that you need ground troops. certainly, the iraqi military has proven they are not up to it. kurds, while they are ferocious fighters courageous they need help. the free syrian army that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. is there in the works, senator, a ground invasion if you will being planned right now to go ahead and destroy isis? >> probably planned is too advanced a word. it is certainly being discussed. but as i said most members of congress are reluctant to sign on to a full-scale putting boots on the ground in this fight. having said that the other arab nations are talking much more boldly than they have in the past about actually putting boots on the ground there going along with what you said before. air power is great. air power can do a lot of powerful things. but a lot of times, to get completely cleaned up you will need boots on the ground. >> certainly, when i spoke to jordan's foreign minister last night, he made it cl

isis claims that hostage, a young woman was killed in a jordanian strike in raqqa, an isis strongholda. back with me now chief pentagon correspondent jim mimiklaszewski any new information? >> no and u.s. officials somewhat frustrated by all of this say it would almost be impossible to actually verify until unfortunately as we've seen in the past in these brutal videos that isis releases just them announcing that they have -- this american female hostage was killed by an air strike is not good enough for the u.s. military officials and government. they need some evidence some proof. so far they have no independent intelligence to verify that claim unfortunately it may take that kind of video. it's important to remember here not only is isis fighting a military war on the ground there in syria and iraq but fighting a psychological war with the world, particularly with the u.s. in many cases through the use of these propaganda videos, their brutality and in some case the manipulation really everybody's emotions by announcing that this american female hostage had been killed in an air st

is isis is growing in syria. we see that happening. recently three retired military commanders with 12 stars between them testified before the senate armed intelligence committee and said there is no real direction here. this is a confused meandering piecemeal strategy. they're growing in syria. how long is long term. >> stay on isis for a second and the expansion because it's happening in syria, may be happening in afghan stanl. heck a lot of experts say it's happening right here on our home front. if that's the case, alan, then countries like jordan who really want our support are being very specific about what they need. should we step it up and give them what they need so that we can fight this battle -- >> once we assess the need. in terms of what was said today what do you disagree with reinforcing homeland security to keep american people safe? transitioning to a global economy, striving the to a world without nuclear weapons. what do you disagree with? >> we warned the 20,000 foreign fighters have gone to

isis is claiming this happened in syria in the jordanian air strike on the isis strong hold on the city of raqqa. all of this is aftermath of the rubble where the woman was buried. let me be crystal clear here. there's zero proof of this and huge dose of skepticism. jordan saying this from the interior minister. >> they tried to cause problems and haven't succeeded. they are now trying to drive a wedge between the coalition with the latest low pr stunt. >> i cannot confirm those reports in any way. obviously people are looking into them but cannot confirm them. >> do you know if the woman in question is alive still? >> we're not going to get into specifics about americans being held overseas for privacy of them their families. obviously as you can imagine, these are sensitive situations. we're not going to get into those details. >> is it your understanding that the islamic state was holding an american woman without identifying whom? >> we have said there are a number of americans being held overseas including by the islamic state. i'm not going to get into further details than that. >

here in jordanian they are campaigning behind this war with isis and now isis will be attempting to shift public opinion again with this announcement. >> absolutely. and keir simmons, please stick around in am man, jordan because we want to come back with more information. >>> and right now i want to bring in ayman mohyeldin who is joining me here in new york. i want to bring in the propaganda war being waged by isis. a lot of analysts saying about the murder offal kassasbeh, and now a group putting out propaganda that they killed a woman -- not that they killed a woman hostage, but that the jordanians did that. what is the propaganda value of that. >> on the surface, it is to create tension between the united states and the jordanian government over this that would be then described -- obviously from the jordanian perspective as an accident. in a situation like this the propaganda value for isis would be to get the jordanian to doubt the intelligence they've had. we've heard from the minister of information in jordanian saying that the strike was targeting a weapons depot or a training s

syria is the incubator of the isis problem. how do you get rid of isis in syria? what do you about the brutality of bashar al assad? is it going to be turks, juror jordanian jordanians, american troops interspersed? maybe. but right now it's not looking like many good options in syria. >> assad did an interview with the bbc in which it was suggested that there was some coordination going on, not that the u.s. told assad's forces where u.s. fighters were going to be flying but that maybe iraq or some other country was serving as an intermediary. i would assume that's necessary so that the planes aren't crashing into each other. >> it's possible. and it's possible that coordination is happening. but there's a huge psychological advantage for assad to say that. he is demoralizing the free syrian army believe and they should believe the united states is on their side the moderate rebel opposition. if they're under the impression that the united states is in any way coordinating with bashar al assad that would be very demoralizing to them. he's try to convince them as

