admiral kirby, are you still with me, can you hear me? i think we may have lost our connection with admiral kirby. we're going to try and re-establish that. that's a huge question. we need to get that answered. just how safe are those american forces who are flying over northern iraq. want to bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. this has to be a huge question among many of the media troops right now. just how safe has this operation been and just how possible might it be for further operations, a broader operation against the rest of the isis force, barbara? >> at this point, what we are hearing from the pentagon and from the administration is exactly what admiral kirby said as the spokesman, the president is very clear, there are parameters about what the u.s. is authorized to do, what the u.s. military's authorized to do. i think it's fair to say there will be more air strikes, more humanitarian air drops. but against these isis targets in the north and only in bagh d baghdad, if it is to protect u.s. personnel at the emba

we're waiting for rear admiral john kirby to update us. after some pretty striking comments yesterday from his boss, chuck hagel, the defense secretary, and the chairman of the joint chiefs as well, stepping up the government's description of what the government considers a cancer. and that is isis and the spread of isis control throughout the cradle of civilization, effectively. if i could ask you this, colonel what could grow wrong? it's easy to suggest going after isis when you're sitting in this chair on this side of the ocean. but what could go wrong? what kind of domino effect could happen by broadening the battle, possibly even on the ground, against isis? >> well, the danger is if the united states is seeing as taking over the fight against isis. then isis can paint this as a battle of islam against the great satin. and get actually more followers to flock to its banners. this is why the united states has to tread a very fine line between supporting iraqi efforts and other efforts to combat isis and make it an islam on islam fight.

-- >> admiral kirby? >> is it not accurate that you now estimate there might be up to 18,000 troops near that border between russia and ukraine, and isn't the reality that you have seen very recently a number of additional heavy weapons including sa-22 surface-to-air missiles and long-range artillery go across? and my second question is can you bring us up-to-date on this threatening encounter the chinese military has had with the u.s. navy this week in the air? >> okay. there's a lot there, barbara. we'll start with ukraine. i'm reticent, as i typically am, to give a hard number on russian troops arrayed along the border. i have said for several weeks now that it's north of 10,000. i believe it is still north of 10,000. we do believe that they continue to add to their battalion tactical groups there along the border. >> is it not closer to 18? well north of 10? >> i'm going to stay where i've stayed which is it's north of ten. it does fluctuate. now, we have seen a consistent increase in the last week or

. >> admiral kirby, if the u.s. sends surveillance drones into a country that it is not currently at war with, for instance, syria, is that an act of war? and if not, why not? >> well, i'm not going to talk about hypotheticals, jen. >> i'm talking about the law. the law. >> i'm not an expert on international law either, jen. i would -- what i would tell you is, and the president has been clear about this, secretary hagel has been clear about this, this is a serious threat from a serious group of terrorists. and we need to stay mindful of dong what we need to do to protect american citizens at home and abroad.ç and it's been stated before, we're in the going to hold ourselves to geographic boundaries in order to accomplish that job. so without getting into international law, for which i would be ill educated to speak to you, i can tell you we'll do what we need to do to protect americans. >> for instance, there's an operation that you have talked about which is the special operations rescue mission that failed in ju

>> not that i'm aware of. >> admiral kirby, if the u.s. sends surveillance drones into a country that it is not currently at war with, freor instance, syria, is that an act of war and if not, why not? >> well, i'm not going to talk about hypotheticals. >> i'm talking about the law. >> i'm not an expert on international law either, jen. i would tell you, the president has been clear about that, secretary hagel has been clear about this. this is a serious threat from a serious group of terrorists and we need to do what we need to do to protect american citizens at home and abroad. and as has been stated before, wore not going to hold ourselves to geographic boundaries in order to accomplish that job. so without getting into international law for which i would be ill-educated to speak to, i can tell you that we'll do what we need to do to protect americans. >> there is an operation that you have talked about, which is the special operations rescue mission that failed in july. is that considered a special operations war? >> that was a rescue a

