. >> i want to bring in richard engel. richard joins thus morning from istanbul. turkey could really figure prominently within all of this. the relationships in syria as we know are so complicated. not just in terms of the syrian government and kurds and isis but also in terms of turkey. lay some of that out for us, richard, and the challenges that could be faced in that respect. >> well, turkey is going to be directly involved in this intensified campaign because the white house is going to announce very soon is a three pronged approach. one sending special operations forces on the ground in syria working with militia groups to fight isis directly. the second part of the intensified strategy is basing a rapid reaction force. unclear how large it will be. it will be bigger than the dozens of troops that are going into syria in northern iraq. and the third component is sending more combat aircraft to turkey to be based out of the interlick air base already some a-10s have arrived for that campaign. i've been told that f-15s are on their way. so as andrea is talking

all that happening after a close call in the air. get that from richard engel. >> reporter: launching 26 cruise missiles to back up its ally, syrian president, bashar al assad, russia is showing off its military might. the missiles were launched wednesday from the caspian sea, 900 miles from their targets in syria. if it was tense, president vladimir putin didn't show it. he was celebrating his 63rd birthday on skates, scoring, russian officials say, seven goals. nato meeting today is especially concerned about russian incursions into turkish airspace. >> in syria, we have seen a troubling escalation of russian military activities. this is particularly relevant in the view of the recent violations of nato's airspace by russian aircraft. >> reporter: but no one in the vest west is ready to turn syria into a clash of superpowers. once, american aircraft had to divert course off syria to avoid contact with russian aircraft. russia isn't just supporting a regime the u.s. is opposed to. it's bragging about it. russia's increasingly aggressive policy is just another chapter in the already t

nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us from turkey. ron allen joins us from the white house. and we have with us military analyst and retired army colonel jack jacobs. richard, let me start with you and talk about the climate right now and what these troops who remain are facing. >> reporter: well, they're facing the taliban, which still is able to mass in large numbers, was still able last month to take over the city of kunduz which is a major city. we also have isis which in some places is challenging the taliban and has managed to take over territory that had been held by the taliban. you have the afghan security forces which are still fighting, but without american intelligence support, without american technology. sometimes without american close air support. they probably would not be able to stay in the fight that they have been to the degree that they have been able to right now. so this is clearly a disappointment for the president, a setback for the administration. president obama wanted to wrap up the war in afghanistan with

richard engel has our report. >> reporter: after american and kurdish commandos storm and isis prison in iraq last week freeing dozens of hostages, it was clear the u.s. had entered directly into combat yet again in the middle east. it cost the life of master sergeant joshua wheeler. >> to degrade and ultimately defeat isil. >> today secretary of defense ash carter couldn't have been more explicit, u.s. troops will be in combat against isis. >> we won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against isil or conducting such missions directly. whether in strikes from the air or direct action on the ground. >> but the president had repeatedly. >> the american forces deployed to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. >> the white house is treading a fine line. considering a wider role for u.s. troops in iraq and syria while insisting so called regular troops won't be in combat. only small numbers of specials on forces will carry out, quote, direct action. >> so it's an apparent contradiction. the white house insists nothing has changed, no troops in c

we get the story from our chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: it was an attack with serious legal and moral repercussions and today the top american general in afghanistan admitted it was a mistake. >> a hospital was mistakenly struck. we would never intentionally target a protected medical facility. >> reporter: the military is investigating. so is nato and the afghan government. but doctors without borders, the nobel prize winning charity that ran the hospital and lost 12 of its own said that isn't enough. it calls the attack a war crime. wants an independent investigation and took to the internet in protest, refusing to be included in that catch-all of war. collateral damage. the pentagon said afghan forces asked for the air strike but today took responsibility. >> to be clear, the decision to provide aerial fires was a u.s. decision, made within the u.s. chain of command. >> reporter: the general said u.s. special forces were in close vicinity, talking to the ac-130 gun ship that opened fire. but how the mistake was made, the u.s. military isn't saying. u.s. troo

more from our chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: even in war, this should never happen. the only trauma hospital in kunduz repeatedly attacked early on saturday by u.s. air power. at least 22 killed, including doctors and patients. six reportedly burned in their beds. but did the u.s. know it was targeting a hospital? doctors without borders, which runs the hospital, said it did. and calls it a war crime. >> hospitals and patients during war should be safe places where care can be given and this has been violated. >> reporter: survivors were transferred to other hospitals. the pentagon first said american troops had been in danger. but today, changed its story. saying afghan forces were under fire. >> they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from u.s. forces. an air strike was called to eliminate the taliban threat and several civilians were accidently struck. >> reporter: afghan officials say taliban fighters were firing from the hospital. >> ten to 15 terrorists were hiding and it came under attack. >> reporter: doctors without borde