nothing short of annihilation of isis. he wants to revenge the blood of his son, as he says executes of the would-be female suicide and one other, not enough he says. assessing the mood both in jordan and here in the region at least at this hour it has to be said that if isis thinks that this latest evil will cause regional players in the u.s. fight against them to crack in their support, i'm talking jordan and others in this region including the uae, then they have seemingly miscalculated. he is due back as we say, in the coming moments. the king vowed, quote, punishment and revenge for the pilot's death. the king describing isis as a deviant criminal group. he is expected to visit the village of i.e. which is in the south of jordan to pay his condolences to the pilot's family members of what is an important tribe, provide a lot of military asset to the jordanian fight against isis. and the uae's foreign minister has said overnight as well quote, this heinous and obscene act represents a brutal escalation by the terrorist

we need to take on isis. so there does appear at least for now to have been a significant change in jordanian public opinion, which is helping the king to feel empowered, if you like to get more involved and to have -- to launch more air strikes and be more a part of this coalition. and you make a very important point that the targets will have been chosen not just by jordan but by the command that sends control and also we're hearing reports that there has been a significant effort to ensure that if a plane should go down if a pilot should go missing again, that that pilot could be rescued to try to prevent any pilot falling into the hands of isis again. so you're right, the jordanians and you could say -- at least for the last few days taking the lead in the air strike. but at the same time it is part of that coalition effort. >> before i let you go we did confirm last night that jordan was investigating whether in fact the pilot had ejected after initially being shot by his wing man. there may have been fr

that isis has made before. let's not forget it was only within the last several weeks, isis wanted to negotiate a prisoner swap for the jordanian pilot that was already killed. they released the video weeks after his death. but they were certainly negotiating to transfer him well after his death. therefore, this could be met with high skepticism, the claim being made by isis militants via twitter today that one of the hostages being held by isis, particularly a female american hostage, has been killed in jordanian air strikes. how they could delineate a jordanian air strike from any other coalition member's also something one would have to question. there is another issue to take into account as well. from reading their press release -- andly call it that as they released on twitter -- there is only one person said to have been killed in this bombing raid on a target in raqqa. i want to bring in our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. barbara, is the pentagon acknowledging this in any way? certainly i'm gues

by the way not just isis, but it's isis in iraq and michael can comment on this more, isis in iraq and syria but it's in yemen with aqap the group that inspired the attacks in paris we have collapsing situation in yemen. other al qaeda groups in syria and ip north african we have this social media dynamic that is radicalizing individuals around the world and individuals in small groups. and we have first class crisis in europe right now. >> perspective is really important here. isis pose a threat to the united states, absolutely. does it pose a threat to the order in middle east and borders and the whole system ip the middle east, absolutely. but is it the biggest threat to the only hand right now? no. aqap in yemen is a bigger threat al qaeda in pakistan is a bigger threat, the group which is part of the group in syria which is separate from isis is bigger threat right now. perspective is really important here. >> schieffer: when you put all that together no, i don't think so this has anything close to the evil that the nazis represented, obviously this is not the cold war with the so

isis members executing other isis members for having differing opinions on things. they're having troubles from within and more organization from outside. it feels like things are about to get better. i don't know. >> reporter: well, you're a lot closer to literally and figuratively than i am. i talked to some national security advisers recently. they talk about, well they're able to kill maybe 1,000 isis fighters a month. there are estimates that more than that, 1,55000 2000 foreign mighters fighter from other countries are joining the campaign. as savage as it was, the reason isis put out the 22 minute video, including the burning to death of the jordanian pilot was as a recruiting tool. the jordan king was meeting in washington when they released it. the king of jordan and president of the united states are conferring to deal with us. that empowers isis and the people who think they should support them. >> chris wallace in washington on capitol hill. thanks very much. we'll look for you this weekend. you'll have more on the fight against isis on fox news sunday.

