in iraq. but at the same time we have been doing exercises of this nature. you know, i mentioned robin sage, the marine special operations troops, bold alligator, another example of where you've got, you know, dress rehearsals essentially for what could be military operations overseas. how can you expect that at some point the military would be ready for an operation overseas that could come up whether or not the federal government likes it or not if we're not actually preparing and practice for contingencies that might come up. >> historically are there other operations that have caused this level of concern in this country, training operations? >> i'm not aware of anything quite this serious or quite this hysterical. but with that said there was a 1999 i believe operation in which there was some urban preparations that the military did in san francisco and around that area. and that brought out a lot of you know a lot of frustration and anger, what are they doing on our streets. the interesting thing in that case, it was largely a very liberal tone to the criticism. and in this

anks for that friendship with iraq and our friendship. thank you for organizing this forum. and i want to talk -- i want to take this opportunity to thank the people of the united states, all american forces, who support them president obama's administration and the congress united states congress assistance to our common fight against this. as you say here isis. i welcome this chance to express my view on iraqi's situation. a sunni political leader as one who born of many generations of muslim fathers and mothers and legislated governor of the people in which is near a city of mosul. that's the largest -- second largest city in iraq. nearly 2 million people now illegal regime. the clear head is the battle to liberate mosul. the second largest city. iraq can wantnot be iraq without muslim. that would be like the united states without chicago or without san francisco. there are key points i want to discuss with you. these points mean success or failure for the liberation of mosul and the world's fight against isis. success in the battle and just as important, what comes after this,

delegation and even the government. so all of this environment asks the question. are we part of iraq? if the answer is yes, we should include a government for all iraqis and you have to be accepted and security forces. even when you come to fight against isis. so what sort of partnership the government can do if the government failed to make a partnership with those who are fighting a global threat. now something around 2012. everyone knows that the western part of iraq some signals is from the governor and buyer to prime minister to have to deal with them. the question who laughed isis. so the central government and the central security forces which control the security to deal with the control of isis. the question we keep saying that iraqi security forces were not built on that model and this is the added. many are being defeated and mostly a few hot arid of isis. isis presented itself putting in their mind the dealing of the government. so they will protect you and discover more than anyone else because millions of people are sunni and are killed now by criminals of isis. assumin

wolf blitzer, 1:00 p.m. in washington noon in waco texas, 8:00 p.m. in ramadi iraq. wherever you're watching from around the world thanks very much for joining us. we start with major developments in iraq. the provenÇal capital of the anbar province has fallen to isis fighters. u.s.-led coalition air strikes were certainly not enough to keep the iraqi military from being forced to flee the city. joining us now from the pentagon is our own correspondent barbara starr, and from beirut lebanon, senior international correspondent, nick paton walsh. the deputy white house press secretary downplaying the situation in ramadi saying he's confident the tide will turn back. he says very soon in ramadi. he says the air strikes the u.s. led air strikes will continue. are you getting that same sort of upbeat assessment what some are calling spin coming in from pentagon officials? >> absolutely wolf yes. this is the line that you're hearing this morning across washington from the administration. secretary of state john kerry already saying he thinks ramadi could be retaken very soon by the iraqi

periods of highest activity in iraq and afghanistan a. and we have faced significant cuts. in fact, over the last five years we've cut three-quarters of a trillion dollars from the defense budget. now that in itself is significant, but combine with the the lack of long-term budget certainty and the lack of support to make the internal reforms that we think are necessary, we are eroding our technological edge and our military readiness is declining. america's sons and daughters in uniform serving faithfully across the globe deserve better. our allies and partners are watching what we're imposing on ourselves through our budget process. our adversaries are paying attention too while we lurch from budget cycle and budget cycle and one year at a tame, our adversaries are investing and adapting. if the trajectory that i just described continues -- especially if sequestration returns -- we'll be looking at dramatic changes to how we protect our nation and promote our national interests. on the syrian train and equip mission as the secretary noted we've started the program and will grow it in a

