first, we have breaking news from the pentagon, let's go to cnn's barbara starr. >> hey, s.e. i just talked to a military official who was actually briefed on the findings of the initial investigation report when bergdahl disappeared back in 2009, when they took a look at it and tried to figure out what happened. in fact, we now know that that report determined bergdahl did leave the post of his own free will, and the big piece of evidence that they came to this conclusion by was that his bullet-proof vest, his night vision goggles, and his weapon were left behind deliberately. now this does not mean that they ever came to a finding of desertion, because in the military, to make finding of desertion, you have to be able to determine intent. you have to know that that military person intended to desert the u.s. military. and because, of course, they couldn't talk to bergdahl, the investigation couldn't wrap that point up. now a new investigation will begin when he is able to talk. they will talk to him and they will try and get the facts, get his version of events about what rea

cnn has learned that the pentagon has drawn up plans to send as many as 100 special ops, green berets, army rangers and/or navy s.e.a.l.s all in an effort to help down the onslaught from isis in iraq. the islamic state in syria and iraq, which has blasted its way from the syrian border to the far outskirts of baghdad all in barely a week. the president is said to be meeting with his top-level national security team members as we speak. and of course, we're going to bring you his public comments live at the bottom of the hour just as soon as he takes to the podium. in the meantime, i want to bring in my cnn colleague nic robertson in the iraqi capital. we're also joined by cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr and white house correspondent michelle kosinski. and joining me live here in new york, cnn military analyst and retired lieutenant air force colonel, he also worked for the cia and defense intelligence agency. also with me from denver, christopher hill, former u.s. ambassador to iraq, now the dean of the school of international studies at the university of denver. first to you

the pentagon sending more than 100 u.s. marines to baghdad to help re-enforce the american embassy there. washington pulling out dozens of diplomats from the country as well. new images show just how far they are willing to go. pictures and videos posted by the militants today showing mass fighters murdering hundreds of people. there are reports of mass killings, beheadings and executions.s that impacting iraq's neighbors? fox news bill hemmer joins us, bill? >> talafar up here in the northwest. about 100 miles from the syrian border. critical town to i will explain in a moment. mosul fell. tikrit last wednesday. now the eyes of the world are centered iraqi capital of baghdad. 40 to 50 miles on the outskirts of baghdad. will they go in will maliki's government fight back? we are waiting to see what happens there in shorthand you can explain iraq just as a reminder now in three different sections here. >> on the map, number one would be the kurdish region up in the northeast number two the syrian region. number three would be

his next generation stealth fighter is proving a headache for the pentagon is yet another technical glitch buyers questioning the billions invested in the project. the u.s. jim starts a campaign offering cash for ideas to help grow its transatlantic partnership with the e.u. but the moves being seen by critics as an attempt to push through a corporate agenda. welcome thanks once again for joining us my name is neil harvey you're watching r.t. international. first this hour russian checkpoint on the border with ukraine has come in the shelling as a result a border guard has been injured with shrapnel attack occurred a self defense forces in eastern ukraine clash with the army the military said to fuse mortar fire which then hit the checkpoint it happened when refugees were crossing the border as we heard from a witness. who wanted to help people who are crossing from ukraine so i went to the border to offer my assistance there were lots of children in the refuse. to cheer them up i heard the gun far as i was coming up to the border people were screaming and running machine there were severa

we'll go live to the pentagon to get the latest on u.s. involvement in iraq. >>> hi everyone, i'm brianna keilar. hundreds more u.s. troops are moving into the striking range today. the transport ship carried 550 in a rotor aircraft into the persian gulf. the pentagon says those ship, troops and planes will give the president options to protect american citizens and interest should he choose to use them. john kerry was asked today whether air strikes are one of those options. >> they may be one of options that are important to be able to stop the movement of people moving around in open convoys or trucks and terrorizing people. when you have people murdered and assassinated in these mass massacres, you have to stop that. you do what you need to do if you try to stop it from the air otherwise. >> the pressure shot up dramatically over the weekend. isis stands for islamic states in iraq and syria. i want to go straight to baghdad and to nic robertson. iraq government talking pretty tough but what's the reality there? >> reporter: their air f

