so far, that money hasn't arrived, and the peshmerga are broke.distan's regional government spokesman safin dizayi fully admits this is a crisis. >> definitely, the peshmerga are fighting a war which is a matter of life and death. they will continue to fight even if they continue to be unpaid. but while they are fighting and they are very vulnerable to attack of isil in every form the families have to survive. their kids have to go to school. >> reporter: peshmerga forces are woefully under-equipped, says the government here. >> when we have international delegations and senior people coming to kurdistan they go to the battle front, they speak very highly of peshmergas, they pat on the back, and sometimes unfortunately we have been patronized. we can do without the patronizing. what we need is some more assistance particularly for the peshmergas. and if this war is to be won-- often people say that peshmergas are fighting on behalf of the international community and the free world-- if that is the case then there has to be more assistance. yes, we

forces are kurdish forces, the peshmerga. holly williams has more on this. >> reporter: for two years, the iraq's kurdish fighters have led the battle against isis, known as peshmerga means one who faces death. the kurdish soldiers have helped from the extremists. nearly 1,400 peshmerga lost their lives in a war they're fighting without enough body armor or helmets with few weapons and against an enemy that uses suicide bombs and booby traps. >> the kurds are not only fighting for themselves but for the rest of the world. masrour barzani, in the region plunged into economic crisis by the falling price of oil. with consequences for the peshmerga. >> they haven't been paid for months at least. >> reporter: they haven't been paid for four months. >> no. >> reporter: they're fighting isis on the front line? >> they are. they believe in the cause. unfortunately they have families, people to take care of. front lines without being paid. >> reporter: the kurds say the war against isis has cost them billions of dollars. not only in b

forces are kurdish soldier, the peshmerga. holly williams has more on this. >> reporter: for nearly two years iraq's kurdish fighters have lead the battle against isis. known as the peshmerga, which means one who faces death. these kurdish soldiers have and territory from the extremists. nearly 1400 peshmerga have lost their lives in a war they are fighting without enough body armor or hell melts to go around, with very few heavy weapons. and against an enemy that uses suicide bombs and booby traps. >> reporter: the reasons the kurd. >> the kurds are not only fighting for themselves but the rest of the world. >> massrowr bar glani is-- a region that has been plunged into economic crisis by the falling price of oil with consequences for the peshmerga. >> they haven't been paid for four months at least. >> reporter: they haven't been paid for four months and fighting isis on the front line. >> they are. they believe in the cause. but unfortunately they have families. there are people to take care of. and we don't know for how mu

did you realize any moral problem with the peshmerga? -- morale problem with the peshmerga? colonel warren: no, no problem with the peshmerga. they are committed fighters. the impact is that they haven't been paid. that's the impact. but they're still fighting. >> and the situation in northern ,yria, according to the reports fighting is intensifying over the last one week or two weeks. when you are talking about pressuring them is it safe to assume that before liberating the area, the priority for the coalition is to secure the last part they have syrian-turkish border in terms of closing the way of isis to escape from the operation? colonel warren: we certainly don't want to transmit our plans ahead of our execution of those plans. what i'll say is, you've seen the noose beginning to tighten around the area, you see pressure continuing to mount whether pressure from the ground or air, and that will keep up until raca is eventually liberated. i'm certainly not going to announce what tactical actions we're going to do on the road to raca, i'm not going to do that. um -- ihave

. >> reporter: kurdish peshmerga forces are staying out of the operation so far. >> peshmerga forcesy here to monitor. but the forces haven't been able to retake the village which they entered then quickly exits. if they continue like this, then we make mosul, we'll take longer than baghdad had hoped. >> reporter: the mosul offensive is backed by nearly 200 u.s. marines and the united states is also promise is to set up more military outposts. the pentagon feels iraqi forces are on the right track. >> with u.s. and coalition partners supporting them with air power and other enableing capabilities. we have seen steady progress as the i.s.f. continues to recapture territory. >> reporter: and as iraq's government videos of their gains, isil pro propaganda are o active. the group claims its defending its position and showed this video destroying iraqi military vehicles. the iraqi army has had relatively more success in moving towards mosul from the southern anbar province. but the counter terrorism force the ongoing operation is one of the toughest battles they have fought against aisles