of the islamic state of iraq and levant may have been a little premature. the footprint of i.s.i.l.'s hoped for state is still pretty large. it's racked up major victories in syria and iraq recently and leaves you wondering what the next of the world's next move is against a murderous and resilient opoftenlt the continuing fight against i.s.i.l. -- opponent. the continuing fight against i.s.i.l. is tonight's "inside story". [ ♪♪ ] >>> welcome to "inside story", i'm ray suarez. in recent weeks authorities in western capitals were reciting a list to the setbacks to the so-called islamic state of iraq and levant. the i.s.i.l. fighters were thought to be in decline as more countries joined the battle. weeks later there's plenty of fight in the group. i.s.i.l. ran successful campaigns in syria and iraq. the biggest surprise was the capture of ramada in iraq, the u.s.-trained security forces evaporating in the face of the army. jamie mcintyre has a closer look. >>reporter: pentagon painted a confusing picture. 800 truck bombs, an ambush overwhelming a small patrol and sand storms lim

wars and had to fight in for the war it chose to fight in iraq partly as a result of another intelligence failing that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction that he had a program but it was destroyed after the first war is in iraq from desert storm the invasion of iraq march 2003 with the invasion of iraq was the worst foreign policy mistakes made by the united states in the nation's great history for those of you who like steve for our students of that it says something. i think the assessment is correct and with as a military failure at that extraordinary level with the failures and with that decision to unnecessarily invade iraq. with that occupation of iraq with the unbelievably bad decision to disband the iraqi army of march-april 2003 but was ready to provide security on the streets of iraq after that invasion in a decision made in the bush administration. that army was disbanned and all of its soldiers given no pensions and told they could never again work for the iraqi government. a really extraordinary decision that put literally tens of thousands of armed p

its president sayser organization al qaeda in iraq including abu al zahr zarqawi has not limited them. >> reporter: losing abu sayyaf's ability to run oil operations doesn't hurt that much. they're lining pockets from several sources. >> from kidnapping to extortion to brothels to selling precious artifacts from ancient sites that are inside the territory that they control. >> reporter: and analysts say isis isn't just in syria and in iraq anymore. it's taken its black market operations and diversified leadership structure to places like africa and south asia. another reason that experts say decapitation strikes won't finish this group off, wolf. >> and brian, learning about palace intrigue among the leadership of isis for who's going to really be in control of that terror group? >> reporter: fascinating. a key reason al baghdadi is at the top of isis from a family with direct lineage to the prophet muhammad. the number two leader the man profiled in the piece, al afri maneuvering to claim the top job. one, by preemping, giving a sermon in the same mosque that al baghdadi gave la

book general petraeus worked with closely and drew on two. of his strategy in iraq and in afghanistan. and i thought that i would start a by doing this critique on how it has gone by saying obviously it's gone great. since september 11 we have had 14 september 11's. it's been a successful war on terror. >> not so much. >> i will try to do my best james risen impression but we agree some things we will probably clash on before he gets here but the attacks could have and should have been prevented by the national security apparatus. there were a number of indications that something was coming. this indications were missed in what i believed to be the greatest failure in history worse than pearl harbor. after the attacks of september 11 have the united states was unprepared for the kind of war it had to fight both in afghanistan and the war that it chose to fight in iraq and it chose to fight partly as a result of another intelligence detailing the leaving that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction which he had a program that was destroyed and ended after the first war in iraq a

hearing on syria and iraq. after that, the vice chair of the joint chiefs of staff on global threat. them vice president biden's speech at the naval academy graduation ceremony. two retired generals in the current strategy in iraq and syria with regard to i is failing -- isis is failing. experts testified before the senate armed services committee. this comes as isis takes control of ramadi. this is 2.5 hours. senator mccain: the committee meets today to receive testimony on u.s. policy in iraq and syria. i want to thank each of our expert witnesses for appearing before us today on this critical and complex topic. before i go any further, the secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs were invited to appear admittedly very short notice and we will be asking them to appear after the recess is over depending on whether the bill is on the floor or not, but we certainly would like to hear from the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs. today we have general jack keane, former vice chief of staff for the army and chairman of the institute for the study of w