lester. >> richard engel. >>> now a major update on a story we've been following for more than a year. citing a series of nbc news investigative reports in the potential health risk of crumb rubber in artificial turf. congress is now demanding answers. it is putting the epa on the hot seat after they refused to respond to vital questions we posed about the safety of the fields our children play on all across the country. nbc's stephanie gosk has been reporting on this story and she has the latest. >> reporter: coach amy griffin started asking questions about crumb rubber turf two years ago. she worried the surface made from recycled car and truck tires may be causing cancer in soccer players. specifically goalies. in the last year, her running list of sick goalkeepers doubled from 34 to 63, after a series of nbc news reports. >> i got a gazillion e-mails, lots of phone calls, mostly from people that have said i've always wondered about this. >> reporter: we tried repeatedly for well over a year to get the epa to answer coach griffin's questions and ours. but the agency did not. >> is

lester. >> richard engel tonight, thank you. >>> grim news from the coast guard. the search is being called off for a ship that included 28 americans that disappeared six days ago has been called off, and this is as questions persist over why the captain would sail off into a category four hurricane. we get more tonight from nbc's rehema ellis. >> reporter: today the families got the news they've been dreading. jackie jones' son was on the ship. >> it is too early to stop. six days. come on. >> reporter: coast guard said it was unlikely anyone could survive beyond five days. >> any decision to suspend a search is painful. and this particular case, we were researching for fellow professional mariners. >> reporter: after searching an area bigger than california, authorities spotted debris and one body and no sign of life from a ship presumed sunk 15,000 feet. on board 33 crew members on a routine supply run from jacksonville to puerto rico, which lost propulsion in a fierce category four hurricane. mary's daughter was on the ship. >> i'm mad at the storm. i'm mad at

richard engel has our report tonight. >> reporter: the footage appears to show this joint u.s. kurdish raid on an isis prison in iraq last week. it was obtained by the arab 24 news agency. it said from kurdish military officials. amid the sounds of gunfire, the hostages emerge, terrified, and bare foot. their hands held up to show they're unarmed. bullet holes in the walls suggest there had been a gun fight. a voice in arabic apparently from the rescuers yells for the hostages to keep moving. they do. in prison gowns. some appear stained in blood as they move to safety. the commandos inspect another room with a large isis flag. what sounds like american voices can be heard. an adjacent hallway is lined with what looks like prison cells. the troops move with skill. and have american-made weapons. much is not shown in the footage, including the moment when master sergeant joshua wheeler from the top-secret delta force was shot. today his remains were flown back to the united states, the first american to die in the war on isis. a war now fought like this, room to room, with ameri

and russian military dangerously close to each other, closer than in decades. >> richard engel, thank you. >>> a controversial remark online has media titan rupert murdoch under fire. the powerful man whose empire includes fox news fired off his thoughts on ben carson, president obama and what it means to be an african american commander in chief. many took to be inflammatory comments on race. hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: he's one of the world's biggest media moguls who runs the show behind the scenes, but fox news owner rupert murdoch now finds himself in the headlines. apologizing today after sending this tweet calling ben carson terrific, then adding what about a real black president who can properly address the racial divide? the backlash online over "real black president" immediate. >> the reason it's a problem is there is no one way to be black. there's no one singular authentic way to be black. rupert murdoch, by pretending he knows the real way is doubling the offense. >> now responding, the 84-year-old says he finds both president obama and ben carson charming, tweet

richard engel has the latest on that. >> after struggling to explain how and why the u.s. bombed a hospital in afghanistan, the president made a call. >> this morning from the oval office president obama spoke by telephone with doctors without borders international president dr. joann liu to apologize and express his condolences for the ms staff and patients who were killed and injured when a u.s. military air strike mistakenly struck an msf hospital in kunduz afghanistan over the weekend. >> but the apology may be too late. >> this doesn't change anything. we appreciate the expression of condolences. but it doesn't change the fact that we have 22 dead patients and staff that were killed as a result of this attack. >> doctors without borders allowed our cameras access to the injured now recovering in kabul, who described the bombing, the yelling and the chaos likes doom's day. >> the united states when we make a mistake we're honest about it. we own up to it. >> but for days the u.s. military kept changing its story, first saying u.s. troops were under fire. then acknowled

