jamie macintyre is live in washington. secretary kerry just give an impassioned speech, jamie. why did he say in a nutshell it's such a good agreement? >> reporter: well, basically this was a full throated defense of the iran nuclear deal. it went on for almost a full hour. secretary kerry attempted to address every criticism that has been advanced against the deal, and if you want to distill the argument into a nutshell, he basically said there really is no better alternative. in fact he argued there was no alternative, because he said the idea of going back to the bargaining table and trying to get a better deal was a -- a punchy sound bite but had no connection in reality, making the argument that the america's negotiating partners in this deal would simply not stand by for another round of negotiations. he tried to address all of the criticisms about whether or not it would be easy for iran to cheat in the deal, whether or not the sanctions would in fact snap back into place, and he even tried to address the concerns of united nations closest ally israel in the region. but

tony. >> jamie macintyre for us at the pentagon, jamie, thank you. >>> turn to this tragedy now at therabia. more than 700 were killed today in a stampede. hundreds more were injured. saudi leaders have think practice uss an investigation. it is one of the deadliest accidents during the hajj in two decades. but it is not the first time disaster has struck the annual pilpilgrimage to mecca. racks sanaa saberi has more. >> reporter: hajj the annual muslim journey to mecca attracts two to 3 million pilgrims from every corner of the globe each other. >> you couldn't view such a more beautiful act that taking your wife ande ander who they are to. >> reporter: being one. five principle that his define islam. most believe it's the ultimate religious experience. believers perform it at least once in a lifetime if they are physically and financially able. this sees knowledging journey takes place over five days in the last month of the muslim lunar calendar. with that many people found in the same place at the same time, the annual pill grim i believe has been prone to devastating disasters in

jami macintyre has more. >> general austin i must say i've been a member of this committee for nearly 30 years and i've never heard system like this. never. >> the armed services committee hearing began on a contentious note and went downhill from there. in the hot seat, general lloyd austin, head of the u.s. central command and christine warment. amongment questions, what is the u.s. doing to staunch the refugees leaving syria and going to europe. why not a safe zone in northern syria. >> >> it's always in our best interest to help protect civilians, but again, i would not recommend a buffer zone at this point in time. >> so everything is really going well. >> nos, that's not -- >> general austin's overall argument that progress is being made in iraq and syria despite what he called slow movement at the tactical level was met with derigs, especially when he was forced to admit that of the 54 syrian trained rebels, only a handful are still on the battlefield. >> can you tell us what the total number of trained fighters remains? >> it's a small number and the ones that are in the fight

now as jami macintyre reports, an effort i also underway to build one nearly 100 years after the war ended. >> there are monuments to honor veterans of three major wars of the 20th century, world war ii, korea, and vietnam, but the great war, the war to end all wars, world war i is without a national memorial in washington. edwin fountain is on a mission to change that. >> what i think most americans don't realize is we had more american servicemen and women who died in world war i than vietnam and korea combined. we rightfully honor the veterans of korea and vietnam with memorials on the mal, but the valor and heroism and sacrifice of american soldiers in world war i was no less worthy of commemoration and honor than that of the later wars. >> i met with the vice chairman of the world war one centennial commission in washington's park named for a world war i general. congress has decreed no more monuments on the national mall but approved this park across only the historic willard hotel a block from the white house as suitable. it's once glistening reflecting pool drained and in dis