military withvement in iraq i spoke your admiral john kirby. >> president obama that the siege has been broken. a little bit early to declare mission accomplished? declaring mission accomplished with respect to the humanitarian suffering but what we are saying is the situation has reached a positive level where we don't believe that we are going to need to commit any kind of evacuation mission and may not have to conduct any more airdrops but believe me, we still have our eye on the ball with the humanitarian suffering which are made significant and we continue to work with our international partners to see what we can do, operations we can conduct in the future to try to alleviate that suffering. >> what about u.s. airstrikes? it seems that they are successful in combating the islamic state in iraq. these four to serve -- two purposes, to protect u.s. personnel and half of the airstrikes we have completed to date have been designed to that end. the other purpose was specifically to try to create the momentum in and around south -- because this was the artillery and mortar positions aro

the people who posted this video said kirby, poor kirby, can't get a bite. out of reach. >> oh, because it keeps rolling. someone needs to stand on the stem. >> oh, that is the worst because you know the poor turtle is salivating. he can taste the apple. it's so close. with every bite, it's oh, so close. >> microwave is doing is wrong. >> as you can see, when the door is closed, when i open it up -- >> turns out the best equipment to water ski is built in. it's called your feet. >> well, if they're big enough. >> oh, no, no, watch these guys. they are literally water skiing on their feet being pulled by a plane. >> you don't need skis or wake boards or anything like that, but you need a plane. >> they're not just doing it using a plane. i mean, they do it the good old regular way on a boat. ♪ >> this guy jumped the other guy. >> this guy right here, he's actually backwards skiing on his hands. >> kind of in a plank position. >> yeah, look at that. and he's doing push-ups while he's doing it. >> so that explains why these guys are so ripped. >> oh, he just sl

let's go to the pentagon from where press secretary rear admiral john kirby is briefing. >> as we have more details to provide on what we know, we'll certainly to that. rita? >> reporter: does the u.s. consider this an invasion and is the u.s. taking any action, either calling any counterparts overseas either in ukraine or russia? >> it's certainly an unauthorized entry into ukraine by this convoy. and we are consulting, as i said, with international partners right now about next steps. i don't have anything additional to add at this time. and i think, again, in my opening statement, made it very, very clear that what we're expecting of russia. >> but no phone calls or anything yet between the administration? >> this is just happening today so i'm not aware of any outreach today by -- certainly by this building, and i won't speak for other agencies in the federal government. i would remind you, though, the secretary did talk to the minister just a few days ago and the minister guaranteed, was his words, that there would be no military intervention using the pretext of humanitarian reli

we have to be prepared for all kinds of options. >> kirby said u.s. officials are not coordinating with syrian leaders on u.s. operations or efforts to combat islamic states. laums have been calling for air strikes since they saw this video of a murder of u.s. journalist by sunni militants. we coming to you from our studios in tokyo. up ahead in "newsline" stories from here in japan, but first, ron madison brings us up to speed on the latest in business news. >>> leaders of japan's biggest business federation will channel more money into political parties, namely the ruling liberal democratic party. analysts say the move is intended to give big business more influence in the economic policies of the government led by prime minister shinzo abe. officials at the japan business federation are expected to make a final decision on the matter as early as next month. they are expected to instruct member companies to start donating funds. the move will revive a practice that the group abandoned five years ago after the ldp lost power to the democratic party o

the white house putting the blame on the pentagon, let's dip in to the pentagon briefing, admiral kirby is briefi briefing -- giving a briefing. let's listen. >> if isil has drones of their own? >> reporter: yeah. >> i have seen a press report, but i have nothing that would back that up at all. >> reporter: yesterday president obama said that some states in the region are ambivalent about dealing with isil. some of them are financial [ inaudible ]. could you elaborate on that? do you have more information. can you say some gulf states are from one hand facing isil and on the other hand financing them? >> no, i'm not going to elaborate on that. tom. >> reporter: the president said there is no strategy yet for isil. talk about the pentagon's process of developing that strategy. talk about the way ahead. what are the plans you are looking at? what do you hope to achieve. talk about trading moderate levels. does the pentagon have a greater role in that effort. and train and assist mission in iraq eventually presumably would be part of that kind of strategy. >> if i tried to answer that ques