about the role of sunni muslims in the future of iraq. two iraqi leaders, including a deputy prime minister and a governor and his -- of a majority city province discussed their status in a post-saddam iraq. ken: good morning. welcome to the brookings institution. i am ken pollack. i am a senior to the center for middle east policy here at the brookings institution, and i'm absolutely delighted to bring this program to you this morning. all of you know in the last few months washington has seen two extremely distinguished visitors from iraq, prime minister al-badi was here in march, and just recently, in april, and just recently we had the president of the krg. as you all know there are many different communities in iraq. all of them in great tension at the moment. some of them virtue and more with one another. and as we all know at the heart of iraq's communal differences like it's sunni community. we all now know that it was the alienation of the sunni community that began after the 2003 american invasion which drove the sunnis of iraq out of the political system and drove into o

strategy in iraq was failing at that time and they were two of the major architects. and i know they give credit to many others, but two of the major architects of the surge which turned out to be a great sacrifice of american blood and treasure, a success. the black flags of isil are now flying over yet another major iraqi city, ramadi, the capital of iraq's anbar province. and reports overnight suggest that isil controls the syrian city of palmyra as well. this hearing does not -- is not about the fall of any one city as important as those losses are, but rather what it's revealed about the limitations of an overly constrained american air campaign. the weaknesses of iraqi forces the growing maligned role of iran, and the ineffectiveness and inadequacy of u.s. military support for iraqi and syrian partners. but most concerning it highlights the shortcomings of the administration's indecisive policy, inadequate commitment, and incoherent strategy. this misguided approach has failed to stop if not foster the expansion of isil to a dozen countries. the loss of ramadi once the symbol of ira

engaged. i would have not gone into iraq. that is not to say the world is safer because saddam hussein is gone? it's significantly safer. >> turns out you can sell the sand. there's that. was the iraq war a disaster? you know. saddam's gone. was it a mistake to go to war in iraq? >> i don't believe -- the world is a better place because saddam hussein doesn't run iraq. >> was it a mistake to go to war with iraq? >> it was not a mistake given the world at the time. >> that wasn't the question. >> but i was asked based on what i know now. >> was it a mistake to go to war with iraq? >> i understand but that's not the same quest. >> that's the question i'm asking. >> it was not a mistake for the president to decide to go into iraq. >> i'm not asking you that. >> in hindsight the world is a better place because saddam hussein is not there. >> i don't under the question you're asking. >> i don't understand the question you're ask. whether we should have started -- saddam's gone. that's good, right? presidential candidates marco rubio and soon to be presidential candidate jeb bush get

where the obama administration officials have their story about the worsening situation in iraq and they are sticking to it and james rosen. but we begin with chief white house correspondent ed henry in idaho falls tonight. ed. >> reporter: good evening, bret. the questions came in fast and furious and the answers lasted barely five minutes. it had been 28 days since hillary clinton took any questions from the media. and after some urging from fox, as she again took softballs from supporters in iowa -- >> wait. wait. yeah maybe when i finish talking to the people here. how's that? i might. i'll have to ponder it. >> reporter: clinton pondered and then marched to the back of the room and took questions about a series of ethical issues dogging her campaign including the state department claiming it will take until january 2016 the eve of the iowa caucuses here to release some of the 55,000 pages of her official e-mails. >> i want them out as soon as they can get out. >> reporter: a federal judge ruled that the agency must have a timetable for a rolling release of e-mails as clinton pu