and isis as well. it's one of the reasons jordan joined the coalition, to put its government and the king's stamp on the notion of moderate islam. now this puts king abdullah and the jordanian military in a very difficult position. you'll remember that this female prisoner, sajida al rishawi, held convicted of her role in hotel bombings in amman in 2005 on behalf of al qaeda in iraq, again, the precursor to isis, jordan really trying to crack down on all of that. but also very concerned that al qaeda in iraq morphed into isis, that isis would go from syria to iraq to making its move again to jordan. it's one of the reasons jordan is in the coalition. it's one of the reasons that king abdullah and the jordanian military have aligned themselves with the united states. but now many people in jordan questioning whether they want to be part of this coalition, whether this small country and its people, they want to have this human risk that they have now seen here. so i think we're going to see the jordanian

jordanians are calling today for more strikes on isis. >> this is a response to isis and what they have done to jordan and all of the other people is unjustified. if no one puts a struggle against them and fights them who else will fight them. >> but as gruesome and unsettling as the execution of that jordanian pilot was burned alive in that cage other accusations, girls used as sex slaves mentally challenged used as suicide bombers and boys sold into slavery and others crucified or buried alive. and ambassador thank you for being here. and you hear the details about the children and it is sickening, does it even make sense to go in militarily? >> the u.n. report is the tip of the iceberg of the atrocities, crucifixion crucifixions, being buried alive and those attracted to the social media being perpetrated by isis where is the seal team six media to show these atrocities and why are we not doing more to show the sheer mayhem and brutality of isis. >> maybe this is more reason to go in. >> and there is a social media battle for hearts and minds here. and while we have to understand how

we know that they think isis is full of beans, as they say. >> they think isis is totally lying.speak to the chief jordanian government spokesman in amman. we will get the latest on what jordan is up to. as you know they say they are only just beginning their retaliation for what isis did to that jordanian fighter pilot. they are stepping up their air strikes, they are flatly denying the isis claim that kayla mueller, the 26-year-old american humanitarian worker who had been held hostage by isis for so long they deny that their air strikes killed this woman. they say isis is fabricating the whole thing. >> amazing also how many of these westerners that isis has so brutally slaughtered that were there to help the people of the region either aid workers or journalists who were trying to get syrians and iraqis to tell their story. to a person they were amazing people. >> they just wanted to do good. kayla mueller was working with doctors without borders in a hospital trying to help little syrian refugee kids. she had earlier been in africa she had been in israel palestine, in northe

if the jordanians wrap up their military here and go after isis, isn't that what isis wants? >> i think isis was probably trying to probe them and see if they had resolve. isis, in its terror, even though it seems insane to us, that's not always the case. if you look at their march into iraq and the terror tactics they used, it did work in intimidating a lot of sunnis and actually leading to isis successes. however, if the jordanians react, it's important to keep in mind their ability to do so is limited. they have a lot of problems on their hands. they have more than a million refugees already inside their borders from the syrian civil war and they cannot single handedly defeat isis. that requires not only the participation of other arab states but frankly the involvement of the united states beyond what we've seen of what's been a fairly ineffective military operation. >> jordan has problems and divisions within its own country. those support the u.s.-led coalition and those that don't. where do those fault lines lie, i guess, in the country? >> well, with any of these coun

isis out of iraq's second largest city. there may be a recommendation to send ground force into mosul to help in the target there. joining me lieutenant colonel james reece. thanks for joining me. when we talk about isis in iraq it's a bit more of success story for the u.s. and coalition force than isis in syria. what is your assessment whether we need u.s. ground troops not for fighting on the ground but better locating the targets. do we need to see that? >> poppy, you know the attack on to or assault on mosul, when that is planned and will kick off is based on the timeline between iraqis and u.s. advisors that are there. because it is such a difficult fight, mosul being a city the second largest city in iraq it will probably behoove us to put air controllers, some other special forces advisors in there for the iraqi teams to insure we get precision fire and reduce our collateral damage. >> isn't that just boots on the ground? isn't it just semantics to say it's something different? b, frankly after heavy air strikes in k

isis said. what i can tell you is new information, new compelling information i'm told surfaced after isis made the claims that kayla mueller died in the jordanian air strike on friday and that information, i'm told was not conclusive. they looked at a variety of factors. they looked at this new information as well as the fact that why would isis say she died and then let her surface alive. there are other factors as well that they took into consideration to come to this conclusion. the u.s. government for a couple of days now has reached that conclusion that she was likely dead but of course they wanted to consult with the family and let the family reach that conclusion on their own and now we know they are coming out and expressing their sadness over her death. what's interesting here carol, is that the u.s. government i'm being told still does not know definitively how kayla mueller died whether she died in that air strike or whether she died before in another way or even after that air strik