. >> reporter: peshmerga forces are staying out of the operation so far >> translation: peshmerga forces are here to monitor, but the government forces haven't been able to retake the village which they entered and quickly exited. if the battles continue like this, then taking mosul will take longer than hoped. >> reporter: the mosul offensive is backed by nearly 200 u.s. marines in the u.s. states is promising to set up more military outposts. the pentagon feels iraqi forces are on the right track >> with u.s. and coalition partners supporting them, with air power and other enabling capabilities, we have seen steady progress as the isf continues to recapture territory to include heat. >> reporter: as the government release videos of their gains, i.s.i.l. propaganda is also active. they claim it's defending its positions in the area and shows this video of government vehicles destroyed. the counter terrorism force says the ongoing operation in the town is one of the toughest battles they've fought against i.s.i.l. iraqi forces are trying to take control of the town that's dwudd by the eu

they head toward the peshmerga. a rocket hits the vehicles. they try to fire on the kurdish base. a fighter's weapon flicked and it starts firing on their own vehicle. you hear voices say stop fighting stop fighting. what does this tell you? >> having never been in ground combat but having friends who have it, they can tell you it's a definite scary oh, my god kind of a thing. even our troops who are well equipped and the morale is high, they train together. to them the environment is challenging. you take a group of ill trained or not trained at all fighters, you give them semi automatic or automatic weapons and you turn them loose on a battlefield. it's probably pure chaos out there because their commanders don't care about them. they're poorly led. it's a mess. they are not the ten foot tall image that their information operations tries to portray them. they have nor experience, no training. let's go to the next videotape. i'll try to describe what's on it. you hear this guy say i told you to aim higher, what's wrong with you? you're firing the bullet casing straight at us. sec

we will be going back with the aerial support of the coalition >> reporter: peshmerga forces are staying out of the operation so far. >> translation: peshmerga forces are only here on monitor, but the government forces haven't until now been able to retake the village of al-nusra which they entered and quickly exited. if the battles continue like this, then taking mosul will take longer than was hoped. >> reporter: the mosul offensive is backed by nearly 200 u.s. marines in the u.s. is promising to set up more military outposts. the pentagon feels iraqi forces are on the right track >> we do ask coalition partners supporting them with power power and other enabling capabilities. we have seen steady process as the isf continues to recapture territory to include heat. >> reporter: as government releases videos of their gains, i.s.i.l. is also kich. they have this video showed destroyed iraqi military vehicles. the iraqi army has had more success in moving towards mosul from the southern province, but the counter terrorism force says the ongoings operation is one of the toughest battles the

and your opinion of kurdish forces, peshmerga fight against isis? thank you. >> the peshmerga forces like an important role, and many nato allies and partner countries are providing training for peshmerga forces as a part of the efforts to degrade and destroy isil. so i think that's an example of how we are building local capacity. i'm arguing to do that more, and the more organized framework, more cost efficient and with greater impact. russia's role in syria is that day, and also iran, is that they support the assad regime. they declared that very clearly, and it done by deploying military forces in syria. and even though there's been some reduction in the russian presence, russia still a substantial military forces in syria. air forces, ground forces and naval forces in the eastern mediterranean. so the main role of russia in syria is to support the assad regime. >> wow, so many of you. i told you nato was a hot topic. >> i am from gcc. i am from uae, and i want to ask you about how do you evaluate your relation with gcc in terms of cooperation?

stoltenberg: the peshmerga mr. stoltenberg: the peshmerga forces play an important role, and many allied countries are providing training for peshmerga forces as part of the efforts to degrade and destroy myself -- degrade and destroy isil. that is an example of how we are building local capacity. we do that already, but what i'm arguing in favor of doing that more and in a more organized name work. -- a more organized framework and with greater impact. russia possible in syria and also -- russia's role in syria and also iran is with the regime, and they have declared that very clearly, and they had done that by deploying military forces in syria, and even though there has been some reduction in the russian presence, russia still has substantial military forces in syria -- air forces, ground forces, naval forces. the main role of russia in syria is to support assad. karen: wow, so many of you. yes, ma'am. i told unido was a hot topic -- i told you nato was a hot topic. >> i want to ask about how do you evaluate you

