this is the first group to vow allegiance, which has to be accepted by the islamic state which makes it stronger on the regional level, and gives it the capacity to head further from syria and iraq. also, the islamic state is saying we are fighting with the regime in egypt. the moves the egyptian army made lately by destroying houses and trying to secure the frontier -- front here -- [indiscernible] they will see them as an ally. it is very critical. we know that fighters from gaza are in the ranks of the islamic state in syria and iraq. two weeks ago, a palestinian from gaza made a suicide attempt in iraq. the islamic state gave recognition to his death. his martyrdom was celebrated in gaza. they are saying the war will be beyond syria and iraq. they are getting more attractive day by day because of this caliphate they have established. >> wassim thank you so much. 9 police have been killed in separate attacks in pakistan. there was an attack on police headquarters in the eastern -- in an eastern province. officers were also killed when a bomb carried on a motorbike exploded near the

the islamic state is the best form of government we've experience sod far. >> meetings are open held in raqqa square to deseminate prince iples of islamic state. many respond with cheers and applause. islamic state have deep root across iraq and syria. >>> a senior russian lawmaker has criticized japan for imposing sanctions in response to crisis in ukraine. he made the comment ahead of a meeting between the russian and japanese leaders. he is the speaker of russia's lower house and aid to president putin. putin and japanese prime minister shinzo abe are scheduled to meet in beijing during the apec summit. >> translator: japan is an important country and a good partner for russia in the fields of economy, trade, and cultural exchanges. >> he took japan to task for joining u.s. and europe in imposing sanctions. japan introduced a series of sanctions this year against russia. >> translator: as a strong country, japan should be able to have independent diplomacy and should not come to pressure by u.s. and other countries. >> he referred to annexation of crimea that prompted initial sanct

into the hands of the militants, allowing them to build a network of supporters in lebanon. >> the islamic stateried to benefit from the division of differences and opposition, yet the ideology of the islamic state is not really excepted by the moderate community that has long been a moderate community in lebanon. >> this woman's brother is a hostage. she still holds out hope that the government will negotiate. >> we live in constant fear that there will be more killing. we hope that those who have been killed already are the last that have to die. >> for now, the vigil continues, with no end in sight. >> other news now, slovakia and the czech republic have been commemorating the 25th anniversary of the follow-up communism in that country. >> thousands turn out in prague, many prominent individuals were in attendance. the czech president did not get quite as warm a welcome. hundreds of demonstrators protested against him as being too friendly with moscow. >> the events of 1989 have changed the face of europe and a whole new generation has grown up in a free and democratic society. >> it is often

the precursor to the islamic state, al qaeda in iraq am a witch morphed into the islamic -- which morphedthe killed their leader was in 2006 and here we are in 2014, facing an even stronger, more dangerous, more barbaric force in the islamic state. , you know, i don't think it is going to affect things in the mid or long-term in terms of what is occurring in iraq, syria. because the issues here go well or one group. it goes into issues relating to sectarian violence that has been fostered and pushed by policies from the united states, from the west, from the gulf nations that have created this frankenstein isis and enabled the environment for civil war to flourish. >> can you talk more about that, how isis was created, it support, and what you feel is the alternative? >> sure. the islamic state, as i mentioned, came from the al qaeda and iraq, which was an organization that sprang to life after the united states invaded iraq in 2003. al qaeda and iraq, one of the things when i was there in iraq as well as in the state department and the pentagon and d.c., one of the things will was notice

the islamic statesmen threaten to kill our children -- the islamic state men threatened to kill our childrenf we did not go with them. what could we do? >> one man says the islamic state fighters took one of 1000 women and children from his village. he is determined to get them back. >> in all, they have kidnapped around 5000 yazidi women and children. and the world just let them do it. a few europeans they kidnapped and the world is upset. no one cares about a few yazidi. >> but they hope that the west will help these that are rescued get over there,. >> -- get over their trauma. >> police have made 10 arrest and search almost 40 homes in a nationwide sweep. >> nine of the men were arrested in and around cologne. prosecutors say they are part of the germany-based network that supports islamic state. they are suspected of recruiting fighters for i s, helping those recruits travel to syria and raising money for is often by criminal means. >> there are burglaries at schools and churches and other buildings. they took anything that was relatively easy to convert into cash. >> germany's interior

