we needed to get zarqawi. but he was good at evading capture. >> he could essentially remain invisible. zarqawi made it clear we could lose in iraq. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> my fellow citizens, at this hour, american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. >> every politician wants us to go crush an army. they give us their flag, and we can all go home and everybody is wonderful, like a world war ii victory. that ain't going to happen. ♪ >> in the battle of iraq, the united states and our allies have prevailed. >> the united states and allies invaded iraq in the spring of 2003, and there was a set of assumptions that proved to be wrong. one, that we would be accepted as liberators, and, two, that there would be the ability to turn the keys over to a follow-on government after saddam hussein was thrown out of office. >> we got him. >> saddam being captured, all of a sudden you had all this like sense of relief. okay. ma

zarqawi, he named it.day islamic state that we still will be dealing with years from now, he created it. >> the terrorist group known as isil must be degraded and ultimately destroyed. >> i think zarqawi absolutely laid the foundation for the islamic state, and he convinced people it was achievable. >> it's an ideology. it's a belief system until we change the behavior of this radical form of islam. we're never going to defeat this. rrnl . >>> back in 1981 i had the american dream. the beautiful wife, the house in the suburbs, and a beautiful 6-year-old son. one day i went to work, kissed my son good-bye, never saw him again. in two weeks i became the parent of a murdered child, and i'll always be the patient of a murdered child. i still have the heartache. i still have the rage. i waited years for justice. i know what it's like to be there waiting for some answers. over those years i learned how to do one thing really well, and that's how to catch these bastards and bring them back to justice. i have beco

most of the attacks by zarqawi were met against american forces , the coalition's were willing against the shiites so if al qaeda was defeated by the sons of iraq or the weakening between 2006 and 2008 what does it explain? the rise of isis. here too, your important question we have to take other factors into the equation other variables and here comes the deepening sectarianism in iraq of 2010, the president al-maliki as the prime minister the arab spring uprising and the derailment of the uprising the civil war in syria and basically iraq was able to basically blend itself with the religious sunni communities in iraq and in syria to have a security vacuum. you had sunni rebellions against the shiite dominated and alloway dominated areas so this spectacular surge of isis was a direct result of the creeping sectarianism comes the deepening sectarianism the civil war and al-nusra the security vacuum that exists in other states and the perception that somehow the arab spring belief -- peaceful collective action could not change the existing one. the leader of isis basically motto is chan

. >> reporter: the founder of isis is this man, abu musab al zarqawi. the u.s.on and spent more than $8.5 billion fighting the terror group. >> it's about changing the storyline immediately and relying on stage craft. and that's what donald trump did today. >> reporter: hillary clinton's campaign his, quote, unprecedented lack of knowledge. in the midst of what "time" magazine today calls simply a meltdown, trump so far sticking to the strategy that got him this far. >> i just keep doing the same thing i'm doing right now. in the end it's either going to work or i'm going to, you know, i'm going to have a very, very nice long vacation. >> reporter: while trump sees political opportunity linking clinton to the president, there may be political risk in going after him so hard. nbc's newest favorability ratings show the president nearly twice as popular as trump. lester? >> hallie jackson in florida, thank you. >>> a new study out today reveals an alarming trend. more car crashes are being caused by falling debris often with deadly consequences. a 40% incr

and it was a great program inside al qaeda because zarqawi didn't want any fight between the shia and the sunni. just want a fight against the west. so, no, we see that al qaeda and daesh are closed in their respected strategy. both want to create mass movement and they are recruiting, particularly in two special population, refugees in syria, in lebanon, in jordan, and second generation of immigrant in the west. i'm going to speak about both -- both population. i did an investigation in syria, in jordan, turkey, among refugee population and saw clearly that there is a process of radicalization among the syrian refugees in the middle east. for instance, one year ago i was in tripoli in north lebanon and made fighter, rebel, in foreign camps, very, very desperate situation. very desperate situation because in 2014, the syrian rebel was supported by islamic ngo from saudi arabia from qatar. because in tripoli, it was the best to the front, but in 2014, when the army succeed to get back, and to expose the rebel, all the islamic ngo, all came back to saudi. no point to help the syrian reb