the big problem for the pentagon, wolf, is who do you target? ters are guys riding around in pickup trucks with weapons up and down the roads in and out of cities. there are civilian populations at risk. the u.s. military has virtually no precise specific intelligence on the ground. before they launch weapons, they have to know exactly what their target is, who the people are, who they are bombing, and make sure they are taking every precaution against civilian casualties and right now that is one big question and they are not at all sure they can do that. >> hold on for a moment. i want to make sure our viewers not only in the united states but around the world are up to speed on what's going on here in washington right now. wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we're standing by. president obama is about to make an important statement at the white house. the president getting ready to leave washington but he's been meeting for hours around the clock over the past few days with his top national security team. he's coming up with some options p

the pentagon sending more than 100 u.s. marines to baghdad to help reinforce the american embassy there. washington pulling out dozens of diplomats from the country as he will with. the goal of these isis fighters is a unified sunni state in syria. pictures and videos posted by the militants show mass fighters murdering hundreds of people. there are reports of mass killings, beheadings and somery executions. iraq is dividing along religious and ethnic lines and it is rapidly deteriorating. any u.s. intervention there may come way too late for that country. >> conner, thank you. as the islamic militants ruthlessly try to take over every major part of iraq, where is the majority of the fighting and how is that impacting iraq's neighbors? fox news bill hemmer joins us, bill? >> talafar up here in the northwest. about 100 miles from the syrian border. critical town to i will explain in a moment. mosul fell. tikrit last wednesday. now the eyes of the world are centered iraqi capital of baghdad. 40 to 50 miles on the outskirts of

david martin is at the pentagon. ouv.a. hospitals were truth ignored for years. wyatt andrews with the new revelation. ecstasy. >> dempsy! ends in agony. >> oh, it is a great cross! and it is an equalizer! >> pelley: elaine quijano on what's next for team u.s.a. at the world cup. and what if you posted a mailbox in the middle of nowhere? chip reid on the treasures we found inside. >> you will walk away having a whole better feeling about the world that you live in. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. this is our western edition. secretary of state john kerry rushed to baghdad today to try to stop a revolution that threatens all that america's fought for in ten years of combat. kerry said, "iraq is at moment of great urgency," after meeting with president nouri al-maliki and opposition politicians. maliki agreed to form a new inclusive government by july 1. something that he hasn't managed to do over the last eight years. many of his opponents make up isis-- the islamic state of iraq in syria-- whic

what is your answer to the pentagon criticism? the president? >> i told the president close to a year ago now that i did not >> mr. chairman, the leaders over at the pentagon have been critical of the defense bill that your committee and that the house produced, in particular their argument is that you put parochial interest ahead of readiness, sparing unnecessary military bases and sparing aircraft and ship and other weapons. what is your answer to the >> id nobody has spoken out more strongly on behalf of readiness than i have over the last year or two. it is not cutting readiness. we cut money out of onm that i do not think they would disagree with. the problem is it is not between a good and a bad choice. it is between two bad choices, which is worse. when you cut the amount of money that we have cut out of defense and then looking at situations around the world, we had putin rattling sabers in his part of his world. we have china pushing more and more into friends of ours in the area, japan, korea. vietnam. we have problems, as you brought

and in new defense spending bill and that's despite the pentagon having already shelled out nearly four hundred billion dollars on this development and to cover the cost the plane is now being touted to fallen by rina port explained the f. thirty five stealth fighter jet is the crime to look ram of military planes. and the pentagon's most expensive conventional weapons program it's a game changer the world's only fifth generation fighter jet is manufactured by lockheed martin combining state of the art technology with highly advanced avionics and maneuverability the pentagon plans to buy nearly twenty five hundred f. thirty five but delays and cost increases have left u.s. lawmakers frustrated over the three hundred eighty five billion dollar price tag and that's where america's allies come in. lockheed martin has turned to international partners including britain australia and canada collectively the countries have invested more than twenty billion dollars buying up the war craft a weapon that many experts view as a global gamble there's never been anything anywhere near as expensive a