, not just how many square miles, the idea of the islamic state has excited islam as around the world. it is galvanized the world. we are now in the process in their campaign against it. that is going to have consequences. and to the extent that we ultimately -- i have to take remedial gears here -- to the extent that we become an impediment to the achievement of their goals and even the survival of that enterprise is going to have an effect on their strategic calculations. both as an organization as well as individual jihadist who were there that may be scattered and motivated by ideas of vengeance as well as other groups that are not there. so we are beginning with the excellence of this for a long time. when the jihadist comeback year, they will most likely be arrested and identified. but there is a bigger problem in europe, sort of a fascinating problem. europe has somewhere in the neighborhood of about 2000 people that have gone primarily from france to germany, belgium that has gone off to fight syria and iraq. some of them are going back and forth. the polling data indica

the islamic state does not care. it is deliberately showing the faces to show the diversity of recruits and to talk the west. >> when you see the faces of individuals involved, i think it is a message designed primarily for the muslim world. it says to muslims that nationalism is an outdated concept, and a muslim should be identified by his faith. >> jihadists going to fight in syria and returning here, radicalized, has become a top priority for the government. >> a counterterrorism bill would disrupt the ability of people to travel abroad to fight and return here, and bring back the ongoing ideology that sanctions terrorism. >> conflict in the middle east continues. the longer the fighting goes on, the greater the risk of terrorism spreading to these shores. more on the brutal tactics being used by the islamic state and u.s. efforts to combat them, i spoke with the acting director of the cia who is now at the johns hopkins school for advanced and international studies. thank you for being with us. when you see the im

the islamic state group has claimed two bombings that left 20 dead in baghdad sunday. more now on shiite pilgrims who are determined to commemorate the data matter the risk -- the day no matter the risk. >> each bag and each individual is meticulously searched. pilgrims are faced with stringent security checks, as they observe the morning they have one of the most important -- the morning date of one of the most important dates in their religious calendar. islamic state militants could strike, but pilgrims say they are not intimidated. >> movement is smooth and security forces are deployed everywhere. they will not stop us. >> we are not afraid of the islamic state organization and we are all united, god willing. we are not afraid of bombings. the road is very safe god willing. the banner will remain high. >> in the last couple of days, thousands of iraqi pilgrims have flocked to the city of kampala to commemorate the success of imam hussein. he died in the battle of the city in the year 680 and is one of the most respected shiite figures. pilgrims may say they are not

. >> news this morning that the islamic state has released a video that purportedly shows the beheading of an american aid worker. the video was posted on social media, but the u.s. has yet to confirm its authenticity. the victim suspected to be peter muslim convert who went missing in 2013 while working in libya and syria. this would mark the third time in american has been beheaded by isis. on "washington journal," we talked about the military campaign against isis, as well as news of the beheading. joining frus over there in iraq. mr. hubbard, welcome. >> thank you. >> could you tell us? we heard about the possible beheading of this -- another american this morning. what exactly do we know at this point? >> well, what we know for sure is that isis released a very sickening, gorey video about 15 minutes long that begins with very detailed footage of some beheading of a number of syrian government soldiers that they say that they captured at a battle in syria and it ends with showing us the same, you know, militant with a british ac-70 we have seen in some of these previous beheading v

airstrikes. >> seeking support to combat the islamic state group. a day after the crushing midterm elections, barack obama said he will ask for official congressional backing. >> i'm going to begin engaging congress over a new authorization to use military force against isil. the world needs to know we are united behind this effort, and the men and women of our military deserve our clear and unified support. >> obama has warned that military action could last long after he leaves office in two years. he rolled out american airstrikes in iraq in august and extended them to syria in september under the confines of two laws passed by the george bush administration after 9/11. they say the president can take action against terrorist troops without the green light from congress. by requesting congressional authorization, obama is opening the door to what may prove to be a heated debate. while a number of republicans are in favor of fighting the group, there are many different views in regards to extending airstrike, combating assault regimes, and whether