for peshmerga forces as part of the efforts to degrade and destroy isil. that is an example of how we are building local capacity. we do that already, but what i'm arguing in favor of doing that more and in a more organized name work. -- a more organized framework and with greater impact. russia's role in syria and also iran is with the regime, and they have declared that very clearly, and they had done that by deploying military forces in syria, and even though there has been some reduction in the russian presence, russia still has substantial military forces in syria -- air forces, ground forces, naval forces. the main role of russia in syria is to support assad. karen: wow, so many of you. yes, ma'am. > i told you nato was a hot topic. >> i'm from gcc. i want to ask you about, how do you evaluate your relationship with gcc in terms of cooperation? i believe they look for more justnato rather than analyzing their capabilities. can nato assure them stability and security in the region with respect to iran? the other question is how much can you give nato

when the kurdish peshmerga moved to stop the isis onslaught after the iraqi army fled. the 15th division retrained and restructured is the first unit back since then. in this operation, trying to move on a village just past the peshmerga's defensive berm. coalition air strikes and artillery pound isis targets relentlessly. we're still hearing the fighter jets overhead. a few hours ago, we were in the joint operations center watching the u.s. drone feed. there was a berm similar to this. the isis militant were lined up against it, firing on the iraqi army as they were attempting to advance. then there was an air strike. the entire room erupted in cheers. it was such a testimony to just how vital coalition air support is when it comings to altering the dynamics of the battlefield. the iraqis come up with the plan, the americans offer advice and integrate their capabilities of which the iraqis naturally want more. >> i think they're seeing success. success breeds success. >> reporter: colonel scott noman who refers to isis by its acronym daesh, partnered with the command.

in the months ahead, iraqi forces, the peshmerga and sunni tribal forces will bring increasing pressure to bear against the enemy in mosul. meanwhile, we will be aggressive in looking for opportunities to reinforce success, as secretary carter has said, and we'll seize every opportunity to maintain a momentum and increase the effectiveness of our partners. similarly in syria, the pressure we put on isil has degraded their capabilities, limited their freedom of movement and reduced their resources. in the past few months, the local kurdish and arab forces that we support have retaken a significant percentage of the territory previously under isil control in northeast syria. other vetted syrian opposition forces are currently fighting along the turkish/syrian border in operations that will put additional pressure on isil, further stemming the flow of foreign fighters and supplies into syria. the recent authorization of additional u.s. forces in syria will allow us to increase the capacity and capability of indigenous ground forces and set the conditions for operations against raqqah. in c

when the kurdish peshmerga moved to stop the isis onslaught after the iraqi army fled.5th division of re-trained and re-structured is the first unit back since then. in this operation trying to move on a village just past the peshmerga's defensive berm. coalition air strikes and artillery pound isis targets relentlessly. we're still hearing the fighter jets overhead. and a few hours ago we were in the joint operations center watching the u.s. drone feed. there was a berm very similar to this one, the isis militants were lined up against it firing on the iraqi army as they were attempting to advance. and then there was an air strike. the entire room erupted in cheers. and it was such testimony to just how vital coalition air support is when it comes to altering the dynamics of the battlefield. the iraqis come up with the plan. the americans offer advice and integrate their capabilities of which the iraqis naturally want more. >> i think they're seeing success. and success breeds success. >> reporter: colonel scott noman refers to isis by arabic acronym die daesh and his

like a guy who defected to peshmerga two weeks ago. and so this strategy failed for them. >> barbara, does isil become more dangerous as the state becomes less effective and controls a smaller footprint in that part of the world? are things like brussels less predictable, less trackable, becoming more possible? >> indeed, there are about 5,000 europeans who have gone to fight syria in iraq and come back to europe. and i think this is maybe the ticking time bomb for europe, the question is whether they become disaffected and decide it's not worth blowing themselves up for a group that's not succeeding, or if they decide this is the time to double down and stage a horrific attack. one of the most worry some thing that we've seen is that isis has been surveying nuclear sites. and if you're an apocalyptic group with an apocalyptic vision, what better way than to set off a dirty bomb and sabotage a nuclear facility. the 5,000 people who have come back, and as we've seen, the european intelligence services are scrambling and trying don't a h