isis holds this town firmly.from a peshmerga position above, we hear fast-moving aircraft followed by explosions below. from this position overlooking sinjar, you could see this smoke rising above the town. there is the occasional burst of small arms fire from down within its streets. and there is a surprising amount of traffic coming in to the main road from the west, from the direction of the syrian border toward sinjar and isis-controlled territory. cars and heavy trucks an endless stream moving at high speed. proof the coalition has not achieved its goal of stopping isis from moving fires and supplies across the syrian border. the arrival of isis last august triggered a panicked stampede. much of the population, hundreds of thousands, fled up the slopes of neighboring mt. sinjar. they found safety but no food and water no shelter from the scorching heat. some remain on the mountain. most have moved. on main, have disappeared -- many others have disappeared. there man hasn't seen his brothers since isis entere

isis has taken social media to a whole new level. >> isis uses all flat storm -- platforms everythingk to twitter to yelp restaurant recommendations in syria. because they use all of these different platforms they get a lot of access to the younger set. >> richard reynolds is a retired army officer who spent half of his career in the middle east investigating terrorists. >> we see 125 different languages using isis or isis accounts. >> people may not have phones or jobs or cars but they have a phone. >> isis has media centers. >> seems to me like isis has an rapid response team. they have their message up where old style al qaeda can take weeks to respond. >> they use a sophisticated media center based on strong hold in syria. >> the media center in syria this is a digital network. it is almost like a tv station if you will. they have the ability to move cameras, lighting, sound into an os tier situation do it without being hole led nobody is dropping bombs on them or observing it over head. move to the media center and still use it on the web. they have the capability to use the equi

isis wants it to be the west versus isis. what's really happening is a civil war if you will for the future of the middle east and who is the true muslim or not. there's many moderate muslims that will be absolutely horrified by this and this will i think, work against isis. >> it explains general -- and listen we weren't at all privy as members of the public to any sort of negotiations if that's even a word that isis would use bark and forth as jordan said listen we would be interested in swapping. we would like to have our jordanian pilot back in exchange. we may be willing to give you back this woman, this failed suicide bomber who's been on death row in jordan. now knowing, according to at least jordanian tv that he was killed this pilot was killed back on january 3rd, talking about backfireing in terms of any future discussions with isis. don't you think this speaks volumes volumes, general? >> i think it does. what it's telling us brooke is isis -- they're not a legitimate organization. they're terrorists. having a disc

there is a paradox about isis the more prominence isis gets the more prominent assad gets.e forward. is the moving forward with or without assad? >> that is raging in the capitol behind me. republicans are saying they want a much more clear strategy from obama about what his plans would be and how they involve assad. he said he doesn't want to be involved with the assad government. the republicans want something much more muscular and specific and for the first time the president is dealing with a republican congress so when he wents to go to congress and increase spending he will have a willing group of republicans who want to increase the spending as well but they won't give him a blank check. they want to know what are the specifics and frankly they want him to do more. and i think when we see ash carter up on the hill tomorrow, the new secretary of defense, he will get a grilling. he is very well respected on the grill but he'll have to answer president obama's policies. anybody who wants to see the kind of controversy is creating has to look no further than that hearin

back now to greta investigates isis >> so who is one of the pr gurus of isis?t griff yen convince to find out about a man from boston >> he should be considered to be armed and dangerous. he is a threat to the nation. >> richard was the special agent in charge during the boston bombing investigation. and he's the guy who put a catholic school boy on the f.b.i.'s most wanted terrorist list. >> these are individuals who reside here in the united states, who are radicalized on their oh, often times through access to online jihadi materials. >> so is he the head of the isis propaganda machine? if so, it wouldn't be the first time an american led the pr campaign for a terror group. until he was killed by a drone in yemen, north carolina native ran the slick al-qaeda online magazine inspire. now it appears isis has its own american pr guru, 33-year-old man. with your typical middle class neighborhood, suburbs of boston, not too far from where the patriots play football. >> he had a privileged upbringing as the son of a harvard educateed doctor, says this reporter. >>

they're trying to stop isis and also seize background taken by isis last year. to the west of here mosul, iraq's second largest city, firmly under isis control. kurdish fighters are trying to cut off connection and they have had some success. in that regard isis is very much under pressure. coalition air strikes have continued, as well. but despite that isis has shown it's still prepared to lash out, go on the offensive. it's made an attempt to grab new territory around the iraqi city of kircut a significant city because of its oil reserves. it's taken some ground. but that's a new front that's been opened by isis. so it all shows, and that's what the kurdish leaders are saying that this is going to be a long battle. and the air strikes alone, certainly not sufficient to stop isis' attempt to advance through this region. >> phil black live for us in irbil. thanks phil. zain? >>> jordan has more than 100,000 active troops the air force was also modernized recently. dozens of f-16 fighter jets were added to its fleet. we spoke to lieutenant colonel james reese abo