and the pentagon's most expensive conventional weapons program it's a game changer the world's only fifth generation fighter jet is manufactured by lockheed martin combining state of the art technology with highly advanced avionics and maneuverability the pentagon plans to buy nearly twenty five hundred f. thirty five but delays and cost increases have left u.s. lawmakers frustrated over the three hundred eighty five billion dollar price tag and that's where america's allies come in. lockheed martin has turned to international partners including britain australia and canada collectively the countries have invested more than twenty billion dollars buying up the war craft a weapon that many experts view as a global gamble there's never been anything anywhere near as expensive and the entire process is one in which the costs can only go up. the other problem is that the more they spend in the more the united states and the manufacturer and now a whole bunch of other countries become invested in it the more they have to go ahead any of these countries that want to be cutting edge feel that th

the pentagon even predicted it from flying within forty kilometers of a thunderstorm that was out of fear is that the fuel tank could explode if it was struck by lightning we spoke to the actress designer who says that on top of the technical glitches if thirty five program is also played by bureaucracy it's one of the worst airplanes we've ever designed. for a lot of reasons but the most important reason is that it was compromised by having to do three different jobs you can never make a good airplane if you don't focus on a single drop single mission and then they made it even worse by saying that we save money by giving it up among three services so now you have three missions pulling the airplane in different directions now you have three services three bureaucracies adding their parochial points of view to the airplane was a complete mess and mind you this is the most expensive single project that the that the defense department has ever undertaken do stay with us here on r.t. as we take a look at solving the ugly side of the beautiful game russia is facing a tough task to contai

what is the pentagon saying on this now? >> reporter: the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says he will not rule out investigating bergdahl for desertion. they are going to question members of his unit again. however, general martin dempsey took to facebook this morning to urge people not to rush to judgment. he says the questions about this particular soldier's conduct are separate from our effort to recover any u.s. service member in enemy captivity. this was likely the last best opportunity to free him. like any american he is innocent until proven guilty. our army's leaders will not look away from misconduct if it occurred. the pentagon is waiting to hear from bergdahl this weekend. he was reducing to speak english. martha: i'm curious what the pentagon and the army believed him to be? did they believe him on awol? >> reporter: the army conducted an investigation shortly after he disappeared and it was clear that bergdahl sneaked off pace, climbing under the wire, leaving behind his weapon and body armor. according t

still, the pentagon plans to buy as many as 100 f-35s a year by 2018. m passed the point of no return? >> bogdan: i don't see any scenario where we're walking back away from this program. >> martin: so the american taxpayer is going to buy this airplane? >> bogdan: i would tell you we're going to buy a lot of these airplanes. >> martin: since our story first aired in february, the air force and navy have been forced by budget cuts to slow the rate at which they are buying new f-35s. but there is no change in the pentagon's plan to eventually purchase a total of 2,443 aircraft at a cost of nearly $400 billion. kids are fed? [ dad ] kids are fed. homework is done. baths are taken. i'm impressed. looks like you got everything under control. we got it all under control here, we're all good, right guys? yeah. yeah, we're all good here. yeah. yep. love you guys. [ dad & kids ] love you bye. [ computer beeps ] [ male announcer ] finally a paint that's stain resistant and scrubbable. introducing new valspar reserve. now the colors you love stay the colors you lo

david martin is at the pentagon. insiders who knew the truth about v.a. hospitals were inin ignored for years. wyatt andrews with the new revelation. ecstasy ends in agony. elaine quijano on what's next for team u.s.a. at the world cup. and what if you posted a mailbox in the middle of nowhere? chip reid on the treasures we found inside. >> you will walk away having a whole better feeling about the world that you live in. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: john kerry rushed to baghdad to try to stop a revolution that america's fought for in ten years of combat. nouri al-maliki agreed to form a new inclusive government by july 1, something that he hasn't managed to do over the last eight years. many of his opponents make up i.s.i.s., the islamic state of iraq in syria which is cutting a violent swath through iraq and moving toward baghdad. we have a team of correspondents on this and begin with margaret brennan, traveling with secretary kerry now in amman, jordan. margaret. >> reporter: top sunni and sh