peshmerga forces were the targets. i.s.i.l. claimed responsibility.iolence in the southern philippines between farmers and police have left at least two people dead. about 6,000 blocked the highway in the north province. they were demanding financial help after months of dry conditions. gunfire broke out as police tried to disburse the crowd. >> reporter: a standoff between protesters mainly comprising of farmers and their supporters and police authorities continues here in central area. on friday we saw skirmishes between the protesters and the police station as the police tried to move them away from the highway. two are confirmed dead and dozens injured in hospital. the protesters and the farmers, who are the large majority, are still situated in the church compound. the police want to make sure there are no firearms in the area and so with senior church figures and senior politicians from the local area, there was a search of the location. nothing has been found. both sides coup accuse the other of starting the firing on friday which led to those

kurdish peshmerga forces were the apparent target. isil claims responsibility. >> anger in the philippines as police confront thousands of protesting farmers. >>> serving up solutions for former rebel fighters. >> welcome back. the top stories here on al jazeera. barack obama said that the 102 nations have signed a treaty preventing groups like isil from obtaining nuclear materials. >>> south african president jacob zuma said that he'll respect the court judgment ordering him to pay back public money used to upgrade his private home. >>> the u.n. has criticized the e.u. plan to deport refugees back to turkey. it wants safeguards in place before refugees return. >>> a soldier accused of killing an injured palestinian man can be key takenned in a military camp for now. a man was shot in the head in hebron in the occupied west bank. he allegedly attacked an israeli. charges against the soldier has been reduced from murder to manslaughter. we have more from west jerusalem. >> israel's chief military prosecutor appeared in court to try to

. >> often people say that peshmergas are fighting on behalf of the international community and the freethat is the case then there has to be more assistance. >> ifill: all that and more on

i have got to give a lot of credit to the peshmerga fighters. i have got pictures of a man posting pictures of his kids. charles: there is news the obama administration is sending in apache helicopters and more aid for those kurdish fighters. is this the time where we should be going for the death blow? >> you can't do it by waging war by one teaspoonful and a tablespoon full. the cardinal advantage of being a super power is super power. on those numbers, i'm not sure standard and poors has gone through the isis books. the islamic state suffers reverses. revenues are down and we are getting money from certain saudis and gulf arabs. and the core problem here is obama reef fueled to kill isis when it -- refused to kill isis when it was a startup. now they have global franchises. charles: there is a lot of controversy over the 9/11 report and whether president obama will continue to block the american public from getting to the truth. >> the saudis are evil. they are our enemies, they are more per mi d they are more pers than the iranians. it's a m

the peshmerga are holding an outer limited position for the iraqi army as they advance. they are very much taking a defensive role in all this because of the ethnic tensions that do exist. the kurds cannot go in and try to recapture a massive city. the coalition is there with advisers. you have the artillery battalion on the ground that has tragically suffered one casualty with a death of a marine that happened a few weeks ago. then you, of course, have coalition air power. despite all that, iraqis are still struggling. you have the human component. some of the villages, civilian population is still there. they were describing chillingly how isis was keeping them as human shields. isis would not allow them to leave. they would shove them into homes in the middle of the village and some got caught in the crossfire. some lost their lives because isis would not let them go. this is something that is going to be of greater concern if and when the iraqi army does move on to mosul. they are a population of 1.5 million to 2 million people. most of them are still in the city. >>

it's -- i have said this consistently, the best thing to do is support the kurds, peshmerga and push into syria. let them figure that out. >> he's not going provide the kurds with the weaponry he's been promising for years. >> the one thing we can agree, isis is our enemy. take out isis. isis gives birth to islamic extremists that allow them to flourish. wipe them out before they affect the region. >> infection has spread, doctor. there are radical islamics in afri africa, europe, you can go across -- what it means is you have to do it strategically. today, the president was meeting with the italians, french and germans in germany. the fact you are going to put in the additional forces. itis not only 250, there's a large force of americans. i say enough in terms of advisers. they are on the ground, trying to figure out how we can get people on the ground to act aggressively and effectively against isis and use cyber security to take action. >> logical, but it should have been done three years ago. today, the front page of the new york times, we are going to use cyber attacks. really?