from others isis will do what isis will do?no, i don't. i think that we have to continue to be aware of what isis is putting out, what they are training and what is coming out of there, but i don't see a response by isis striking back at the west, because of what the jordanians did. i do agree that the jordanians had a fantastic intelligence collection both domestically and internationally. they worked with us for years in iraq and they helped us to kill zarquawi and they did a great job with the intelligence groups and some of the special operations soldiers to whittle down the al qaeda aspects in there that eventually now became isis with baghdadi, but like you said, i don't see it as n imminent threat othe west because of this response. >> okay. colonel james reese and general mark hertling thank you for being with us at this hour to give us the insight ss of what to expect in the coming days. and we will be right back with more on the breaking news in a moment. financial noise financial noise financial noise discover card.

on the isis name and the isis brand. not just in libya but elsewhere in the islamic world as well. >> reporter: not just in libya but also in egypt's sinai peninsula, yemen, afghanistan and pakistan far from strongholds in syria and iraq. but for the u.s. iraq remains the top priority right now, where still fragile iraqi security forces are struggling to hold on. one iraqi tribal leader telling cnn that isis is gaining ground in anbar province west of baghdad and predicting a collapse there of iraqi army units if tribal forces withdraw. exactly what the white house doesn't want just as it's asking congress for new authority to fight the militants. >> our coalition is on the offensive. isil is on the defensive and isil is going to lose. >> reporter: but even if the u.s. can push isis back out of iraq -- >> the big question mark in my mind is syria and just exactly how long is it going to take us to be able to confront isis in syria, because if they have a safe haven there, they may continue to be trouble for a long time.

>>> losing the war against isis. a grim assessment from the fbi as more teenagers leave their homes, believe to be radicalized by terrorists online. this morning, new information about the man identified as the isis executioner. what we now know about the new york men accused of terror plots. the missing canadian teens on the way to help isis and the videos isis is releasing in iraq. team coverage starts right now. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. it is friday february 27th. 4:00 a.m. in the east. john berman has the morning off. we are learning more about the british accented voice that the world has come to know as jihadi john. beyond the nickname believed to be mohammed emwazi. a privileged upbringing in london and a bright middle class future. at the top of the list of questions, why? was it mistreatment by authorities or was he on path to terrorism earlier? we have isa soares live in london with the latest. what are we learning about jihadi john? >> reporter: good morning, christine.

it remains very firmly under isis control. but that is where kurdish fighters are now trying to push back isis forces circle that town choke it off, and separate it from isis-controlled territory in syria. that's the strategy. and it has proceeded with some degree of success, really putting pressure upon isis. yet despite that pressure isis has, as you've said recently lashed out and opened up a new front in the fighting here around the oil-rich city of kirkuk seizing territory there. kurdish forces have launched a counterattack, seizing back some of the ground but the fighting is now intense. it is daily, and it does appear to be a significant effort by isis to seize yet more territory despite the fact that it is under pressure both on the ground and from the air. christine. >> phil black for us this morning in erbil, thanks phil. >>> jordan's king met with president obama at the white house. the president said that the video, if authentic, confirms the depravity of isis as if there needed to be any more confirmation at this

right now it is sandwiched between isis and the sinai peninsula and isis in libya. there's thousands of egyptians still in libya trying to get out. the egyptian government is trying to charter planes to get them out. once they cross the border. but it's a very dangerous situation for them now that egyptian has stepped up these air strikes. >> ian, these latest video released by isis appears to show a dozen egyptian christians being beheaded. 20 egyptian christians were killed. what do we know about them? why were they in libya? give us the information that we have. >> reporter: well these men were laborers. the many thousands of laborers go to libya before the 2011 uprising. there were millions of egyptians there going to work. a lot of them are very poor. these christians come from the southern part of egypt, a large christian community there. this isn't the first time there have been killings of christians in libya. there have been several across the country. but this is really the first large scale kidnapping of these christians. back in december in january. and