change its strategy to combat the islamic state? complications for the space probe that landed on a comet. newly elected congress members move into their offices on capitol hill. amazon compromises in an e-book pricing dispute. alaska's push to retain more teachers. the hazards of earning a living on the slopes of mount everest. and, two unlikely heroes team up to make a zombie movie. >> ifill: now to the islamic state group, earlier today a defiant message from its leader was distributed, as lawmakers here in washington took aim at the president's strategy to take down the group. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. >> warner: it's the first time the islamic state leader has been heard from since iraqi officials claimed he'd been wounded or even killed in air strikes a week ago. the 17 minute recording exhorts his fight to the end and all but taunts the u.s. coalition. >> ( translated ): and soon the jews and crusaders will be forced to come down to the ground and send their ground forces to their deaths and

they're not going to beat the islamic state next month. this is still a 12-30-month endeavor but the signs right now are good. >> brangham: a lot of our fight in iraq, obviously is against isis. they're not just in iraq but they're also in syria. do you have any sense, any sense that the successes that you've seen in iraq could possibly translate to success in syria? >> unfortunately, no. in iraq, we have the basis of a political solution. now, there's a huge uphill climb in iraq to get reconciliation with the kurds, with the iraqi sunnis in the north, and we can't downplay how difficult that is. but there's a very real possibility that that could happen if everyone plays their cards right. in syria, there's no way that i can tell you a story, however implausible, about how the politics in syria might come back together in a way that produces an outcome that would be okay with us. i mean, let's be candid. the most likely outcome worthy of assad regime to fall in syria is the take of syria by the islamic state and/or the nusra front, the off

and other places defending the works of the islamic state and blaming the u.s.united states -- the islamic state, which was a pretty savvy move on its part to use a western hostage to defend it. we don't know what's going to happen to cantly. that doesn't mean he won't be executed in the future. perhaps the islamic state ran out of hostages to execute and did not show. >> i want to show you our own richard engel went behind the scenes to talk with some of the people who are fighting against isis in kobani. i want to play a little bit of that. >> reporter: it's especially important, she says, for women to be strong in the middle east where they are rarely strong or heard from. we stand here as symbols of strength for all the women of the region. you're fighting for kobani and fighting for women's rights in the middle east? yes, she says. right now i am fighting for kobani, but i promised myself that wherever a minority is attacked, i will be there to fight for their rights. >> in the psychological war against isis, how important is, a, the continue the resistance

if we're successful and we can create sunni units as well, which is essential to driving out the islamic state. so it isn't a matter of mission creep. from the start it's been clear, the air campaign could only work if you could get political unity within iraq, and you could create a mix of iraqi ground forces that could drive the islamic state out. >> sreenivasan: so is there some confidence that either the u.s. or anyone else has that adding these 1500 military trainers, ramping up, let's say, another 20,000 iraqi troops in a few months, will be enough? >> we need to be very careful here. no, there is no confidence that this will be enough. first, it isn't a matter of months, although you can make progress with the better units in that time. it's been stated very clearly this could take several years. and for it to work, you have to convince the sunnis in the western part of iraq and in key areas in the north like mosul, that they will split with the islamic state, that they will have their own military identity in these national guard units, and those national guard units are going to requi

the expert on radicalization in king's college, london, says the islamic state group is under pressurekilling hostages remain the only way that they can really hit out at the west at the moment. text for a change of tune, something slightly upbeat cabal are not so upbeat. it depends on whether you are a chocolate ban -- chocolate fan or not. the world is facing a crisis. ex yes there is a shortage of cocoa beans in west africa. the washington post reports that the biggest chocolate makers in the world, marcinko braided and swiss county -- mars incorporated and swiss, are having a shortage. demand is increasing particularly in china. they're trying to plug the gap by producing -- developing trees that can produce up to seven times more cocoa beans, but it may drop in quality. >> in the meantime, stock up on those mars bars and kids cats -- and kids cats. now it is time for business. i'm joined in the studio by stephen carroll. we start off in japan with some very bad news for the government and the economy. >> new figures have shown that the country has gone back into recession in the t