kirby said a team of about 20 personnel assessed the situation on the mountain. they are among about 130 u.s. military advisers now in iraq. >>> u.s. government officials and their european allies say they're concerned about the people of libya. they say residents are experiencing escalating violence and they're repeating calls for a cease-fire. the u.s. state department issued a joint statement with the governments of france, germany, italy and britain. it says they're deeply concerned about shortages and medical supplies and the displacement of thousands of families. it says attacks against civilians may amount to breaches of international humanitarian law. the statement urges those involved in the violence to lay down their weapons and begin political dialogue. libya's government has been unable to control fighting between rival militias. security in the country has deteriorated since 2011 with the fall of moammar al gadhafi's regime. >>> japanese defense authorities moved closer to relocating a controversial u.s. air base in southern japan. they have ignored

we just heard rear admiral john kirby say, the efforts are ongoing. is this too little too late, and assad falls, isn't there a danger that syria becomes a bigger vacuum that ends up getting filled by i.s. and not the moderates? >> right. i think we can't have enough of a coalition, they are up against a monumental effort at this point. so leaving the vacuum there, if assad is actually owfte ousted out of power. >> really appreciate you joining us to give us your perspective. thanks. >> thank you. >> and now for some more stories from around the world . .we girn in ferguson, missouri where the protests finally seem to be calming down. the national guard started leaving ferguson, friday, after the shooting of michael brown two weeks ago. with only a few isolated arrests over the past couple of days, police are hopeful that gatherings over the weekend will be peaceful. but police are worried that brown's funeral on monday will reignite the violence. >>> nicholas maduro, has suggested fingerprinting, and preventing people from buying too much of a single

here is what kirby says when i asked whether it undermines confidence in afghan forces going forward. >> we're months away from afghan, from the u.s. handing over security responsibility for afghanistan. to afghan forces like these. does this undermine your confidence in their ability to take over that role? >> the afghan national security forces continue to perform at a very strong level of competence and confidence. and warfare capability. they have had a good year securing not one, but two national elections. >> to be fair, the number of the so-called green on blue attacks, that's afghan soldiers attacking coalition troops has dropped significantly since 2012 when it peaked. there hadn't been one for a number of months. only two killed this year so far in these attacks. but as israel mirell kirby said, the steps they have taken including vetting afghan soldiers have mitigated the risk. they have not eliminated this risk. afghanistan still very much a battlefield. and we saw proof of that today, jake. >> thanks, jim. back to you, alisyn. >> all right, jake. we want to talk more abou

in the meantime, over at the pentagon briefing earlier in the last hour rear admiral kirby was asked whether this might get in the way of the trust being developed. those afghan forces being trained to take over the mission in afghanistan. the pentagon press secretary said that was not going to be a problem. and at this point, they're still moving forward with pentagon and u.s. plans to hand over that combat operation to those afghan forces. wolf, all of this comes at a very critical time for the u.s. president obama announced his transition plan for afghanistan, his plan to leave a residual force in that country next year. roughly 10,000 u.s. service members. that will dwindle down to nothing in 2016 when the president says the u.s. will completely withdraw from afghanistan. all of that hinges on a bilateral security agreement being signed by the next president of afghanistan. and as you know, that election has been in some turmoil in recent weeks. now there's an election audit under way. i talked to an official earlier this morning that said they're confident the next agreement wil

