al jazeera's jami macintyre has details from the pentagon. >> the u.s. has more than 3500 troops in iraq, including special operations man doughs that have already carried out raids against isil targets in both iraq and syria, but back in october, after the u.s. forces assisted kurdish troops in freeing prisoners in northern iraq, secretary carter promised there would be more raids and the sending in of additional troops is a way to make good on that promise. >> in more than three hours of testimony before the house armed services committee, defense secretary ash carter and his top military advisor faced predictably skeptical questions. >> you've indicated that it's war. are we winning, mr. secretary? >> we will win. >> are we winning now? >> we're going to win. >> have we currently contained isil? >> we have not contained isil. >> both democrats and republicans seemed dissatisfied with the standard pentagon talking points that the anti isil effort is making progress, gaining momentum. >> if i'm climbing mount everest, i can climb five feet and tell you

al jazeera's jamie macintyre has more for us from the pepto gone >> reporter: after months of planning and training, iraq's offensive to take back ramadi is ready to go. i.s.i.l.'s days of ruling ramadi are numbered, possibly in the single digits. employing a bridge like this, the forces forded the river and they faced methodical house to house combat against i.s.i.l. fighters. back in may i.s.i.l. took ramadi with shocking ease, routing a force of nearly 20,000 battle-weary offenders with just over one thousand attackers. months of coalition bombing and low level ground attacks have whittled the i.s.i.l. fighters down to 350 or fewer. while the iraqi assault force numbers over 10,000. and is backed by u.s. air power which has been relentlessly pounding i.s.i.l. positions killing hundreds of i.s.i.l. fighters according to the u.s. military spokesman in baghdad >> i think the fall of ramadi is inevitable. the end is coming, but that's said it is going to be a tough fight. >> reporter: for months iraqi forces executing a plan drafted by the u.s. have been slowly surrounding ramadi cuttin

. >> jami macintyre, al jazeera, new york. >>> a senate committee will talk about new restrictions on foreign errs trying to come into the country, the house overwhelmingly passing changes to the visa waiver program on thursday. 38 countries allow citizens to come into the u.s. without a visa. a new bill would force people who have been to iran, iraq, syria or sudan to go through the normal visa process. >>> a fight is playing out in two states with conservative governs both saying they will not accept syrian refugees but now a charity has resettled families in both states anyway. we have more. >> the governors of texas and indiana were among dozens of state leaders who vowed their states would refuse any new syrian refugees after the september 13 paris attacks. >> i have no higher priority than the safety and security of the people of the state of indiana and i'm going to continue to use the authority that we have to take that stand. >> catholic charities has taken its own stand. tuesday, the group helped settle a syrian family of six in houston, another family of six in the dallas a

jamie macintyre has this report. >> reporter: in afghan's southern helmand province fighting intensethe taliban claims success in capturing the police headquarters, governor's office and other government buildings. the governor says he has left afghan soldiers and local citizens begging for food. and like the latest suicide attack that killed a half dozen u.s. troops outside the air bay, it's just more evidence that the taliban is back. kabul has been the focus of what the pentagon calls high-profile attacks and it counts deadly motorcycle suicide bombing as the 29th such attack by the taliban in or around the afghan capital since the beginning of the year. a 27% increase over the same period last year. at the same time the taliban has shown it can also take key terrain outside of eight traditional strong holds as it did back in late september or early october when it briefly held the northern steve of kunduz. >> the taliban advance says even if only temporary underscore this is a tough fight and it's far from over. it's also a dynamic fight. >> reporter: defense second ash carter wa

jamie macintyre has the latest from the pentagon >> reporter: after months of planning, training andons, the iraqi defensive to retake ramadi is in the final phase. it would appear, based on the overwhelming numerical i.periority of the forces that