colleagues in iraq saying look, why you are sending our from the southern part. the sunnis can fight isis. your role is to recruit them officially and give them more weapons. other you send your guys to be killed and at the same time some sectarian behavior took place that give adverse action against them all of us will lose because the battle will be -- from fight daish into a civil war. we are talking about thousands of people in anbar and mosul and other provinces thousands of them, they are coming to the camps of training. this will come on american side and government what they can do to accelerate the liberation of iraq from isis and report back the state. fighting isis is a dual pronged approach. the other side should be political. it means the government program that mr. haider al abadi commit himself in front of the parliament this is my governmental program to be implemented with all other political partners that include reconciliation amnesty, sunni recruitment and training and all these things are really not new topics or not new requests or demands of sunni. with the pro

chose to fight in iraq, and it chose to fight that war in iraq partly as a result of another intelligence failing, believing that saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction and he had a program but it was destroyed ended after my first war in iraq after operation desert storm. that was -- the invasion of iraq in march 2003. my former colleague argues that the invasion of iraq in march of 2003 was the worst foreign policy mistake made by the united states in this nation's great history. for those who like steve are stunts of the subject that's really saying something. i think that the assessment, however, is correct. so the invasion of iraq and 2003 certainly not just intelligence failure, also a policy failure of the first order. and the military failure at an extraordinary level and the failures of the war in iraq, which is largely not exclusively the subject of my new book, "night fights" began early with the decision to unnecessarily invade iraq with the failure to properly plan for the occupation of iraq that followed, with the unbelievably bad decision to completely

. >>> on target tonight, fight for flight? the u.s. defense secretary says iraq's army has lost the will to take on isil. >>> new questions raised about a connection between donations to the clinton foundation and arm sales approved by hillary clinton's state department. one week after being driven out by isil fighters, iraq security forces launched a new operation to try and take aback the strategic city of ramadi. even if the iraqis succeed, it will take years to dislodge the group completely. that's why the recriminations from iraq's main military backers in washington are piling up. over the weekend secretary of defense ashton carter all but blasted iraqi military units for losing ramadi in the first place. he accused them of showing, quote, no will to fight. that's despite the billions washington has spent on advisers and weapons and other military aid since last summer to roll back isil's gains in iraq. in fact, the return on the entire two and a half trillion dollar u.s. investment in iraq since 2003 looks awfully slim these days. isil, which hardly existed before the u.s. de

have suffered at the hands of iraq's shiite government. >> first of all, instead of anarchy, they have now law and order. and people don't like, i ask, but they like their security. so they take taxes. they take care of the poor. >> bizarrely, isis even reaches out to the disabled. this is a recruitment video for deaf jihadis who wish to join isis. todenhofer's isis minders kept him away from only one group. he was not permitted to speak to or even go near a single woman. >> and you think that you would win the war? >> perhaps the most astonishing thing todenhofer heard from both isis soldiers and leaders is this. >> they want to provoke the united states to bring ground troops to the country. it's a clear target. they want the americans to bring their boots on the ground. they want to fight for americans. that's their dream. the ultimate fight against americans. that's what they want. that's what they hope. >> they do want to fight the americans on their own terms. in this regard, isis has a different dream than al qaeda. >> so psalm osama bin laden wanted to perpetrate large sca

] refugee camp northern iraq. a family is burying a young woman they say was killed while escaping the group calling itself the islamic state. her father told us what happened. >> they are part of the yazidi religion one of the groups targeted by the islamic state of iraq and the levant also known as isil. no one knows exactly how many yazidis were killed because isil-held territory is off limits to journalists and human rights workers. but tens of thousands had to flee their homes after isil fighters captured their towns and villages in june. isil now controls as much as one-third of iraq's territory, including the second-largest city mosul. though its power and influence expanded in syria, it's here where isil was born. during the nearly nine-year long u.s. occupation. fault lines travelled 600 miles across iraq to look at the consequences of the fight against isil -- and how u.s. allies are also helping to divide iraq more than ever. >> when isil advanced this summer people across the country's northern provinces fled, some of them to neighboring syria. >> we're on a floating bridge