as admiral kirby said, afghanistan still very much a battlefield. jim sciutto, cnn, washington. >> as jim just mentioned, the frequency of attacks by afghan soldiers on u.s. and nato personnel has actually been declining. >> that's what surprised so many. according to the publication "the long war journal" these attacks peaked back in 2012 with 61 coalition deaths, then dropped dramatically to 14 last year and just three so far this year. >>> still to come on cnn, we have an exclusive look inside the ebola hot zone. >> we're going to take you inside an overcrowded clinic in sierra leone. >>> also australia makes a major announcement about the next phase of the search for missing malaysia airlines flight 370. >>> also a spacecraft launched a decade ago is about to reach its destination and attempt a first of its kind maneuver. you're going to want to see details on this next. in the nation, the safest feature in your car is you. add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving. we put members first, j

i'm joined by rear admiral john kirby. thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me. >> we know that there is an alertness over syria, planes manned and unmanned. that is not without risk. why do the surveillance, if there is a possible decision for air strikes? >> that's getting into intelligence matters. whenever you are considering military action, you want to get as much situational awareness as possible. that's one of the reasons we stepped up our flights over iraq to begin with, to help us get a hold on this threat by isil. >> as we know, there was a rescue mission. when that rescue mission took off, they did not meet resistance from syrian air defenses. syria has a robust air defense system, russian financed. what is the speculation as to why the assad regime did not stop those planes from going in? >> that was a very carefully planned mission, very quietly planned for obvious reasons. it was exceptionally well executed and i wouldn't get into the details beyond that. >> in terms of isis, their border has di

michael kirby let us all -- off with that theme. also some empirical data from the special issues that have been happening regularly at these conferences. this one was on hiv and sex workers. i also edited that. full disclosure. it is a wonderful group of young investigators who wrote those papers. i am very excited. there is strong human rights evidence for potential benefits of reducing hiv incidence. and also on decriminalization as hiv prevention. finally, the implementation track now has the largest number of abstract submissions of any track. those of you who work out there, you are an enormous sector. there was great science so very encouraging outcomes. also one or two warnings. good news that earlier disclosure turned out to have adherence to therapy. that is an important finding. happily, in africa, many of those kids are surviving. a challenging issue with plan b, occluding the hiv therapy which looks like their retention is not as good as we had hoped. they are falling off and that is going to be an important challenge.

joining me on the phone is pentagon spokesman rear admiral john kirby. thank you for taking the time to be with us. these attacks, they've dropped in frequency, but they're still happening. how could this have happened? >> well, that's what the investigation is going to look at real hard, erin. i don't have all the specific details and circumstances today. it is still a dangerous place, afghanistan, still a combat zone. we work very hard to try to mitigate the threat, the insider threat, specifically and we've done a lot over the last couple of years to do that. you don't hear about as many of these happening as a couple years ago, but difficult to say you can eliminate it altogether. there's a lot of security precautions taken, security force personnel present on this trip, they did respond eventually killing the assail t assailant. >> but these are afghans who are vetted, trusted, trained by americans, providing security. they've killed dozens of coalition troops. i know it may sound like an unfair question because i know the answer, but i think it's f

government that the air strikes have begun in iraq, rear admiral john kirby saying on twitter "u.s. military aircraft conduct air strike on isis, artillery was used against kurdish forces defending irbil near u.s. personnel." the last part is critical as we've been hearing from white house officials and the president said last night, when he sent those u.s. military advisers in to iraq back in june, he made it very clear at the time and officials have made it clear since then that were those u.s. personnel to come under threat, that the u.s. would launch air strikes or take action, and that is what has occurred. at the same time, the white house is making it pretty clear that they are also keeping a very keen eye on a potential humanitarian catastrophe, really a real humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding and white house officials and administration officials right up to secretary of state john kerry are saying this could be a genocide those 40,000 some-odd yazi yazidis, the ethnic religious minority sect taking refuge in the mountains in northern iraq, they're trying to really