-led air strikes against isis. in the video messages last month, isis threatened to kill the pilot if jordan didn't release a female would-be suicide bomber, sajida al rishawi. jordan called for the release of the pilot in exchange for al rishawi and demanded proof the pilot was still alive. but a banner on jordanian television now says he was actually killed on january 3rd. barbara starr is over at the pentagon. she's getting more reaction. horrific news, barbara. u.s. military officials are deeply deeply upset, outraged, if you will, by what has occurred. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. general lloyd austin the head of the u.s. central command, the part of the u.s. military that is leading the coalition, he has just issued a statement and i'll just read you in part. he says u.s. central command strongly condemns the savage murder of the jordanian pilot. he talks about it being another vicious act and that first and foremost the thoughts of the u.s. military are with the pilot's family. general austin also saying

war against isis. kurdish commanders say their forces were able to repel the isis assault after hours of what they describe as heavy fighting. they say 40 isis militants were killed. also cnn has now learned that the u.s. is maintaining what's being described as a secret kill list of isis leaders. at the top, abark al baghdadi. the list of about two dozen operatives belonging to isis is growing. is isis telling organs at the same time for murdered civilians to help finance this terrorist onslaught? iraq's ambassador to the united nations says maybe. he's asking the united nations security council to investigate. and president obama speaks today at the white house summit on combatting violent extremism. at least 60 countries are taking part in that event. meanwhile, heavy fighting in close contact. kurdish troops were able to bush isis back. the battle unfolded southwest of erbil, that's the kurdish capital. our senior international correspondent ben wedeman is in erbil with the latest. ben, give us a s

contact with isis.ly an answer. wolf? >> i hope they get an answer and they get an answer soon. thank you. let's dig deeper with our law enforcement analyst tom fuentes, former fbi assistant director and our justice reporter evan peres. you have been following this story very closely. what's the latest information you're hearing? >> you know u.s. intelligence and law enforcement is still looking for any proof that indeed, what isis says that they are done which is kill this hostage, whether that is indeed true. they have some normal intelligence sources that they usually see turn up things for example, if they killed a hostage, they filmed it they produced videos. they haven't been able to identify anything yet that proves that she is indeed dead. >> we do know there was a special operations unit that tried to rescue james foley, the american hostage who was later beheaded tried to -- and they found some hair in this area where they went in the dna from the hair showed it was the hair of this young woma

isis takes charge. new government who is very close to the iranians is any better potentially than maliki? >> yes. everybody in the region tells me so. it's not my view. what you see is predictable. we argue that if you leave no troops behind if you leave iraq without a residual force, this will happen. three years ago, we said if you can do a no-fly zone and train the free syrian army today, assad will be gone. the decisions not to leave a force behind in iraq not to do a no-fly zone three years ago have come back to haunt us. the army in iraq is a shia-led group. the political progress in iraq is not going to progress until we show a commitment to stay with it. we're the glue that holds it together. when you take us out of the mix, everybody goes back to their sectarian corners. again, as to syria, this president is not serious about destroying isil because his policy strategy toward syria makes no sense. >> senator, stand by. we have more to discuss. a quick break. more with senator lindsey graham, r

but who is isis? they combine viciousness on the ground with a supremacy of social media. >> trying to create the largest caliphate it can. >> it spread even further to libya where they beheaded 21 christians on the banks of the mediterranean sea. what do we know about the man wearing a wrist watch who says he is the rightful... >> a shadowy presence for long. >> how he is using a former catholic student from the boston area to spread propaganda. >> why do you think they keep attacks of terrorism. >> it controls an area the size of candace. is there a strategy to beat them? >> you understand the strategy to beating them? >> i think -- sduh, uh. >> they are the richest on earth. >> it is hell on earth and the world continues to witness their cruelty and viciousness. isisen it is to gain ground in iraq. now where else are they spreading sfwh>> all over the world. we have isis elements in the philippines working with ab d due -- abu sayyaf. we have them in yemen, in south africa. you have them all over t

but isis gave no evidence to back up their claim. jordan says it is investigating but warned that this is a macabre p. are. stunt designed to divide the coalition. >> what we know about this terrorist organization is that they are liars when it comes to these things. they use these events to manipulate facts and to manipulate public opinion. we think this is part of their propaganda. >> reporter: for the last month, jordan says it had been negotiating for the safe transfer of downed air pilot kasasbeh only to find he had been murdered weeks ago, burned alive in a cage and released for the world to see. jordan has vowed revenge, and its jets have delivered. isis' unproven claims are untrial stop those bomb from dropping. -- unlikely to stop those bomb was dropping. >>>. >> reporter: although kayla was only 26 she spent much of her life helping people. anderson cooper takes a closer look at a woman known as a citizen of the world. >> reporter: kayla jean mueller is from prescott arizona, but is best be described as a citizen of the wor