the group has been targeted for opposing the islamic state in an bar province. -- anbar province. bbc news has rare testimony from a man who says he survived the massacre in which about 100 tribal fighters were killed. >> hundred fighters from the islamic state roundup fellow sunnis who dared to oppose them. this video is said to show members of the tribe, detained on the 22nd of october in an bar province. -- anbar province. we don't know their fate. we managed to call one tribesman who says he led the following day with our fighters. he is in an area that cannot be reached. on a phone line through a translator, he told me he was shot twice and witnessed a mass execution. >> there were many of us hiding in the reeds. i started firing at us, saying, come out, you defectors. you stopped us reaching baghdad. i hid between the dead bodies. i saw about 100 of my guys executed in front of me. we were betrayed by the government. they said, fight and we will help you, and they did not do anything. put that allegation to iraq's national security adviser, who said the tribes are spearheadin

and the answer, of course, from the islamic state is, absolutely not. united states military to come in and fight them. each of their leaders has said it. each and every time. they want american troops on the ground. so that they can kill american troops. the question down the road is, will we send in american troops as the islamic state wants? abdul-rahman kassig, and his parents saying their hearts will mend. >>> ukraine's government is preparing for a full-out war of its own as heavy fighting rages near the country's board with russia. according to ukraine's president. explosion explosion. [explosion] >> newly released video show ukrainian soldiers run for cover while battling rebels over the weekend. it's one of the militants' main strongholds in the east of ukraine. hours ago the ukrainian president closed government offices in the region, including banking services. nato official says russia recently sent even more troops and military equipment across the border. the russian president, putin, says moss sow will not let ukraine defeet the rebels bu

secretary asks for time and patient against the islamic state in syria. on the ground both are in short supply. >> president obama will still arm and train the moderates. in practice it is too late. >> for -- russia and qatar are capturing the world cup it's but the man investigating says not so fast. space made him an internet sensation. tonight commander hatfield joins us with some incredible photographs. welcome to our viewers on public television. mixed state released an audio tape it says was recorded by its leader just days after reports that he had been killed or injured. he said iis forces will never stop fighting, even if only one soldier remains. comets of his survival among the bad news for syrian opposition forces. bbc's international correspondent has coverage. >> they are the youngest victims of syria's war. it young children having to live as refugees in turkey. their smiling faces belie the horror they see. about freedom.ng the uprising -- >> there was a lot of shelling in the situation. it was becoming worse and we became more afraid. >> t

it gives funds to the islamic state. turkey's view of the islamic state is slightly ambivalent in that they are determined to see the end of santa barbara. and they do not, in looking at syria see many players likely to achieve that help. >> one of turkey's complicated relationship is with the kurd, who have autonomy in northern iraq. turkey fought a three decade long insurgency in its own territory, which took the lives of 30,000 people. over the past few years, turkey forged a relationship, yielding 6.2 million barrels of oil, worth $600 million through a pipeline. the iraqi kurds, in turn, used the money to finance kurdish peshawar fighters, who are battling the i.s.i.l. forces. >> the provides an economy for the kurds, a benefit to turkey, which has a big oil need, and it is a way the putting the dampers on kurdish ambitions within turkey itself, because the kurds will not encourage that. >> complicating matters, iraq's kurds are fighting i.s.i.l. on the ground, with kurdish forces from syria and turkey, including fig

he left in 2013, only to be captured by the islamic state of iraq and levant. a week ago his friends in tripoli added their voice to an international campaign to persuade i.s.i.l. to release him. they were hoping the fact that peter converted to islam in captivity would have helped spare his life. his close friend, a syrian from homs had hope. he is lost for words. >> what i should say to his family? that we are sorry, because your son die in my country, and to help my people, and people say who killed him. i don't know. >> this was one of the many clinics where peter kassig treated patients. >> while in lebanon peter volunteered with humanitarian workers. they used the media to tell peter's captives about how he helped the syrian people. the video didn't refer to peter as an aid worker. he identified him as a u.s. soldier. this didn't shock syrian opposition activists, some of the people new peter kassig well. those that didn't know of what he did for the revolution, believing it made no difference for i.s.i.l. if a person is a charity worker or not. >> they ar