joining us now is pentagon press secretary rear admiral john kirby.got back from around the world with secretary hagel last night. so we thank you for this. well, in terms of what the special forces saw, what did they find when they did this secret reconnaissance mission on top of the mountain? >> they found far fewer refugees an the mountain than we previously thought were there. probably just several thousand, less than 4,000, we think. and, two, the conditions were not as dire for the smaller number of people. we found many unopened pallets of food and water that hadn't been consumed yet. that was good. and the other thing we believe is that thousands of them were leaving every night due to the good work of the peshmerga and the security that we were able to provide from the air. these air strikes on isil mortar and artillery positions around the mountain. so we believe we made it safer for them to get off. we also helped them sustain themselves with food and water to make the journey off. >> we now do not think we will need a massive rescue operat

yes, jim. >> thank you, admiral kirby. i'm told this was a vetted soldier who had gone through what is a very serious vetting process for afghan troops, particularly at a facility like this. does this, in your view, identify weaknesses in the vetting process? the bigger picture. we're months away from the u.s. handing over security responsibility for afghanistan to afghan forces like these. does this undermine your confidence in their ability to take over that role? >> great questions. first, too soon to tell on what this means for the vetting process. again, we believe this individual was a member of the afghan national security forces. we need to let the investigation proceed to figure out exactly who this was before we leap to any conclusions about the vetting process. on your second question, i would say in general dunnford mentioned this in his discussion with the secretary today, the afghan national security forces continue to perform at a very strong level of competition and confidence and warfare capability. they h

team up and agree to an oil trade deal understanding to ease the impacts of such sanctions and some kirby joins me later he's going to be talking about they are but first the russian government has imposed a one year restriction on the import of agricultural products from the countries imposing sanctions so beef pork poultry fish cheese milk vegetables and fruit imports from australia canada the e.u. u.s. and norway all off the menu but the drinks menu is still ok our goal is not affected neither is baby fruit now in twenty thirteen russia imported six point seven billion dollars worth of meat products in total so talk about a money hit so to discuss this issue the new bite back measures i'm now joined by alexi a sokoloff head of the learning center who trades dot com alexei these measures are designed to hit back the question is how ha's of a going to hit back and who actually didn't hit back. the falling apart before these murderers you. know are shot ol not going to hit back. just trying to drop their on the other cultures circle hey i'm. all in the economy in. the. son turnbull into.

by rear-admiral john kirby. you told supporters we have been successful in handling the humanitarian crisis, and we heard these excepts from president obama. >> we do not expect an decisional operation to evacuate people off the mountain. it's unlikely we'll need to continue humanitarian air drops on the mountain. >> iraqi officials are concerned that the safety is not accurate. there could be as many as 15,000 trapped on the mountain. what do you know, what will you do to help. >> we believe the number is in the area of 4,000 to 5,000. that's based on very specific feedback that we got from app assessment team that went out to the mountain yesterday, as you know. we are confident in the number. we continue to see more than a thousand or so leave. that will probably get smaller as time goes on. i would tell you that we thing there's 1500 to 2,000. bottom line is we believe the situation is much improved than it was, and we'll continue to watch it. if we need to do continued humanitarian assistance, we will. righ

. >> i also asked admiral kirby whether this kind of attack has eroded the trust of u.s.and their afghan counterparts. he said actually that rust is growing. these attacks peaked in 2012, they declined significantly since then. the measures in place to reduce that risk have only mitigated it, not eliminated it, as admiral kirby said, afghanistan is still very much a battlefield. jim scuitto, cnn washington. >>> over the past month, six tropical storms or typhoons have impacted east asia. >> japan has taken on half of those storms. at this hour, another typhoon is barreling toward the nation, we want to go back and find out more. this is the last thing this nation leaves. >> especially a couple days removed from the previous storm we had in this region. we've had about a meter of rainfall here over the past five to six days. pretty incredible to think that the wettest single location on earth over the past week, because of the amount of tropical storms that have cruised by in this region. a typhoon sitting there at a category one equivalent. it sits about 600 miles or 1,00

team on an agreed to an oil trade deal understanding to ease the impacts of such sanctions and some kirby joins me later he's going to be talking about they are. the russian government has imposed a one year restriction on the import of agricultural products from the countries imposing sanctions so beef pork poultry fish cheese milk vegetables and fruit imports from australia canada the e.u. u.s. and norway all off the menu but the drinks menu is still ok our goal is not affected neither is baby food now in twenty thirteen russia imported six point seven billion dollars worth of meat meat products.