the rest were kurdish peshmerga or government-affiliated fighters. we have the latest now from baghdad. >> there are many reasons behind the increasing of the death toll that was mentioned by the united nations mission to iraq. mostly because the fighting is still going on. when the iraqi forces announced that they did launch more than operation in more than one area many areas are sub jacketed to military operation. we have to take into consideration that the very bad circumstances that some earlier, some cities in iraq are witnessing, especially when we talk about this issue, we talk about fallujah. fallujah is a surrounded area from all directions. it is sieged by iraqi forces and people inside fallujah are talking about very bad circumstances they're witnessing. >> still to come. the first university attack in which 148 people died. while they're making a comeback in mexico. and it's the second world sport in india after cricket. find out why badminton could be the nation's key to olympic success. >> azerbaijan said that 12 of its soldiers have b

this is the security line, we have everything on this side in control of the peshmerga, and everythingis side, in control of the isil. and the soldier says that as long as the isil stays over there, they're not going to engage them. i climbed occupy this tower, and if you looked over, you could see less than half a mile away, all of these isil vehicles and patrols and the flag, and people trying to get to where we were. we're so close to it, yet so incredibly far away. we can't really get in, there's no getting close to that. but it was right there in front of us. >us. sheila, a lot of talk about that sense of isolation and immersion. >> one of the stories that we did this year was the advance of the paris climate conference, so we went to the marshal islands, deep in the pacific ocean, and it's one of those place that's in the sea continues to rise and the global temperatures continue to rise, they will be under water. and they are already beginning to see that. when the king tides come as they come every year now, they flood. the islands flood. and you're talking about going from bei

the rest were kurdish peshmerga or government-affiliated fighters. al jazeera waddill ibrahim has the latest from baghdad. >> reporter: there are many reasons behind the increasing of the death toll that was mentioned by the united nation in addition iraq. first of all, at a time fighting is still going on. recently, when iraqi forces announced they are going to go launch or they did launch operations in more than one area, not only in the province or even in president other province. all, many earlier in iraq are subjected to an increased military operation between the iraqi forces and isil as well. also, we have to take into consideration that the very bad circumstances, some are witnessing. when we talk about this issue, we talk about fallujah. it is a surrounded area from all directions people inside fallujah, they are talking about bad circumstancthey are witness many people decide because of this circumstances of this siege. now, saying the coming battle inside mosul are the going on operation closes to mosul could increase the number of dead p

the peshmerga. >> they're an incredible fighting force.rts have been atheme it so far. >> they call for attacks in europe and in america. >> the threat is growing in terms of scale and scope. >> can isis be stopped? >> it can be defeated and will be defeated. >> that's next on "war stories." >>> welcome to this special edition of "war stories" coming

like a guy who defected to peshmerga two weeks ago. and so this strategy failed for them. >> barbara, does isil become more dangerous as the state becomes less effective and controls a smaller footprint in that part of the world? are things like brussels less predictable, less trackable, becoming more possible? >> indeed, there are about 5,000 europeans who have gone to fight syria in iraq and come back to europe. and i think this is maybe the ticking time bomb for europe, the question is whether they become disaffected and decide it's not worth blowing themselves up for a group that's not succeeding, or if they decide this is the time to double down and stage a horrific attack. one of the most worry some thing that we've seen is that isis has been surveying nuclear sites. and if you're an apocalyptic group with an apocalyptic vision, what better way than to set off a dirty bomb and sabotage a nuclear facility. the 5,000 people who have come back, and as we've seen, the european intelligence services are scrambling and trying don't a h

and our government has given them a thousand gas masks and there's 150,000 peshmerga who need it. >>e been looking for candidates to responsible to that. thank you very much, foster good, to have you. >> bye bye, neil. >> another scandal to tell you about. the panama papers don't have the same ring as the pentagon papers that by just could because this is worldwide, this is big, this is billions of dollars. amy in rome, what do you have? >> it's offshore banking and right now investigators are trying to figure out the difference between secrecy, privacy, and stealing. 11.5 million documents to weighed through and very influential people, including world leaders, are implicated in this for using the services of a panama based law firm that helps people come up with very creative and complex areas to put their money. the main focus of the investigation is russian president putin who is not mentioned himself but two of his close associates are. one of them seen here, star cellest and one of the president's oldest friends and another connected to a bank referred e referred to sometimes a