most strikingly that you now have a common enemy with the west, which is daesh, the islamic state extremistswonder which you think is the bigger enemy today, the islamic state or the enemy that hezbollah was founded to fight, which was israel? >> translator: we don't really differentiate between the two really, because the whole problem revolves around ending the resistance, when israel backed by the u.s. failed to end the resistance, the focus in syria was to stop it supporting the resistance. therefore this whole battle aims to protect israel. the role of the jihadist is to benefit from the political development in the region and to work on the project, which is a threat to the region and to all those who oppose their views. syria is a key component in the balance of the regional conflict, and was threatened by those groups due to western policies. and those groups threaten lebanon and the resistance movement in it. it means that this continues to be a battle against israel, but the rules and locations of the engagement have changed. >> but you've always said that you need your weapons for

one of the main reasons is that we have to keep that threat and that pressure on the islamic state. they have to at least believe there is a possibility that u.s. forces would be introduced. i think it's also important that the military not take any options off of the table for the president of the united states. both this president and the next president. so, if this war is going to last three to 10 years, it is the job of the chairman of the joint chiefs as you just saw to ensure that he kind of walks that delicate line and leaves the options open. i would argue against the reintroduction of u.s. forces because i think they would not be welcomed. we would then be incurring the requirement to rebuild the iraqi countryside and the syrian countryside probably again and find ourselves back in a situation like 2004, 2005 and early 2006. >> brian, good morning from michigan independent line. caller: yeah, hi. thanks. can you hear me host: yes. go right ahead. caller: okay. first go-around, going back to the 'september did, i spent a lot of time in the middle east, the united states navy

before a renewed itself the islamic state it was isis, before that the islamic state of iraq, al-qaeda and iraq, it went through many iterations. unlike other groups aqi now isis was financially independent for years by engaging successful criminal activity enterprises domestically within iraq. criminal enterprises still accounts for significant isis financing complementing the groups other sources of income, especially the sale of the illicit oil. on its own criminal enterprise is insufficient source for funding. but under focusing on those areas are bold move to current toolset will deny isis the money it needs to hold and administer the islamic state. meanwhile, military tools under other circumstances the last thing one might think of as a logical means of combating crime, the fact is air strikes against isis have already significantly undermined some of the groups criminal enterprises and for the such strike should continue that trend. if they don't hold territory they can't ask people, they can't abuse domestic resources, et cetera. while the prospects of real political reform in

airstrikes target rebels in syria outside the islamic state group. rebuilding indonesia's cities to withstand forceful tsunamis. making yes means yes the standard to stop sexual assualts on college campuses. why ebola treatment in the u.s. saves more lives than treatment in west africa. and honoring ballerina patricia mcbride's career as a dancer and coach. >> ifill: the political earthquake from tuesday's elections continues to reverberate. today, it made its way to capitol hill where there were new questions about whether the president and the soon to be republican congress can really get anything done. >> my job is not to get along with the president just to get along with him. although we actually have a nice relationship. the fact is my job is to listen to my members and listen to the american people and make their priorities our priorities. >> ifill: a day after the post- election promises of cooperation, signs of sharper edges were beginning to show. writing in the "wall street journal," house speaker john boehner and mitch mcconnell, the next

state television is reporting that the leader of the islamic state organization has been noted in an airstrike carried out -- and it in an airstrike -- has been wounded in an airstrike. he was injured in a strike in iraq's andy barr province -- iraq's anbar province. >> the syrian president, bashar al-assad, is reportedly studying n.u.m. plan which would ease -- studying a u.n. plan which would see fighting cease in the country's biggest city and commercial capital. >> there are once again, growing fears of a return to all-out fighting in areas of eastern ukraine. that follows a weekend of intense shelling around the region of donetsk. kiev accused moscow of sending in dozens of tanks and other support for the rebels. there are tanks on the ground that are thought to be operated by pro-russian rebels in that region. the cease-fire was hanging by a thread. the ukrainian government says the rebels could be gearing up for a fresh offensive in the city of donetsk. for more on that, we can speak to ian kerns, a research director at the european leadership network, who joins us now from lo