. >> next, today's pentagon briefing with a rear admiral john kirby discussing possible surveillance strikes in syria and coalition forces who signed forces inort kurdish iraq. this is half an hour. >> secretary haig will be issuing a statement to support kurdish forces in northern iraq. i talked about this before. a few weeks ago, secretary hagel commissioned a task force to accelerate resupply efforts in addition to support from the u.s. and the central government of iraq and baghdad. secretary hagel announced today that seven additional nations -- albania, canada, croatia, the united kingdom -- are providing kurdish forces desperately needed arms and equipment. this will accelerate with more nations expected to contribute. this will greatly assist them in repelling the threat they face from isil. as secretary hagel has made counterhe ability to this threat will only grow. the united states looks forward to working with our friends from around the world to assist in that effort. with that, i will take questions. >> can you be more specific about "munitions?" an important point. wha

we're back with rear admiral john kirby, the pentagon press secretary.trikes so far are pretty successful against isis targets in northern iraq. are they about to expand against isis targets in syria? >> well we don't get ahead of operations obviously that haven't been conducted. what i'll tell you, you're right. we have had some success on a tactical level against sisal targets in iraq. they are principally done to either for humanitarian purposes or to help protect u.s. personnel facilities and to enable the iraqi security forces to go after these guys. we understand that this is a regional issue and that they will isil enjoys free waing across what is really not even -- of course, they do. >> that's really their head quarters. >> that's right. we note they resource themselves from there, they train there. they equip there. we know we've got to take a regional approach. but there's been no decisions to expand the level or intensity of air strikes against isil right now. >> it's fair to say it's being considered. there's contingent sit planning going on

in the show and talking about multinationals we are going to talk about the role snatched yes tim kirby he invested in that company this week about the will land and i'm more intrigued than ever to find out what's going to happen because of course our company has been in the limelight this week but first we start of the show going to talk about you chris because this particular edgy company was once the richest most powerful oil company in russia but that changed the company's downfall it began in two thousand and three when the c.e.o. of a company called of course he was arrested on charges what then happened was the assets of the company frozen him because of the escalating tax debts it meant the shares of the company was sold off to other russian oil companies and it was it was bankrupt as a consequence now just this week the hague ruled that you could in fact eggs procreative by the russian government stands as a consequence russia is expected to pay fifty billion dollars back to the shareholders of the company now the pope concluded that the primary objective of the russian federat

you can't have a strategy without a commitment. >> reporter: admiral kirby added in regards to an attack in syria when we as a government are ready to have that discussion we'll have that discussion. >> doug, thank you. whether a real threat or pie in the sky hopes of isis this next story is an illustration of what isis terrorists have in mind for you, your family, and this country. chief intelligence correspondent kathryn harris is here with chilling specifics. >> reporter: according to the data files reviewed by reporters for foreign policy magazine the owner of the laptop computer isis recruit from tunisia was teaching himself about biological chemicals. how to develop biological weapons and weaponize bubonic plague. it included a fatwa for a cleric on the justification for using chemical, biological weapons. if muslims can't defeat the unbelievers in a different way it's permissible to use weapons of mass destruction even if it kills all of them. before publishing the piece a senior writer at foreign policy said they talked with intelligence officials and experts. >> people are chara

that's the issue that i raised with admiral john kirby here in the briefing room. >> we're months away from afghan -- from the u.s. handing over security responsibility for afghanistan to afghan forces like these. does this undermine your confidence in their ability to take over that role? >> good question, jim. it's too soon to tell what this means for the vetting process. we believe this individual was a member of the afghan national security forces. we need to let the investigation proceed before we figure out conclusions to the vetting process. and secondly i would say, general dunford mentioned this in his discussion with the secretary today. the afghan security forces continue to perform at a very strong level of competence and confidence and warfare capability. >> we're told this was a routine visit to the marshal fahin university. this is outside of the capital of afghanistan where they are training the senior leaders of the afghan military going forward. and this is -- you know, it's a real blow to those efforts to have an attack like this take place at what is really afghanis