security and politics of iraq including iranian support for shia militias combating crisis. this is an hour and a half. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. i am michael eisenstadt, director of the military security studies bagram at the washington institute here. if i could come before is another word for it ask you all to please turn off your phones so that it doesn't interfere with the event. today's event about having influence in iraq is something which we haven't focus on in a while. the laser narrow focus on the negotiations with regard to iran's nuclear program and the relative lack of attention devoted to development in iraq until the events of june of last year when isis took over large parts of the country have obscured a number of major developments both with regard to iran's regional role and with regard to iran's relationship with iraq that has an important bearing on u.s. interests and american policy towards the region. and let me just give you some examples with regard to i think on the macro level things that happened since by and large

, aaron, anna, shawn daniel. >> can you talk a little bit about your business in iraq? was he -- the prime minister -- acknowledging how bad the situation there was? giving assistance to the kurds? was he asking for more time? rep. mccaul: he is a shia. he asked the administration for more military assistance, and my judgment was not given that so he had an issue. in our state department, we were over there. we were very much against the idea of bypassing baghdad and funding, arming the peshmerga and city tribes, because they thought that goes around baghdad and undermines the central government, therefore undermines the unity of government, therefore splits up the three different kurds, shia, sunni state. that was a state department line. the speaker, a sunni, the speaker of the parliament, had a different version. they would like to see more direct funding. with the kurds and peshmerga mosul -- they want -- what they see is these weapons we are sending go through baghdad, not given to the peshmerga, the kurds, or to the sunni tribes, but rather the shia militias. from their perspec

know today truly about iraq? about syria? about afghanistan? about you ran? -- about iran? we know what we hear on the radio and see on the television. do we read books or listen to people who really do know? host: do you think the members of congress have to come in with opinions already formed. that there is no time for them given to learn about these topics, or change their opinion on a topic, if they do learn something. guest: not to me. i is the home run question. the answer to me is that they do not come in with deep knowledge of a subject. they come in with politically acceptable slogans. right now, for example, i read a story yesterday that many republicans running for the presidency right now are being pushed in the primary season toward a more extremist view that many of them do not have. they feel they have to adopt it. -- adopt, raapt, rather. what i'm trying to explain is whether it is democrat or republican, we live in extremely public a world, and we have to give ourselves more time to understand things, rather than just deal with slogans. host: the book is "haunting

iraq and afghanistan are arguably the most controversial and consequential decisions of the bush administration. the decision to go to war, how to get out of the wars, and related issues have not only dominated the bulk of president bush's time in office, but have also shaped current u.s. foreign-policy options in and around the regions. they will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. there is very little doubt that the wars in afghanistan and iraq will continue to be measures by which the legacy of the george w. bush foreign policy will be measured. with that in mind, the conference organizers have brought together this outstanding panel of public servants, journalists, and scholars to examine the way the bush administration waged wars and the consequences of them. each of our panelists is extremely accomplished and i will try to keep the introductions relatively brief although that is hard with a group like this. as i go through, i would ask that you please hold your applause until i have introduced everyone and we can welcome them altogether. giving us perspectives fr

>> really? >> i don't think of him as kentucky. >>> will iraq kill jeb bush? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. fighting over the weekend has put iraq back on the front pages. isis forces took bagramadi. meanwhile back here in the states, the presidential candidates toss and turn. will someone tell them why they fought that radar? and will the voters have like someone who wants to double down on a terrible bet to begin with? elsewhere, hillary clinton heads left. is this the smart move?ç is it smart to leave the center to republicans?-a or could she be that's right the republicans are too far right to grab the center. later, we'll talk about character and the great hollywood round table will join us to talk about the last seconds of mad men. first, terrorism analyst evan coleman. after weeks of fighting, the iraqi city ramadi fell, causing 100,000 iraqis to flee for their very lives. it is 60 mile west of baghdad. there it is on the map. it serves as the headquarters for the iraqi military in anbar province. also this weekend, u.s. special forc