the pentagon and state department point out that the u.s.rovided $14 billion in military aid to iraqis. >> to include hellfire missiles, apache helicopter sales moving forward, and i think later this fall, we're still on track for the delivery of two f-6s. so -- f-16s. so there is a robust military-to million military relationship we continue to pursue with the iraqi security forces, and we're certainly in touch with iraqi leadership. >> reporter: the state department, in essence, has admitted that syria served as a base for this onslaught by these al-qaeda-linked fighters who are standing on the verge of baghdad having just carried out their own version of a thunder run, patti ann. patti ann: so, jennifer, are preparations being made to evacuate the u.s. embassy in baghdad? >> reporter: nothing concrete as of yet. the state department issued a travel warning to iraq yesterday. that is a bit pro forma. in the wake of the turkish consulate being overrun and 49 turkish dip promats and citizens being taken hostage, there is no doubt planning ta

>> well, that was a question the pentagon was not willing to answer today. spokesman here was asked that twice by reporters and side stepped it. can they -- can the military hold? can the rebel -- this insurgent force make it to baghdad? can the iraqi government defend against these guys taking baghdad? there's a lot of concern, wolf. the forces that are on the move, very difficult to strike. these are very dispersed forces. they've been moving very fast. what to do about it? already the u.s. has increased surveillance flights at the request to the iraqis. they are considering, they're very close to making that decision to send the aircraft carrier. that would at least give them ability to give the president the option for air strikes if he was to choose it, wolf. >> what are the u.s. military challenges as far as intervention is concerned? i guess one of the key questions, does the u.s. really believe it has a full intelligence picture of what's going on? >> i think that everyone agrees they do not yet. that's one of the reasons they're running these surveil

it is coming from the pentagon. we'll let barbara starr break the story.t do you have. >> good morning, don. this will await a final decision by president obama but the pentagon at this hour is now prepared to send 100 u.s. ground troops, military advisors, to iraq. several u.s. officials are telling me. it does await a final decision by president obama. that decision could come as soon as today, we are told. 100 military advisors to iraq. they will be green berets, army rangers, navy s.e.a.l.s. if approved, they will deploy to the headquarters of iraqi army brigades around the country, around iraq. they will both -- they will advise iraqi forces, but they have an additional job. they will also collect intelligence on the location and disposition of isis forces. the militants that both iraqis and the u.s. want to see out of the fight in iraq. don, i think what's so significant here for the military, for the pentagon, is, you know, the president has said no u.s. ground forces in iraq. but, these guys, these 100 special forces, they are always prepared for c

it is less than the pentagon had recommended. there have been no earlier recommendation about a complete withdrawal in 2016. a couple of questions. is that numbers sufficient to get the job done and do both counterterrorism and robust advising of afghan security forces? the two thousand 16 date signal to the enemy that they can wait out u.s. forces? date signal to the enemy that they can wait out u.s. forces? >> the last time i was in afghanistan was a few weeks ago. the general was really careful not to use a specific number. he wanted more flexibility. but he was more concerned about was having enough troops to carry out the mission. more important was defining the mission. the mission that those who are left behind to work on will be to train the afghan military and police force to be able to handle their own security. of therned over most fighting to them during the last year. they are doing a good job. they handled all of the elections by themselves with our advisors working in the background. they did the logistics. they did