that means the shia, sunnis, and the kurdish, the peshmerga, are going to have to be involved if they back this enormous, sprawling city. it will take 10 to 12 iraqi brigades to even encircle the city. the iraqis need to unite, unify. that's what secretary kerry and vice president biden were saying, that was the message they were sending. secretary carter was more a tactical message. he was there to talk about some specifics. you heard him announce last week the additional troops, they're also sending in more assets, more helicopters. these are things that are very specific, very tactical for the oncoming strategy to encircle or re take mosul in the coming months, realistically in the coming year. >> and in terms of ugs decision making and the u.s. politics or the lack there of around this issue, we have had surprise visits from defense secretarier ash carter and we have vice president biden today. why are all the high level surprise visits happening in a short time? >> secretary kerry and vice president biden were more on the political side. we are not having a political fight on ira

the rest were kurdish peshmerga or government-affiliated fighters. al jazeera's waddill ibrahim has the latest from baghdad. >> there are many reasons for the increase of the death told mentioned by the united nation. recently it will has increased highly. iraqi forces announced they are going to launch or they did launch a operation in more than one area. not all of them or even in the felt prove i knew. many areas in iraq are subjected to increased military operation made between the iraqi forces and isil as well. also, we have to take into consideration that the very bad circumstances that some cities in iraq are witnessing, especially when we talk about this issue, we talk about fallujah. fallujah is a surrounded area from all directions, seized by iraqi forces and people inside fallujah, they are talking about bad circumstances. they are witnessing. and they are passing through. many people died because of this circumstances of they siege made by iraqi forces. now, everybody is saying that the coming battle inside mosul or the going on operation

troops continued to train not only iraqi military fors but also kurdish peshmerga forces in advance of a major attack on mosul and northern iraq. isis is remaining stronghold. this is likely to be the bloodiest, most intense, significant fight in iraq that will have major significant regional consequences and implications. but at this point, julie, there's doubt, serious doubt whether or not iraq's military will be ready to launch that offensive this year. there are those military commanders both u.s. and also kurdish military commanders that feel that's just not going to be the case, particularly as iraq's government continues to try to get itself together in the instability remains. julie, back to you. >> john huddy, thank you so much. >>> terror fears rising across the globe yet again. police in belgium conducting another anti-terror operation in a suburb of brussels today. there's a warning we need to tell you about. stay tuned for that. first this coming as the state department is warning u.s. citizens about, quote, credible threats to crowded tourist areas in turkey. here to talk

that means the shia, sunnis, and the kurdish, the peshmerga, are going to have to be involved if theyck this enormous, sprawling city. it will take 10 to 12 iraqi brigades to even encircle the cities. the iraqis need to unite, unify. that's what secretary kerry and vice president biden were saying, that was the message they were sending. secretary carter was more a tactical message. he was there to talk about some specifics. you heard him announce last week the additional troops, they're also sending in more assets, more helicopters. these are things that are very and assets, helicopters. they are things that have specific, tactical for the on coming strategy to circle and retake mosul in the coming months or year. >> when we are having political fights about political security we are know where political figures know where they stand on this. we are not having a political fight on iraq at all in this issue. it's not an issue at all in the presidential race at any level. it's not an issue in congress to the extent that americans are following what is going on in congress. for that, it

also announced more than $400 million in aid to the kurdish peshmerga forces in northern iraq. for more on all this and theth wider war against isis, i'm joined by president obama's special envoy to the coalition fighting isis, brett mcgurk. welcome back to the program. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and why is the president sending these additional u.s. advisers? >> well, the president instructed our team about four our five months ago to do all we can to accelerate the campaign. it took a while, judy to, get particularly the iraqi forces in place to be able to stand up, maneuver, conduct offensive operations. we're now seeing some success. they liberated ramadi just last week. they liberated a really critical strategic town just to the west of ramadi in the center of the euphrates valley. it's been al stronghold of isil. they liberated that last week. what we're now in a position to do with the iraqi security forces is apply pressure on ice until multiple fronts, the euphrates valley, from operations will continue, and now beginning up toward mosul. so this is a package that's wi