administration from the election to the iraq war to the bush and chaney white house. he's serving as a distinguished conference scholar for this conference. and phyllis bennett is a director of the new internationalism project at the institute for policy studies in washington, d.c. and is a fellow of the trans national institute in amsterdam. she's been an ackvists in u.s. ish shoes an speaks widely as part of the global peace movement. she continues to serve as an advisory for several top advisories in the middle east. she's the author of eight books including 2003 book, before an after u.s. war on on terror. and the 2005 book challenging empire how people governments and the u.n. define u.s. power. so please join me in welcoming this distinguished panel. [applause] so the format, we're going to have 10 to 12 minutes for each of our guests here. and then there will be a question an answer session and possibly in between a moderated discussion depending on how much time we have. so we will essentially go in the order that's listed in the program. so first mr. basile. >> thank you paul,

, i would not have gone into iraq. that's not to say the that the world is safer because saddam hussein is gone. it is significantly safer. >> turns out you can be sell the sand. there's that. was the iraq war a disaster? you know, saddam's gone. >> was it a mistake to go to war in iraq. >> i don't believe it was. the world is a better place because saddam hussein doesn't run iraq. >> was it a mistake to go to war with iraq. >> it was not a mistake given what the president knew at the time. >> she just said was it a mistake. >> the question i was asked is what you know now. based on what we know now. >> was it a mistake to go to war with iraq. >> i'm asking. >> you yeah, i understand. it's not the same question. >> that's the question i'm asking you. was it a mistake. >> it was not a mistake for the president to decide to go into iraq because at the time. >> i'm asking you. >> in hindsight. world is a better place because saddam hussein is not there. >> was it a mistake or not. >> i don't understand the question you're asking. whether we should have started -- but saddam's gone.

written and spoken widely on the u.s. operations in iraq. in 2004, she served on a task force for a bipartisan coalition for a realistic foreign policy. her articles have appeared in "the journal of american history," "radical history review." she is presently completing a book called "never lose and the illusion of national policy." stephen knott is professor at the u.s. naval war college. he received his degree at boston college and has taught at the university of virginia. he is author of multiple books. one is the example of the use of covert operations by early american presidents. he is the co-author of "the reagan years." dr. knott most recent book, "rush to judgment," was published in 2012. amy goodman is producer and host of "democracy now," a national award-winning news program area and on over 1300 public television and radio stations worldwide. ms. goodman has co-authored five new york times bestsellers. her work has earned her numerous honors and awards. the nieman foundation for journalism at harvard honored goodman with a 2014 medea for journalisticl lifetime achievem

isis and the gains they have made in iraq and syria. we welcome colonel derek harvey, retired, the former director of the afghanistan-pakistan center of excellence and currently the director of the global initiative for civil support asks civil society and conflict -- global initiative for civil society and conflict. we are told isis has 50% control of syria. does that number surprise you? guest: no. they have been resourceful and capable and we underestimated their strategy to expand their reach in syria and iraq. host: a former senior cello -- fellow at the state department. some of the negotiations in regards with iran's nuclear program. guest: iran's role complicates this for u.s. policy because of the overlap -- overlapping interest in syria and iraq and the competition between shia and sunni multiple levels. host: it is important to put into perspective what the new york times piece is writing. it is the front page. the headline is "with two victories, isis dispels the hope of swift to klein -- decline." , they listed a series of setbacks in the city of kobani, battered by he

bush's terrible, horrible, no good very bad week on iraq. >> would you have authorized the invasion? >> i would, so would have hillary clinton. >> it's haunting jeb bush's future. >>> and republican candidates suddenly all opposed to the iraq war. leading the charge, rand paul. he joins us exclusively. >> finally, go like a bee and sting like a butterfly. mitt romney's fight with evander holyfield. >>> i'm chuck todd. joining me is senior adviser to president obama david axelrod. helene cooper, sara fragen and tom friedman. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning. a fierce battle is raging for the iraqi city of ramadi, capital of that city's biggest capital of the troops and isis. the terror group continues to make advances despite 11 months of u.s.-led air strikes. but, this weekend, the u.s. has been heralding a blow against isis, announcing the killing of an isis commander and the capture of his wife in a special forces mission in eastern syria. richard engel has been as