. >>> and a mother on a desperate journey who collapsed in front of richard engel and tonight she in the start of a new and different journey. "nightly news" begins right now. >>> good evening. it is politics without a net tonight. there were a single slip or trip could make for a hard fall as the democrats running for president face off in a live debate. the burden is on hillary clinton to protect frontrunner status and on bernie sanders to prove he is more than a shooting star but there are three other contenders desperate to make headlines which is why there is so much anticipation about what happens in las vegas on this night. we'll get to chuck todd in a moment. but first andrea mitchell is there. set the stage for us. >> reporter: good evening, lester. hillary clinton is by far the most experienced debater of all the candidates tonight, so if this is her contest to lose. it is also bernie sanders' chance to show he can broaden his appeal beyond his liberal base. hillary clinton trying to position herself as the presumptive nominee, already going after donald trump, joining unio

a war that could last at least another year, maybe much longer. >> nbc's richard engel reporting there. despite the apology, doctors without borders is still demanding the attack be investigated as a possible war crime. >>> well, a deadly crash caught on camera overnight in new jersey wednesday. police say a pile of mattresses sprang loose on the new jersey turnpike causing a tanker truck driver to swerve and lose control. the truck flipped over a guardrail and instantly burst into flames, killing the driver. there's no word on the type of fuel that the tanker was carrying, but thick, black smoke could be seen for miles. the driver of an suv involved in the accident was not hurt. >>> right now, south carolina beach communities are preparing for a second hit of flooding. this time, it's not coming from the sky but from water flowing out from the inland. crews are dropping sandbags as big as 2,000 pounds to help fortify dams across the state. officials say 62 are still being monitored while 13 have failed. the death toll is now up to 19 in the carolinas. the most recent death happened wh

richard engel, thank you so much for being with us. "nbc nightly news." >>> let's get a check now of wall street. here's hampton pearson with the market wrap. >> we had stocks moving in a narrow trading range and they're closing lower. the dow is down by 50 points. the nasdaq down by 42 points. >>> that's it from cnbc first in business worldwide. good. very good. you see something moving off the shelves and your first thought is to investigate the company. you are type e*. yes, investment opportunities can be anywhere... or not. but you know the difference. e*trade's bar code scanner. shorten the distance between intuition and action. e*trade opportunity is everywhere. ♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax constipated? use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for c

nbc's richard engel has our report. >> reporter: after american and kurdish commandos stormed an isis prison in iraq last week, freeing dozens of hostages, it was clear the u.s. had entered directly into combat, yet again, in the middle east. it cost the life of master 345r7b8gent joshua wheeler. >> to degrade and ultimately defeat isil. >> reporter: today, secretary of defense ashton carter couldn't have been more explicit. u.s. troops will be in combat against isis. >> we won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against isil, or conducting such missions directly. whether by strikes from the air or direct action upon the ground. >> reporter: but the president has said repeatedly. >> the american forces that have been deployed to iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. >> reporter: the white house is treading a fine line. seeming to want it both ways. considering a wider role for u.s. troops in iraq and syria, while insisting so-called regular troops will no longer be in combat. only small numbers of special ops forces will carry out, quote, di

we get more on that from our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. >> reporter: it was a program in the midst of war. a year ago, as isis was gaining ground in iraq and syria, washington found few reliable allies on the battlefield, so the administration launched a $500 million program to train a new syrian rebel army. this past week, the secretary of defense announced the program is over. >> i wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard. >> reporter: not satisfied? by all accounts, it was an utter failure, even according to captain amara wawi, the spokesman for the syrian fighters we interviewed outside of syria. he asked us not to say where. >> translator: this is a huge humiliation for the americans. we expected a thousand syrian fighters to be trained. >> reporter: al wawi is exactly the kind of syrian rebel the americans were looking for, a former soldier who defected and has been fighting inside syria for years now. he told us the first group of 54 u.s. armed and trained fighters was quickly overrun by an extremist group close to al qaeda. >> translator: as soon

officials, and at least 5 captured isis guards, on the helicopters, and left. >> richard engel reports that the freed hostages turned out not to be kurds. about 20 of them were kidnapped iraqi security forces, and there were a number of so-called isis defectors. >>> today is a pivotal crossroads in the 2016 election season. on the same day we mark 100 days until the iowa caucus, donald trump has now officially been leading in major national polls for 100 days, which is why this is so appropriate. a new quinnipiac university poll reveals ben carson has overtaken trump in iowa. go figure. that prompted this since deleted retweet from trump. ben carson is now leading in the polls in iowa. too much monsanto in the corn creates issues in the brain? perhaps in an effort to not insult iowa's proudest item, the trump campaign blamed that retweet on a, quote, young intern. >>> ben carson will appear on nbc's "meet the press" this coming sunday. trump is also trying to turn the tables on another issue. he is disavowing nine unauthorized trump super pacs, demanding that they return money raised a