joining us know is the pentagon press secretary, rear admiral john kirby. great to see you. >> thanks, shep. >> does not put our troops in a combat position. we now established a base from which we are launching activities. that's been announced by the pentagon. there was an open ended without a number of troops operations notification sent to the congress two days ago and we know 130 people went. and we know we have ospreys that fly like a plane and land like a helicopter. if one of those went down, are we then in come about position? >> we have not set up an air base in northern iraq. the very small number of troops that were put into northern iraq as the president said, many of them are going to be leaving and they're leaving on the ospreys. they were largely marines. so i don't think there will be any persistent necessary air element in the north. that said we have helicopters down at the baghdad airport that remain there to provide security assistance to the embassy but this is a very limited, achievable, dissecrete set of military objections in northe

as admiral kirby said, afghanistan is still very much a battlefield. jim sciutto, afghanistan. >>> a former afghan prisoner is set to get underway today. the u.s. army sergeant will be asked questions by a general leading the investigation. some say he deserted his post. bergdahl was captured by the taliban five years ago. he was released for five taliban members in may. he's currently back on duty in san antonio, texas. his legal team has said it will be, quote, an interesting and productive day. >>> in iraq militants force thousands to leave their homes. unicef say 40 children part of a religious minority have died. they died as a direct consequence of violence, displacement and dehydration over the past couple of days. the group says up to 25,000 children are now stranded in the mountains and are in dire need of humanitarian aid. >>> iraqi christians are also being threatened by isis militants. the sweep into northern iraq has driven mean to flee or go into hiding after threats on their lives. michael holmes reports. >> reporter: an ancient mosque s

admiral kirby said hagel had not asked for a formal review of the program. that's not really the pentagon's p purview. he was outlining some of that. once he got to talking about the situation in iraq and we now have an update on what's going on in iraq. basically after the iraqi and kurdish forces retook the dam, iraqi forces began moving toward the hometown of saddam hussein today to tikrit north of baghdad. that's been in isis hands for weeks now. late last night isis released a new video threatening america and americans in any place. the isis statement was issued in english and went onto say we will drown all of you in blood. this video came just hours after the state department designated the isis spokesperson to its terror list. the president said the u.s. would be be surrogate iraqi air force. they carried out one air strike today around the mosul dam we're told. so that iraqi forces are in the process of creating a buffer and safety zone there. the president added the u.s. would continue to carry out air strikes in iraq to give the new government of

then this afternoon ghirm kirby just throttles it all back.does he say well we don't telegraph our punches? excuse me? what did we do earlier in the week with the failed rescue attempt james foley, we telegraphed our punches. you telegraph punches at the tactical level. you set strategy and you build a campaign plan in public so -- we want isis to know that we have a strategy and we have a campaign plan. that's not telegraphing your punches, that's convincing the rest of the world that we are serious about taking them oon. >> we may have an incredibly smart, good strategy, but if the whole point is to telegraph to your enemy that we have we're not doing a good job of telegraphing. we are looking like we are flailing, we want to contain, we don't want to eliminate. we don't want -- you know, we go after people that aren't there to rescue them. >> right. >> we look, you know, in terms of leadership, we look keystone coppish. i love our military. they work hard. our soldiers and sailors and airmen they work hard. but the leadership right now or t

we may get a better idea when the pentagon press secretary john kirby speaks to reporters any momentsow. yesterday, kirby's boss, the defense secretary himself, chuck hagel, branded isis, also known as islamic state, beyond a terrorist group. forcing the pentagon to, quote, prepare