how does isis think about it? >> certainly isis is no fan of israel. israel's many point for isis is certainly it's propaganda value, but also its place in the apocalypse. isis believes it's foretold armies of islam will eventually rally around jerusalem after being defeated actually. they believe after conquering a large area of land eventually be reduced to a core of 5,000 fighters around jerusalem. that's one of the most common ways jerusalem is referred to in the propaganda of isis. >> shadi, when i listen to what isis is propagating, increasingly sectarian nature, sunnis don't like the she yazias, the kurds. it does feel like the great charge against israel and the great cause of the palestinians is essentially receded and does suggest that a lot of people who said this was always a kind of rhetorical ploy and never had that much deep currency in the arab world were correct. >> if we look at many, if not most, islamist groups i would say they do care to one degree or another about israel but it is striking how little that seems to figure in to wha

and fell into the hands of isis. there were negotiations for his police but as you mentioned state tv in jordan now saying that the execution may have taken play a month ago. >> that would suggest that those very negotiation would never come to any positive outcome, that isis was simply not going to be able to hand over the pilot because he was already dead. the jordanians have been demanding to see proof of life of their pilot so one of the questions is what did the jordanian officials know in recent weeks while the negotiations were taking place. >> and this comes on a day when we heard from andrea mitchell that one of the things that king abdullah is discussing with the president of the united states is a marked increase for help to the jordanian government and they have tried to stoke anti-war sentiment where the hostages were taken and what is the feel among jordanians as to whether this might prompt jordan to get more involved and escalate their activity toward crisis. >> reporter: the king has cut short his vi

how important is social media to isis and how important is social media to fighting isis? clearly isis emphasized the role of propaganda. these aren't kids on iphones. they took over tv stations in iraq and had very high production quality. obviously the social media campaign is only part of our effort. ultimately why the fatah region and in this case why iraq and syria, because these are undergoverned spaces. they are uncontested. we need to use military instruments but part of that campaign has to include our efforts to be able to expose the ideology as well. we can't kill and capture our way to victory alone. we need to do some of the kinetic responses but look from it with all incidents of state craft. >> thank you so much. i appreciate it. >> thank you, carol. >>> still to come in the "newsroom," we're learning more about the gunman that killed two people and wounded five others in denmark. what he pretended to do to get closer to one of his targets. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ (dad) we lived... thanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes

what is isis they are asking? although isis has its roots in al qaeda off shoot in both its brutality and battlefield success successes it represents a new type of threat. i will mention a few characteristics because many have been articulated by members of this committee. first, the savagery is at the core of the ideology. while al qaeda justifies individual suicide bombing attacks against civilians through fatwas exexplanation the conditional necessity isis adapted an entirely new ideology. manipulates select stories from history and modern jihadi text to redefine jihad. it has generated a blanket justification for violence including against women and children. second, the group, as already mentioned adopted a military doctrine not based on the typical terrorist logic of the weak fighting the powerful. instead, isis aspires to fight states and their militaries as a peer. it believes in the necessity of full-blown military campaigns and seek to control as much territory as possible. finally, isis is not bound by

by isis. in the speech, he called for a pan-arab army. saying a united arab force needs to be developed to battle isis. he did not give many details about what that means or what it would look like. he did say the role is defending egypt's borders. if the need arises they could be used in the region with the cooperation of the arab brothers. >> how likely is that call for a pan-arab force to resonate? we heard in the past decades the idea of a pan-arab force. >> yes. president sisi is not the first one to call for this. decades. we heard it before. late egyptian president stated it as well. back in the '50s, '60s and '70s, the arab world did not trust each other. now a threat every arab country had to deal with in some sort. arab leaders are not known for unity. there will take a lot, and i cannot emphasize this enough, a lot of work with the arab capitals to get the force together. >> ian lee, thank you. >>> this morning, new defense secretary ash carter in kuwait to consult with state depart