nbc's richard engel reports. >> reporter: it's a war that just won't end. after 14 years, a trillion dollars, and more than 2300 american lives lost, the president said the mission is still not over. >> i've decided to maintain our current posture of 9800 troops in afghanistan through most of next year, 2016. >> reporter: it meant going back on a promise made just last year. >> by the end of 2016, our military will draw down to a normal embassy presence in kabul with a security assistance component, just as we've done in iraq. >> reporter: but iraq didn't work out either. the president had hoped to end both wars. he ended up sending thousands of troops back into iraq. and said thousands will remain in afghanistan. it's not what he wanted. >> i know many of you have grown weary of this conflict. as you are well aware, i do not support the idea of endless war. >> reporter: the president had planned to draw dawn u.s. forces from about 9800 focused on training and counterterrorism, to about 1,000 by the end of next year. and under the new plan, those 9800 will

calls it says went unheeded. >> that was nbc's richard engel reporting. >>> to presidential politics, hillary clinton's campaign is targeting the house benghazi committee in advance of her public testimony later this month. her campaign has cut its first national ad using republican house majority leader kevin mccarthy's comments about the political benefit from the inquiry into the terrorist attack. >> the republicans finally admit it. >> republican kevin mccarthy saying the committee investigating benghazi and clinton's e-mails was created to destroy her candidacy. >> everybody thought hillary clinton was unbeatable, right? but we put together a benghazi special committee. what are her numbers today? >> republicans have spent millions attacking hillary, because she's fighting for everything they oppose. from affordable health care to equal pay. she'll never stop fighting for you. and the republicans know it. >> clinton also campaigned in new hampshire yesterday, holding a town hall event in which she went right after republicans on issues like benghazi, the economy, and perhaps most

here's nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel. >> reporter: russia seems to want to show the world it's a super power once more. releasing new footage today of what it claims are more than 40 airstrikes over syria in the past 24 hours. a lifeline for assad. but russia may be trying to broker an end to the conflict. putin saying military operations will lay the base for a long-term political settlement. but after a quarter million dead, can any political solution include assad? u.s. officials tell nbc news that putin may be propping up assad, only to transition him out later. >> that was nbc's richard engel reporting. >>> tomorrow, secretary of state john kerry will meet with russia's foreign minister, and other leaders to discuss a political solution to the syria crisis. >>> right now, secretary kerry is in berlin, where he'll meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu about escalating violence in the region. it comes amid a wave of near daily attacks between israelis and palestinians over the last month at least ten israelis and 47 palestinians have been killed. mea

military isn't saying. >> that was nbc's richard engel reporting. >>> the desperate search continues for a cargo ship that went missing during hurricane joaquin. while the coast guard heads up the search for survivors, the national transportation safety board has joined the investigation to try and figure out what happened. ntsb vice chairman. >> our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, and to issue recommendations and findings to prevent this from happening again. >> the agency's first goal is to find the voyage data recorder. it would provide crucial details that could shed light on what went wrong. the company which owned the vessel said it would never put the safety of the crew in jeopardy. >>> turn now to politics. gop presidential candidate marco rubio is rising in the polls. that seems to be making him a bigger target for his rivals. since the start of his campaign, rubio has missed 59 senate votes. fellow republican jeb bush is proposing to dock pay for legislators who miss votes. >> the majority of the job of being a senator is not walking on

here's nbc news' chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. >> reporter: after struggling to explain how, and why, the u.s. bombed a hospital in afghanistan, the president made a call. >> this morning from the oval office, president obama spoke by telephone with doctors without borders international president dr. joanne liu to apologize and express his condolences for the msf staff and patients who were killed and injured when a u.s. military airstrike mistakenly struck an msf field hospital in kunduz, afghanistan, over the weekend. >> reporter: but the apology may be too late. >> this doesn't change anything. we appreciate the expression of condolences, but it doesn't change the fact that we have 22 dead patients and staff that were killed as a result of this attack. >> reporter: doctors without borders allowed our cameras access to the injured, now recovering in kabul, who described the bombing, the yelling, and the chaos, like doomsday. >> the united states, when we make a mistake, we're honest about it. we own up to it. >> reporter: but for days, the u.s. military kept changing i