for 25 minutes. senator mccain: since the black flags of iso-fly over -- isil fly over a city and iraq. today appears to be a sad reminder of the indecisive air campaign in iraq and syria and a broader lack of strategy to achieve its stated objective of degrading and destroying isil. equally disturbing, reports prepare there is a counter offensive in a largely sunni province. whatever success would be exceeded by the strategic damage by the sectarianism and the suspicion among sunnis. prominent role of these militias continue to feed the perception of a baghdad government unable or unwilling to protect sunnis. this is devastating to the political reconciliation efforts that must be central to ensuring a united iraq can rid itself of isil. shiite militias and iranian meddling will only foster the conditions that gave birth to isil in the first place. liberating ram mahdi and defeating isil require empowering sunnis want to rise up and fight isil themselves including integrating them into iraq security forces providing more robust american military assistance. indeed the obama administra

hearing in the spy trial of "washington post" correspondent jason rezaian opens and closes in iraq today. an indian prime minister modi marks his first year in office. amid criticism that his government caters to the wealthy. mexican taxi drivers become the latest to protest against the rise of car-hailing app uber. and what is in a name he act or apparently, quite a lot. more on this story over former french president nicolas sarkozy's move to change his opposition party's name, on the way. first, our top story. genie: first, the army in iraq is fighting to take ramadi back from the state islamic group. it is aimed at cutting off the militants and preparing a bid to retake the city. for more on this, let's bring in charles mcdermott. talk about how this operation will work. charles: it was an interesting statement from the iraqi government. they said they would launch the operation, but nothing has started yet. they give interesting details. they said the sunnis will take part, the shia militias will take part, and the iraq he forces, which suffered a big defeat. it is a lot of fa

iraq it's been a week now since isil fighters stormed ramadi, the capital of iraq's largest province. hundreds of innocent iraqi men women, and children have been exkited, dozens of u.s. supply tanks and military vehicles have been seized. the white house still insists that no new strategy is needed. said the president's policies have been a success. it just is incredible. things to change. a stable and sovereign iraq is vital to america's interests. as i told the iraqi prime minister when i was there before easter, i was embarrassed that the iraqis had to bring the iranians in to help them with fight in tikrit. the president is going to have to scrap his policies that aren't working, lay out a broad overarching strategy to defeat the savage terrorists. what does it look like? to start, instead of placing artificial constraints on our commanders, it's critical that we have a strategy that ensures that conditions on the ground dictate our approach. but i think security is just one piece of this overarching strategy. i think we need to bert engage in meaningful with islamic leaders to

travelled to iraq as far back as 2003 and was a member of the first jihadists to arrive in the country. >> this type of delta force raid is extremely rare. in this case it was extremely successful. they were air lifted in the dead of night via aircraft in iraq. a defense official tells us some of the fighting was hand to hand and that isis leaders used spur of the moment human fields including women and children in a futile attempt to save themselves. the fighting was intense at times with some of the u.s. aircrafts sustaining damage and the u.s. suffered no casualties. in addition to 32 members of the islamic state being killed in the raid the raid resulted in the recovery of several ancient asyria yan texts and a trove of intel material including laptop computers and paper documents. one congressional critic says it's not enough. >> the prop that we have now, that i think the american people need to understand and the administration is isis is not in just iraq and syria. if your strategy is to degrade and ultimately defeat isis and you're not looking at the broader picture of places