the jer nans, my own country, have been training and arming the peshmerga in iraq. anyone know the history of the country? that's a startling development. but, you know, this is not the time to engage, obviously, in a comprehensive critique. don't worry. of what's going on in the middle east but i will make two sobering observations. one is that our efforts to hit hard at i.s. and at the same time come to a peaceful settlement in syria, in other words, to take the power off the refugee issue from the place of origin, have forced us, the u.s., but also europe, into bed with extremely problematic partners. saudi arabia, turkey, russia. we are making compromises with some very, very unpleasant people and undermining our legitimacy as actors. let there be no mistake. arguably one of the reasons we're now dealing with an increased return of so-called foreign fighters, returning to europe to sow unrest, is the fact that the coalition somewhat successful in denying the attempts to establish itself as a territorial state which is what it needs to lay claim to founding a cal

and i think we have seen the kurdish peshmerga takeack sin ar which had the area that the yidszis have been driven from. and this is a positive step. these are the things that are important and frankly why we are there supporting the iraqis in this effort to push back isis. host: talk about the other countries in the middle east and what their role is. should they be doing more in the fight against isis? >> certainly i think that they could be doing more. but i think we also have to acknowledge what is happening. look at the refugee issue. turkey and jordan have millions of refugees that they are supporting. of f you look at it 50% syria's pre-war population are either refugees in foreign countries or internally displaced in their own country. so this is a major crisis. and we do see the other middle east countries bearing the costs of this refugee crisis. hen it comes to the military fight i think there is desire particularly on capitol hill you can hear calls for why aren't our arab neighbors stepping up into the military fight? it's very complicated because there are different inter

taking testimonials from the virginia man who was picked up by the peshmerga. this is a bad experience. this is the best way to counter the narrative isis is sending every day over the internet. the propaganda. bill: that should be on television and every website around america. why would we need to build that for it to happen. >> the department of homeland security to do this. i want to make sure americans are not getting radicalized. the fact is, they are. bill: there is talk about a cyber bomb. we are dropping cyber bombs, we have never done that before. >> a cyber boy's an offensive cyber bomb to shut things down. isis has an effective command and control structure. we arrested over 80 isis followers in the united states in large part due to this internet activity. what the department of defense is engaged in,en i have to be careful about the classified realm is a shutdown of a lot of these internet missives coming out of raqqa, syria, into the united states to radicalize individuals in america so they can conduct terrorist operations. bill: does this work?

following american airstrikes, the curtis peshmerga takeback a vital crossing and isis suffers due to american air superiority. that is an important point, too. it opens up an opportunity for a lot of different players to step in, and you will see who steps in in just a minute. it becomes less and less likely according to u.s. state department officials that the armed opposition will be able to militarily defeat to the government in syria. you are beginning to see people looking at an alternative reality than they had been looking at in the first two or three years of the conflict. there is the third u.s. special envoy to syria. next, we have the u.s. train and equip program that i mentioned earlier. it launches and is suspended in the same year. the egyptian president expresses support for assad. and finally, russian military intervention drastically changes the military playing field. russians kill cia-trained rebels in their first week of bombing. this is where the conflict completely changes. this is the summer of 2015. and that is where we are today. just a couple of days ago, th

made up of shiites, sunnis and in the north, the kurdish peshmerga perfectly willing to fight for their. when you put this iraqi army that unfortunately has been heavily purged of sunnis and kurds and is now essentially a shiite force, get them up north, they're going to run away when they get into a tough fight, unfortunately. it's a huge problem for the united states. >> we saw them run away back in 2014, spent a lot of money training them, giving them new equipment they turned over to isis and the same thing seems to be happening again. john hannah, appreciate your insights. good having you. liz? >> after the break, north korea's leader makes yet another provocative move concerning the communist nation's program. casting doubts on his claim. we're going to have that story after the break. >>> plus, three separate political scandals rocking three southern states. a deep south watchdog joining us to talk about ethics reform. >>> this is not about democrat and republicans. this is about right and wrong. >> there's a crises of confidence, and this needs to be resolved. americans. we're l