again, he had pledged allegiance to isis and abu al zarqawi years ago before he was killed in 2006. >up next after leaving onobscene rant on a lawmaker's phone, mayor paul lepage, is he truly considering step aside, leaving that post? he suggested this this morning. however, this afternoon he's taking it back. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? our new cocktail bitters were doing well, but after one tradeshow, we took off. all i could think about was our deadlines racing towards us. a loan would take too long. we needed money, now. my amex card helped me buy the ingredients to fill the orders. opportunities don't wait around, so you have to be ready for them. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. i've got a nice long life ahead. find out how american express cards and services big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical e

but there was, abu musab al s k zarqawi well-known philosopher, leaderless.h and kill any opportunity you have, in any manner you can. now al qaeda is perfectly happy to join in on that. but it was originally isis that put that into play. >> let me pull you into a dirtier game, that's presidential politics. what do you make of donald trump's claim -- i know what you make of it -- but donald trump's claim of barack obama and hillary clinton's role in the formation of isis, how isis is being used as a kind of political kind of football in this particular moment given what you've heard? >> you know that's nonsense. i just told you, the lineage al qaeda and isis and if you want to point a finger of blame in our direction you would have to say that the bush administration was unprepared for -- you know, there was no discussion about terrorism during the camcampaign. there was very little understanding. to give them credit they did respond very quickly, but the idea of taking -- going from afghanistan into iraq was a horrible diversion of our energies. >> lawrence

>> zarqawi was hitler-like.ill as many people that did not see life the way he saw it.

. >> zarqawi was hitler-.

saying please help us and then you have zarqawi and his henchmen trying to strangle you.t was his world. untouchable for awhile. but not untouchable forever. the reasons that his story is tragic. what we did, but also, a dealt force team. i love our special operations forces. sometimes they screw up, too. and my book gets into that. i hope in a very fairway. but what the effect was, was that is we made life more dangerous, in fallujah, and when they asked, who killed it, we did. i love the general. he's a partner with me. the stories that really demanded i think a 608 book, is the afghanistan stories. thank you for giving me five more minutes and i'll open it up to all of us. any question, if you will come up to the microphone. i know that helps with the recording, or yell at me i'll repeat it in the microphone. >> my question is for you, i'm old enough to be your mother. my war was vietnam. i was married to an antiwar activist. and i became a physician. i retired only recently. so i have met lots of marines coming from the war-zone. my question is, it appeared, as soon a

because in 2004 as i stated in the last segment that aqi, al qaeda in iraq was started by a t zarqawiater became the islamic state in iraq and syria. >> after the -- but, also -- >> in 2004 -- we weren't -- >> this was also obama saying that they were the jv team. again. the incompetence of even recognizing the threat while he was in office. and then to make it worse, going into libya and creating a vacuum, leaving all of those weapons behind essentially arming the enemy? >> i hear that argument, that's not the argument that donald trump has been making. he has made over the last several days that barack obama was the founder of isis and said it was sarcastic. he's put his supporters and his surrogates as we saw this morning in a really difficult place. not knowing when he's being sincere, when he's being sarcastic. i want you to watch over the last two weeks some of the acrobats some supporters have had to go through on cnn. watch. >> isis is honoring president obama. m he is the founder of isis. >> the point he's trying to make is the contrast that exists -- >> i feel deeply for the

>> abu musab al zarqawi.a guy who if he had his druthers and had the opportunity would murder barack obama, hillary clinton and even george w. bush. osama bin laden said we're laying a trap for iraq and this is the time to create sunni jihadism. to claim that the president of the united states is a terrorist and i'm sorry, every time i argue with the trump supporters, they always say, oh, he didn't mean that, this is the liberal media reporting what he said. donald trump went on hugh hewitt today. hugh said clearly you mean by withdrawing from iraq -- >> let's roll it. >> last night you said the president of the founder of isis. you meant he created the vacuum and -- >> no, i meant he was the founder of isis. i give him the most valuable player award. i give her, too -- >> he's not sympathetic to them. he hates them. >> he was the founder. >> by using the term founder, they're hitting on you again. mistake? >> no, they're liking it. >> do you not like that? >> i don't. >> most valuable player. this is the rep