private equity firm called berg kravitz roberts so this clip shows the revolving door between the pentagon and private equity it shows the collusion between the oil and gas industry and state governments it shows that our wars have been for oil not to deliver freedom to oppressed peoples it shows that our media doesn't give us and it shows that the interior design in north dakota is a little drab. everybody should be shocked and various about this my senior thesis was on the centrifugal force created by a spinning bow tie and i did it hoping hoping to stop accidents like regis philbin's and dear decapitation from ever happening again all right i should not be the one telling you about this but here we are coming to you from the belly of the base washington d.c. this is redacted i. i yes don't and i. said yes i mean i've lost some weight you look good. seven out of twelve of you have lost some weight loss my welcome to night only camp now let's take the news from behind major retailer gap announced they were finally signing on to a significant labor agreement in bangladesh did gatt make thi

jennifer griffin is at the pentagon looking at the options of for the u.s. in iraq. we begin with chief white house correspondent ed hen ary on the extremely sensitive subject of new involvement on an old battlefield. good evening, ed. >> reporter: good evening. as iraq is heading closer to implodement, the vice president called the iraqty prime minister, pledges the u.s. is going to step up security support for iraq but exactly what form that will take is unclear. iraq was on the verge of a full-scale meltdown with thousands of iraqis fleeing mos mosul. the group's goal may be building az an islamic state to launch another 9/11. >> i don't know twha the president is being told, but what i heard today scared the hell out of me. the worst is yet to come. and this place is completely falling apart. >> reporter: meanwhile, kurdish soldiers took control of kur cook in the north as the price of oil soared to over $106 a barrel. amid the reports the u.s. rejected a plea from nuri al malaki to launch air strikes against the extremists, iraq is imploding so badly that fox ha

. >> the pentagon's press secretary says the u.s. military is preparing for different options for presidenpresiden t obama to consider in iraq. in recent days islamic let's into capture territory in iraq. rear admiral john kirby says the u.s. military is disappointed that iraqi security forces have been unable to defeat the islamic militants. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon everybody. let me just start with a brief update on iraq. secretary hagel continues to monitor the situation there as to defense and military leaders here at the pentagon. over the last 36 hours the secretary has meant a number of times with leaders to discuss events on the ground and to prepare options for the president's consideration. i won't detail those options. they cover a wide range of military capabilities and will be designed as the president said to help bring the momentum of isil's progress to bolster iraqi security forces but any decision rests solely with the commander-in-chief. i think it's important to remember that for several months n

the pentagon should be more forthcoming about this. having this debate and they're not addressing the issue of whether or not he was a deserter and, in fact, they're disputing some of the things that his platoon mates are saying and disputing whether people -- their families believe died in going to search for him, they're disputing that that is even true. i think the pentagon needs to lay the facts out and explain what they knew when they went to rescue him and to address the more specifically the issues and the claims that are being made by a lot of people. this isn't just one or two people. this is a lot of people saying the exact same thing about him. >> we had family members on earlier on fox today who talked about the fact that their son died and they were never told there was a connection but now there are people who served alongside of him and at least in their opinion told the family that he was killed on a mission to rescue bergdahl. because you are a trained psychiatrist and are probably analyzing all of us, i'm interested to

first, david martin at the pentagon. david. >> reporter: scott, now that american advisers are in baghdad, they're joining up with iraqi army units defending the city, and that could potentially expose them to combat. so the pentagon has begun flying predator drones armed with hellfire missiles over baghdad to provide air cover for the american advisers. other aircraft, from high-flying global hawk drones to f-18 fighter jets, are flying about 30 reconnaissance missions a day over western and northern iraq. but the armed drones are there to provide backup for the advisers. under the command of major general dana pittard, the advisers' primary mission is to determine whether the iraqi army can defend the capital. insurgent fighters numbering in the thousands are moving toward baghdad from both the north and the west, positioning themselves for what u.s. intelligence calls a multi-pronged assault, although there is no indication yet they have actually made the decision to attack. the iraqi army has deployed units across the