they need ultimately to be involved against the islamic state. to get nato itself involved because the u.s. shouldn't have to carry this by ourselves. number three, we've got to get arms in the hands of the peshmerga, those troops in the north in the kurdish part of iraq. they are the best fighters on the field on our side and we have to continue to revitalize the iraqi security forces. that will take time. we can do all those things but it is encouraging, we are seeing some results in effect from this air campaign. but we can't bank on this. we're not going to win this thing from the air. we're going to need troops on the ground. >> and just as progress seems to be at hand in the fight against the islamic state, now reports that they are using surface-to-air missiles against our apache attack helicopters. how much peril and how effective are their countermeasures likely to be? >> i'm worried about it, lou. at the moment, we only have about a half dozen u.s. helicopters involved in this fight, but i think over time, that's going to be an area wher

the polling data indicates an extraordinary level of support for the islamic state. >> in the europeanreally? >> extraordinary levels. in many cases they come from marginalized communities. when these gics come back to these communities in europe that create the islamic states, and neighborhoods where they will enforce sure riel long then that is a catalyst for a confrontation it is the rise of the old dry white -- right-wing political groupings. >> so what is not a domestic problem now become societal. >> that is the point. >> it is important to underscore about the excitement certainly of the saudis said in general how they feel about the islamic state that democracy movement did not work in this is a new way to have justice and freedom to get them society that we had if we could just get the atomics day. but it clearly does seem to excite people and a way that americans don't understand. what should we be doing? what should we do? is it good enough to contain that is the maximum? or do you have to do more than just contain it gore ultimately? >> that is the heart of the debate is be

these are the children recruited to fight for islamic state. we meet one 13-year-old boy who wants to be a soldier for jihad against the west. testing an ebola vaccine in africa, as the world races to contain the outbreak. a new trial offers hope. and how low will they go? oil prices are dropping, which is good news at the pump, but might spell trouble for some in his oklahoma town. >> welcome to our viewers on public television here in america and around the globe. as valmic state battles its way through iraq and syria, there are almost daily accounts of horrific abuse. now a new united nations report also accuses i.s. and other jihadist groups of recruiting children to fight for them. many are from syria but have fled with their families across the borders to turkey. bbc's mark lone has this special report. >> he 13iss years old. -- he is 13 years old and he plans to join islamic state. they reach out online, social media, feeding his ideas. born in sear yarks he was radicalized a year ago, learning to fight with another jihadi group. this is

so we know the islamic state controls territories as well and, of course, the concern is that the islamic state has a grand plan strategy in five years or ten years and i would say we have to be concerned about this. finally, in regard to the role of terrorism linked with security, we're going to discuss the humanitarian crisis in the middle east and in africa. we'll go into some details. the countries that we know if you take, for example, syria, the total number of refugees or displaced person in syria is around 10 million if you take into account the refugees, over 3 million left from various countries in the middle east. i think the same thing is in the maghreb, and we're going to discuss it. so the question is basically, what are we facing in terms of security? and i submit to you that we must discuss not only the ebola, but the biological and chemical and nuclear challenges that society is facing and then, of course, in order to deal with the issue, we have to strike a balance between the security considerations and civil liberties. with that i'm going to -- come and speak. >> thank

americans are fighting with the islamic state. xt. lou: stocks close off the record high this in the downgrade the nasdaq fell but the volume on the big board's 3.$4 billion. listen to my financial reports three times a day coast-to-coast on the salem radio network for comment romney might have to revise his comments on the 47% a new cbo report shows it is 60 percent of american households and receive more of government benefits than they pay with federal taxes. the strategy against the islamic state under fire from "the washington post" the editorial board roche mr. obama appears to recognize the severity of the threat imposed by the islamic state and focused on the job but against it but if he continues his ideological resistance of ground forces he will ensure the failure. general jack keane and fox news military analyst. "washington post" made it clear. why is the president not persuaded? >> it is staggering and explains why it is selling fettered and blunt to say exactly the same thing. i think the president will wait to see m