there are kurdish women fighting isis and there are female fighters fighting as part of isis. >> that'sppealing to recruits right? >> joining a fight is appealing to some recruits. in france they actually found that 45% of the people calling the hotline to join isis were young women. >> actually the woman who's in charge of the all female brigade publishes a sort of online magazine right? >> yeah. she speaks a lot about what life is like as a woman in isis as a fighter on the ground. there's a number of blogs that discuss the position of women there. >> and i'm just going to read a bit about what she said in one of her magazine posts. she says a woman's one true purpose is to serve a man, which is true even in liberal states and for today's free societies according to the woman who wrote this article. a girl may be married between the ages of 9 and 17. once she is a wife she must remain at home her face and body nearly almost always covered. so very difficult for westerners to understand. so you go and you fight what you consider the good fight, right? and then you're relegated to a lif

that's what isis is all about.nd, you know nice words from the white house about how this is a per investigation of islam, all that stuff is meaningless. we have to be able to meet this threat with the appropriate response. that hasn't happened yet. all we really get right now are condemnations of the brutal barbaric, evil actions of isis. those are appropriate. but if they're not backed up, it's just empty verbage. after six months of bombing of syria and iraq isis has been able to increase its area of control. they've actually been able to replace their losses. they supposedly lost something like 6,000 of their fighters to american air power. but they're getting 1,000 fighters every single month. this group is growing, the threat is growing. and we still don't have an adequate response beyond simply condemning what they're doing. >> joining us now, the navy s.e.a.l. who killed osama bin laden, rob o'neil, is back on the program. rob, i always thought it was a mistake that we did not show the dead body of osama bi

we begin with several other isis

my opinion about isis. they want to know is it actually good or are they bad guys or what are they. i tell them my point of view isis are doing a lot of wrong things. >> reporter: he says radicalization isn't widespread but propaganda messages from groups like isis reach inmates directly with access to televisions in their cells. >> it is not uncommon to see people who are actually interested in things that the media is focusing on in jail in prison although they may not be that interested in it outside. >> reporter: we have been speaking with many members of the muslim community, about this issue. they say that many young muslim men here in denmark and elsewhere feel isolated from society and that that may be one reason perhaps why they are more susceptible to extremist ideologies in some cases. jake? >> pamela brown, thank you so much. >>> president obama is expected to start speaking any minute about the threat of isis and violent extremism. what will he say about the latest savage killings by the terror

this does appear to be the official isis pronouncement on this. this is isis' claim. obviously a huge amount of skepticism for all reasons we've been talking about the last few hours. particularly the idea there would be no guards inside this building that she would be the only one killed. she was a high profile prisoner from their point of view. the idea she was left unguarded doesn't fly. doing this for propaganda purposes. we don't know what her status is. >> she's been with them a year and a half. how would that then factor in -- this is before really the momentum of isis got going. this was looking back on my time line december 2012 when she arrived in the region to help syrians. august '13 she was taken captive, right? >> yeah a long time ago. taken captive in aleppo in the summer 2013. isis didn't have a significant presence in a help know. not clear if it was isis themselves that took her prisoner or some kind of gang. we've seen a lot of gangs operating, kidnapping and trying to transfer. we don't know the details about that yet. it seems that a not too many

what this video showed of that isis in libya has -- was that isis in libya has a firm presence. they attacked a hotel last month in tripoli. and now this attack. this attack -- these beheadings were reminiscent of what we've seen in iraq and especially with the production quality of the video showing that there is most likely coordination between the two. for egypt, it's -- contemplated what its next step would be. we do not know if this is going to be a prolonged mission or if this is going to be a one off. if this is prolonged, isis and libya's facing africa's largest military. we don't know if there will be further operations on the grown or if there will be air strikes. definitely if t prolonged, it would be something that could change the situation on the ground in libya. >> and this latest beheading is horrific. we only showed a still image from it. for the first time -- which is different from other beheading videos that isis has released, it shows the actual act, the gruesome act, the militants in libya apparently linked or allied with isis. president asisi did condemn t

isis said that an air strike killed her. which jordan denies. >> this was the organization held her against her will and that means they are responsible for her safety and well-being and thereafter responsible for her death. >> the president said the 26-year-old who dedicated her short life to helping others quote, represent what is best about america. his administration and key members from the hill are working on a proposal to use military force against isis. the president is expected to send that final draft to congress as early as tomorrow. we start with nbc news senior white house correspondent chris jansing on the north lawn. and chris, the white house said they are aware of other american hostaging being held in the region. what has come out of the white house today on this? >> reporter: we know of public reports of one more hostage and josh earnest said he doesn't want to go beyond that because there is a belief in the intelligence community that talking about it is not necessarily helpful to their safe return but th