former top- a official at the pentagon for weapons testing. they looked at some of the testing that had been done of dragon skin and they looked at some of the claims and what they knew about it and some other testing that had been done on dragon skin and said what the army had found didn't add up. so we went to a lab in germany and had dragon skin tested. theeld up better against army's body armor. to protect our guys, we didn't penetrated ourt body armor that didn't penetrate dragon skin. noticeableas a difference in performance. subsequent to that, there was an ig investigation in which they found that the army's testing facility had been taking in evaluating body armor. >> what is a motive on the part of the army? >> i don't know if it is coziness with the hope of eventually getting a job with one of these contractors, but there wasn't any evidence of outright corruption. >> how rampant is this kind of thing? >> i worry that a lot of these things are going on in government. and you see what is happening at the v.a., i think that the same ki

david martin at the pentagon begins our coverage. >> reporter: u.s. military aircraft, including warplanes from the u.s.s. "bush" with now flying round-the-clock surveillance missions in iraq. at the same time, martin dempsey told congress iraq has indeed asked for air strikes against the insurgents who now control much of northern and western iraq. >> we have a request from the iraqi government for air power. >> you do? >> we do. >> reporter: but air strikes have been put on hold, in part due to a lack of good enough intelligence to target insurgents without harming friendly iraqi troops or innocent civilians. >> these forces are very much intermingled. it's not as easy as looking at an iphone video of a convoy and immediately striking it. >> reporter: to get better intelligence the pentagon is now >> reporter: to get better intelligence the pentagon is now planning to send 100 army green berets into iraq to serve as america's eyes and ears on the ground. the president has promised not to send u.s. troops back into combat in iraq, so those green beret

>> the announcement was made by the pentagon. e official reason, as you indicate, is that the -- would provi the commander in chief with flexibility should military options be required to protect american lives, citizens and interests. >> could also include that the ship's assets, fighter jets, recon sans aircraft, rescue helicopters, missiles, all that could be used if the president does, indeed order a military strike. in addition, by the way, to the uss george h.w. bush, the guided missile cruiser, philippine c and the guided missile destroyer uss truc truxton are standing by for orders. >> joining us live from washington, d.c. >>> meantime, the conflict has created an entirely new humanitarian crisis inside of iraq. thousands of iraqis have fled their homes in and cities have fallen completely all around them. al jazeera's hoda abdel hamin has their story. >> reporter: it's a melting pot of people who share the harsh reality of being refugees and facing a life of uncertainty stuck beside a checkpoint between mosul and air fiel

did the pentagon tell him that? of course not. i wonder how many, if any, members of that subcommittee have even read the treaty. one would think 61 years after the korean war, the pentagon would not still be arguing the defense of south korea depends on tiny, indiscriminate explosives that would also pose a threat to u.s. forces if we counterattacked. it really makes you wonder this country has to arm -- a country that spends more money on its military than any country in the world, we have to rely on these little land mines to protect us? oh, come on. president obama still has a little bit of time to put the united states on a path to join the treaty but time is running out. it will require some revision of our korea war plans, revision our past commanders have said we should do. but that can be done over time in a manner that protects the security of south korea and our troops. it needs to be done because without the participation and support of the united states, the most powerful nation on earth, no international treaty can ac

let's bring with jennifer at the pentagon. jennifer, how many embassy staffers are on the move right now? >> well, according to a u.s. senior official, harris, about 1 is,000 are slated to leave. some are going to jordan, some to consulates in erbil and northern iraq in the south. the embassy normally has 5,000 people assigned to it. and cost the u.s. $1 billion to build at the end of the war, harris. >> we've seen the warship "u.s.s. george w. bush." how effective would be the drones be now? >> in addition to the "u.s.s. george h.w. bush" it's also in the philippine sean with a navy cruiser. and the mesa verdict day a marine dockship with mv-22 ospreys on board. 122 groups have been sent to bolster security at the u.s. embassy in baghdad. about 50 marines. secretary of state john kerry indicated that the u.s. would consider using armed drones. >> they may well be one of the options that are important to be able to stem the tide and stop the movement of people moving around in open convoys and trucks and terrorizing people. >>