. >> al jazeera's jami macintyre reports. >> they can never, ever, ever come back.t's over. >> at the white house, donald trump's anti muslim rhetoric was portrayed at tap mount to aiding and abetting the enemy. at the pentagon, a spokesman said it would make it harder to recruit muslim allies to battle isil on the ground in syria. >> anything that creates tensions and the notion that the united states is at odds with the muslim faith and is slam would be counterproductive to our efforts right now, and total contrary to our values. >> in iraq, trumps call for a total and complete ban on muslims entering the united states has this baghdad shopkeeper shaking his head. >> i think the remarks are wrong, as it increases hatred and rancor versus the west and america and will cause a wrist between muslims and christians there. >> they have no respect for human life. >> while trump's latest remarks drew fire from all sides, president obama said last month, the talk of imposing a religious test on allowing immigrants into the u.s. is giving isil a tactical position. >> i can

jami macintyre has the details from the pentagon. >> the u.s. has more than 3500 troops in iraq, including special operations commandos that have already carried out raised against isil targets in both iraq and syria, but back in october, after the u.s. forces assisted kurdish troops in freeing prisoners in northern iraq, secretary carter promised that there would be more raids and this sending in of additional troops is an effort to make good on that promise. >> we're at war. >> in more than three hours of testimony before the house armed services committee, defense secretary ash carter faced skeptical questions. >> you've indicated that it's war, are we winning, mr. secretary. >> we will win. >> are we winning now? >> we are going to win. >> have we currently contained isil? >> we have not contained isil. >> both democrats and republicans seemed dissatisfied with the standard talking points that they are making progress, gaining momentum. >> if i'm climbing mount every vest, i can move up five feast and tell you i'm gaining progress and if i r

al jazeera's jami macintyre has more. >> the old color coded system was announced by the first homelandsecretary tom ridge with great fanfare in 2002. >> presently, the nation currently stands in the yellow condition, an elevated risk. >> it featured five alert levels, low, guarded, elevated, high and severe. the problem is no one knew what to do when the alert level was raised from elevated to high. >> the major problem with the color coded system is it didn't communicate information. >> janet in a pal tan know replace i had with the national threat advisory system. it's triggered only by a credible threat of a specific plot. current homeland secretary said the bar is simply too high. >> we need a system that adequately in force the public at large not through news leaks of joint intelligence bulletins to law enforcement, not through leaks from anonymous government officials. >> johnson said some sort of intermediate alert would allow law enforcement to share non-specific threats without avoiding panic. tougher screening was called for to shut down called the slack super highway. >> i

jamie macintyre has the latest from the pentagon >> reporter: after months of planning, training and shaping operations, the iraqi defensive to retake ramadi is in the final phase. it would appear, based on the overwhelming numerical superiority of the forces that i.s.i.l.'s days of ruling ramadi are numbered, possibly in the single digits. >> reporter: employing a floating plank like this, they began to close in on the busy center where they face house house combat against dug-in i.s.i.l. fighters. back in may i.s.i.l. took ramadi with shocking ease, routing a force with just over 1000 attackers. months of coalition bombing and low-level ground attacks have whittled the i.s.i.l. attackers down to 350 or fewer, while the iraqi numbers over 10,000. it is backed by u.s. air pour which was killed hundreds of i.s.i.l. fighters in baghdad. >> i think the end is coming. that said, it is going to be a tough fight. >> reporter: for months iraqi forces skewed a plan drafted by the u.s. have been slowly surrounding ramadi, culting off supply lines. for u.s. commanders, the pace of the campaign

jami macintyre. >>> there are new calls for an independent investigation into the death of sandra blando died in police custody over the summer, sparking worldwide questions over police actions. monday, a grand jury declined to indict anyone in that death. >> the prosecutor insisting the case is not over. john henry smith has more on the grand jury decision. >> for more than 10 hours, a grand jury in texas discussed evidence presented by special prosecutors in last summer's jailhouse death of sandra bland. she died three days after this traffic stop. >> the grand jury did not return an indictment. the grand jury also considered things that occurred at the jail and did not return an indictment. >> the coroner said bland hanged herself inside the waller county jail using trash bags. special prosecutor to really jordan would not reveal details of the meeting with the grand jury other than to say that his team carefully reviewed video of bland's time in jail. >> as far as what happened today, the details, of course, those are all secret. >> the biggest problem for me is the entire process.