you could say it's zawahiri, zarqawi, al baghdadi. a lot of things. but it's not barack o'bam ap. he didn't say tin tensionally. i didn't know until you played the intro he'd done it three more times today. but he clearly has a media strategy today to underline that word -- >> but hugh, i've got to ask you this. words do matter here. >> sure. >> and at some point this is not going to help him. this is a week where the republican party, the dam is breaking here. we're seeing every day another crack, another republican bails on this ticket. and now we've got the letter to the rnc. it's a fairly lengthy list of folks, and it may get longer, begging them to shift money. him using this language isn't helping him calm republican skeptics down, is it? >> no. in fact, easterlier in the interview i had with him today i asked him about his list of 11 for the supreme court and he doubled down on that as well saying i will stick to that list and by the way, mitch mcconnell can filibuster my nominees if i veer off of that list. that's reassuring to republicans. that's how you end the never tru

and over and over again previously, with the killing of osama bin laden, with the killing of abu zarqawibecause of the strongest elements is the idea of a shared identity, taking out leadership dot no, sir deeply hurt the group, carol. >> all right, clarissa ward reporting live from london this morning. thank you. >>> still to come, singer chris brown facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon. the bizarre standoff, next. >>> singer chris brown facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon after another run-in with police. it all started when a woman called 911 from inside brown's home, saying the singer pointed a gun at her head as she admired a piece of jewelry. that brought out a massive police response with parts of the hours-long standoff playing out on social media. cnn's kyung lah is following the story. she's live in los angeles. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. 14 hours long standoff. it certainly was strange even by hollywood standards. it did begin with that call, that woman's call for help. when brown refused to comply with police, that's when this escalat

the car bomb was the work of zarqawi, the head of the al-qaeda bridge, made a name for himself as thechief of the slaughterers. eventually killed by u.s. forces. the so-called martyrs families honored this act by holding a festive ceremony known as the wedding of a martyr. in arabic, to symbolize his wedding in paradise with 72 virgins. on these occasions i guess congratulate the family for their son's martyrdom. these types of weddings are performed often. thank you. [applause] >> general gray, professor alexander, i appreciate the opportunity to shove -- shearson professes an also are to be on the panel, these distinguished individuals. in light of the background that was sent out on my colleagues, i thought it might be helpful to focus on a few different issues one in particular trying to find these lone wolf. in particular, islamic state in smart individuals in the u.s. at some of the same lessons can be utilized with transnational jihadists or same thing with lone wolves here, either with vis-À-vis traditional crime or other political extremism. so with to the type of topics i'm

. >> he is the >> abu musab al zarqawi actually founded isis but doubling down doesn't begin to describe what trump has been doing. >> he's the found errer of isis. >> everyone in this country knows what donald trump means. >> you meant he created the vacuum. >> i meant he's the founder of isis. >> reporter: as trump takes aim at democrats, a new letter signed by party insiders ask the rnc to give up on trump and senate majority in case he loses in a landslide. >> they'll say we won't support trump. these are not the people i want. >> reporter: a top aide for hillary clinton travels for clinton foundation business while working at the state department. clinton's campaign now calling suggestions of a conflict of interest absurd saying the aide volunteered her time. olympic theme attack on trump arguing he's not strong but scared. >> if team usa was as fearful as trump, michael phelps and simone biles would be cowering in the locker room. instead they're winning gold medals. >> reporter: as early as today clinton is expected to release her 2015 tax returns and ten years of her running mate

he met al zarqawi around 2002. he was recruited in aleppo. he's a native syrian, which is more powerful in terms of what isis has become today because it's a completely iraq-ized franchise. to have a syrian leading the movement within syria, a form e isis defector told me, look, adnani runs all of syria for isis because he knows the terrain very well. so he would have been the guy recruiting people within syria, training them up in the mountains and countryside of raqqah or overseeing their training and then dispatching them back into the west. >> and he was a star for them in a perverse way because he was able to, hearing it from the french point of view on this, you know, these thugs they're dealing with in these disenfranchised communities, this guy would send you a video and say, i was just like you. now i found purpose. now i'm a hero. and you can be a hero too. and this was a very effective tool. >> and i think the most powerful aspect of his persona, if you like, was his longevity. this was a guy who fought the americans for almost a d