since then, the pentagon seems to have clamped down on this information flow. but certainly, on a medical and on a psychological front, what the medics have said is, no, take this slowly. this is a process that could take minutes or days. it could even take years. and we don't need to hurry things now. and another interesting detail that's come out from the pentagon as well overnight is that bergdahl may be owed up to $200,000 in back pay, but so far, no decision has been taken to pay him that money, pending the judicial review on why he fell into taliban hands, john. >> $200,000 is a lot of money, an interesting development. karl penhaul at landstuhl. thanks so much, karl. >>> happening today, the house taking up a bill to get faster help to veterans on va wait lists. it would allow them to seek care outside the va system. it comes on the heels of a scathing report from the agency's inspector general. that report found more than 57,000 veterans waiting 90 days or longer for their first appointments, another 64,000 never even got appointments. >> secretary shins

jennifer griffin is back with us from the pentagon i believe. ifer, i wonder what the level of concern is that -- that the sunnis from iran are going to see this as an opportunity. after all, this has happened in a matter of days, not a month's long build-up that we knew about. >> well, there's a great deal of fear that the shias from iran or that iran itself will try to fill the vacuum. that is what is always the problem in the middle east when you leave vacuums. the other thing to remember, shep, is this is also about oil. iraq has large oil fields that will be very lucrative to -- to those different groups. and they will be fighting over those fields in short order because that will be what will fund this insurgency or fund the government. it's also another point that touched on that's very important is that maliki -- when the americans were pulling out and as they were leaving, remember it was the sunni awakening in anbar province that helped the surge troops that the u.s. sent in to iraq to stabilize things, that they were not taken care of

. >>> the pentagon is confirming that the u.s. has established 24-hour surveillance in northern iraq. we are also told that special operations advisers will arrive very soon. and chief correspondent ed henry tells us that u.s. air power may not be far off. >> reporter: as kurdish forces try to hunt down the militants from isis today in the key city of kirkuk, they confirm that president obama is targeting militants and not just in iraq but syria as well. >> there is a willingness by this president that has been determined, demonstrated to act where necessary to save guard the national security of the united states. >> reporter: and the president talked about serious air strikes last year and walked right up to the line. and he sought a consensus on catol hill that never came. today, assad's long-time ally spoke by phone with embattled prime minister nuri maliki as the kremlin released a statement saying that putin released a statement on the measures he is using to battle the militants, and he pledged full support for the iraqis t

it got to the inherent corruption in the pentagon's contracting system. sadly, it is a continuing story, either because of outlying corruption or just coziness with contractors. harnessing technology that might be cheaper is pushed aside in terms of giving contracts to the big corporations. i must say that raytheon -- i don't think they have been able to develop this capacity for -- the israelis have actually installed it on their tanks and it has been operational in the theater. >> when you know as an investigative reporter that they are about to kick back on you on this stuff? >> you can't assume they are going to kick back on you. in fact, on this one, the army was furious. the army insisted on coming to new york and meeting with all our top wrasse. -- our top brass. they came to new york and arrived at 30 rock wearing their combat fatigues. these are all people who worked at the pentagon. they are mostly pr side. they came and sat down with us and told us we were all wrong. besides, there is no document that shows that the army ever did such a thing. s

i don't think that's the case. >> assumed that the pentagon perspective which obviously is all you are given but what can they he'll tell you that you don't art he no? >> what we have talked about a simplifying the rules so that they are more comfortable and easier to understand easier to implement and there are more straightforward. in 5002 last year it struck me how incredibly complicated and difficult it is for program managers to sort out all the requirements that he has to follow the read we should be a will to simplify that and not sacrifice the intent behind those rules. they have been built on layers ever since goldwater-nichols. there have been layers of acquisition improvement of one form another. many of them are very good and they are all well motivated that the total body is large and complex. the same is true with dfar. i'm not doing this right now but there is an effort that we are working with the congress on to take a look at the dfar to see if we can simplify that as well. >> in addition to the challenges that you mentioned what are the programs you are offering to df