you heard the rear general kirby saying the u.s. is stepping up its efforts significantly against isis and heard the president vow to protect americans against isis. do you have any fear the administration has been natural too slow to respond to the threat? >> the administration has been very deliberate. when you're talking about going to war, deliberate is good. i think the time for deliberation is quickly coming to an end. the administration has to decide two things. first, is isis a threat to the united states? i think it is, many people think it is. if it is, what are we going to do about it? we need to put the is islamic state on the defensive. we can't be bullied because they claim to ramp up murders against journalists or conductor ror attacks. they wim do that anyway. it's incumbent upon the administration if they deem the islamic state a threat, to act. >> thanks very much for joining us. >>> out front next, as isis gains ground, obama approves surveillance flights over syria while syria warns the u.s. against air strikes.

john kirby is traveling with the secretary of defense right now in india. zakaria gps" also "the washington post" columnist and contributing editor for "atlantic media." you'll be talking about this on all of those venues coming forward. on the u.s. political side we're hearing the usual in response to the president. you argue about who is to blame for the past, you question the plans of the current, when you have no plan yourself for the future. let's not play their game. if iraq falls, what happens? >> oh, if iraq falls, you have a catastrophe, because you would have this very, very extreme jihadi group that would be in control of a vast, not just territory, but one of the five or six largest oil-producing countries in the world with access to revenues in thebillio. the parts most threatened is courage stand. the united states since 1991 in collaboration with britain and france established a no-fly zone to protect the kurds. since then it is supported by a large part of the international community that the kurds should be protected. i think there is a hum

michael kirby kind of led us off with that theme. there were a number of presentations on human rights policy and the law and also some empirical data from a special issue of the lancet. they have now been happening regularly with these conferences. this one was on hiv and sex work, and sex workers. i would encourage you all to read it. i also edited it, full disclosure but it's a wonderful group of young investigators who led those papers. really excited about the science but there's strong human rights evidence there for for example the potential benefits of reducing police violence onsive incidents. models outkonl and also on decriminalization as an hiv prevention approach. finally in track 8, actually now has the largest number of be a strukt sufficient lations. for those of you who worked for implmenters out there, you are an enormous sector and doing lots and lots of work. there was great science. some very encouraging outcomes. also one or two warnings. one was good news that earlier disclosure to adolescents turns out to impr

at the pentagon today, rear admiral john kirby said the air campaign and kurdish ground forces helped the yazidis escape. >> we believe that thousands of them were leaving every night. now, i can't give you an exact figure of how many every night. but certainly more than a thousand or so every night were leaving the mountain with peshmerga help. >> woodruff: kirby estimated about 4,000 people remain on the mountain, but nearly half are said to be herders who live there and have no interest in leaving. >> reporter: those who did leave continue to arrive in refugee camps and many say they will never return. >> ( translated ): my feeling towards sinjar? no way, no way can i go back. how can my eyes see sinjar again when i witnessed hundreds of people die there? >> ifill: meanwhile, there were new clashes in western iraq today between islamic state" fighters and government forces around fallujah, in anbar province. the governor of the province appealed for u.s. air strikes there too, but american officials had no immediate response. in another development, france announced the imminent de

at the pentagon briefing, rear admiral john kirby, president secretary, said the pentagon is ready. so there is a disconnect, not only between the president and defense secretary but it seems the white house and pentagon. i tried once again to go back to josh earnest, ask for clarification of that comment, does the president regret it. >> he was asked a specific question about whether or not the president would seek congressional authorization before ordering any sort of military action in syria. and the point the president made was that that's putting the cart before the horse. the president hasn't yet laid out a specific plan for military action in syria. and the reason for that is simply that the pentagon is still developing that plan. >> i later on asked, brooke, whether or not there's debate inside the administration about whether or not to hit isis in syria. press secretary josh earnest said i wouldn't describe it that way but wouldn't deny it. >> to jim's point, gloria, the president cautious, but to this notion of no strategy, that elicits a lot of whoa. where do you stand o