we have the largest number of americans who left the united states to fight on behalf of the islamic state. the first two americans killed on behalf of the islamic state were both from the state of minnesota. we know that today there are those that are american citizens with american passports who have left the united states. who knowingly have gone to fight with the islamic estate. who have been involved with beheadings, shootings, raping of innocent women, killing of innocent children. burying alive in august innocent women and children in mass graves. we also know that these individuals are being allowed to transit out of syria and iraq back to western nations, whether it is europe or in the u.k. or whether it is in the united states of america. our country today is freely allowing the return of terrorists who have given allegiance to the islamic state, back to the united states, on the basis of their american citizen slp aand on their passp. that makes many people in america nervous, especially from my state of minnesota, wondering with the battlefield experience and with relation

of the islamic state. the islamic state certainly -- from reports that have come from the ground, the islamic state is constantly developing and evolving its forms of rule, of internal organization, of bureaucratic service delivery. building of the tax system, a data base of what people do for a living, all sorts of things that are going on every day, which mean that whether people like it or not, they regard areas of i.s. rule as being more secure and more dependable and predictable than areas held either by the so-called moderate opposition or the assad regime. and doing business is cheaper in those areas in terms of the taxes they have to pay versus the bribes and other fees that are extorted from them elsewhere. so i think we really need to start looking carefully at what i.s. is regardless of how we feel about it. fourth, even if it's correct, i was interested in his presentation. this is the beginning of the end. for i.s. in iraq. let's not forget, going back to where iraq was is no great thing. the i

thanks so much. >> thank you, hari. >> woodruff: earlier today, friends and family of the islamic state'sest western beheading victim, aid worker peter kassig, said goodbye to the 26-year-old. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports. >> reporter: kassig, who converted to islam after capture in 2013, was memorialized this afternoon at an indiana mosque. among the speakers, prominent syrian sunni cleric al-yaqoubi. he was one of the first clerics to call on bass sad to step down in 2011 after government forces cracked down on peaceful protesters. he was forced into exile later that year. he's also a vocal critic of the islamic state dprowvment two months ago he released a letter to its leader al-baghdadi telling him you have misinterpreted islam into a religion of harsh brutality, torture and murder which he called a great wrong and offense to islam. i spoke to shaykh al-yaqoubi yesterday: thank you for joining us. why did you agree to speak at peter kassig's funeral? >> he sacrificed his life for the sake of the syrian people. he went on a humanitarian mission as an aid

we have the largest number of americans who left the united states to fight on behalf of the islamic state. the first two americans killed on behalf of the islamic state were from minnesota. we know that today there are those that are american citizens with american passports who have left the united states. who knowingly have gone to fight with the islamic estate. who have been involved with beheadings, shootings, raping of innocent women, killing of innocent children. burying alive in august innocent women and children in mass graves. we also know that these individuals are being allowed to transit out of syria and iraq back to western nation, whether it is europe or in the u.k. or whether it is in the united states of america. our country today is freely allowing the return of terrorists who have given allegiance to the islamic state, on the basis of american citizenship based on their passport. that makes many people in america nervous, especially from my state of minnesota, wondering with the battlefield experience and relationship and with perhaps directives from those who are g

state, not just how many square miles it holds on the ground, the idea of the islamic state excited islamists around the world. it has galvanized people around the world. in the process of in air campaign against it. that is going to have consequences. to the extent that we ultimately -- [indiscernible] extent that we become an impediment to the achievement of their goals, or even the survival of that enterprise, is going to have an effect on their asategic calculations both an organization as well as individual jihadist who are there who might be scattered and of a vengeanceas as well as other groups that are not there. we are going to be dealing with this for a long time. these jihadists come back care, they will most likely be arrested. we can identify them. there is a bigger problem in europe. this is a fascinating problem. europe has somewhere in the neighborhood of about 2000 people who am gone. primarily from france, united kingdom, belgium who have gone over to fight in syria and iraq. some of them are going back and forth. the polling data indicates in some of