taking over key city in iraq. they're strengthening their hold in syria. that will be the topic of today's senate armed services committee this morning. we'll be streaming it live on c-span.org and find out when we'll show that on our networks. south dakota governor of the state we'll talk to him about the isis strategy. tkpweul, what do you think about president obama's remarks? caller: yes, good morning, greta. i totally conquer with the comments that president obama made and i agree with the previous democratic caller. i'd like to refute joe from georgia. number one carbon co2 levels are already 400 parts per million. 30 northern virginia where the u.s. fleet is housed, you're seeing rises in the ocean already flooding in norfolk and the damage and effects it will have with the u.s. navy. you you're seeing species of fish being wiped out and cost of fish at the supermarket are through the roof and increases in forest fires and severe storms like katrina and sandy and also and wars will be fought over water primarily in the future. we did he emphasize the teaching of science in o

she did not. she is being debriefed in iraq. the significant take of computers and documents are all going to give the u.s. intelligence committee and our allies insight into the organization. insight into how it is structured. insight into how it is run. insight into how it is managed. it will better enable us to attack it. the third, and perhaps the most important, is the u.s. flying into syria, putting troops on the ground, and killing one senior isis person in government and other and grabbing a bunch of intelligence sends a message. there are a handful of what i consider to be important messages in the great war of our time. one of the most important messages is that you have to put pressure on the senior leadership of the groups. when you put pressure, you get them worrying more about their own security than about doing their job attacking us and taking territory and setting up the caliphate. the more pressure you put on them the more you put them on the back heels, the more you make it difficult for them to plan and do their business. the psychological effect on them particula

bush's terrible horrible, no good very bad week on iraq. >> would you have authorized the invasion? >> i would have. and so would have hillary clinton. >> how his brother's past is haunting jeb's future. >>> and republican candidates suddenly all opposed to the iraq war. leading that charge, rand paul. he joins us exclusively. >>> finally float like a bee and sting like a butterfly? mitt romney's fascinating charity fight with evander holyfield. >>> i'm chuck todd and joining me for insight and analysis this sunday morning are former senior adviser to president obama, david axle rod, former white house political director sarah fagan, alain cooper of the new york times and columnist and author tom friedman. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> from nbc news in washington this is "meet the press," with chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning, battle is raging right now for the iraqi city of ramadi capital of that country's biggest province between iraqi government troops and isis as the terror group continues to make advances despite 11 months of u.s.-led air strikes. but this w

people. ♪ hello this is al jazeera live from london and also coming up, after resent gains in iraq and syria i.s.i.l. takes over the last border post between the two countries. tanzania struggles to cope with tens of thousands of refugees as further violence hits burundi. and mind control a prosthetic brain implant that allows a paralyzed man to lift a glass. ♪ hello there and a warm welcome to the program, a group calling itself a newly established saudi affiliate of the islamic state of iraq and the levante says it carried out the bombing of a mosque in eastern saudi arabia a suicide bomber killed 20 people during friday prayers in a shia mosque in the village of al-qadeeh and province of qatif home to a shia minority and 21 people have been killed and witnesses described a huge explosion as worshippers began prior prayers and dozens were injured and we have more from the capitol riyadh. >> reporter: the mosque was packed with worshippers at the moment of the explosion and security forces say they are investigating the case and trying to find out how the suicide bomber managed

china. now at the mercy and whether or not they will destroy it as they have other sites in iraq. palmyra capture is significant and it opens new routes for isis toward the capital of damascus. this comes after ramadi here in iraq. this is a very significant victory. isis is bogging the iraqi security forces down at this stage. at least those capable of standing up and fighting it in the back and forth running battles and sporadic attacks as they try to prevent isis from pushing further east to the capital. the iraqi government scrambling reinforcements or trying to the very different frontlines that exist in anbar province. saying it will arm the sunni tribes. the u.s. will certainly be forced to try to re assess the strategy when it comes to dealing with isis in iraq and syria syria. clearly at this stage, despite the stages when iraq was ableable to capture tikrit, isis is capable of emerging stronger. >> and taking two towns and two important towns in just five days. thank you for that arwa damon. >>> republican leaders are laying the blame for at the feet of president obama.

and simple. >> hillary clinton enters the iraq debate on the trail. congressman barney frank on the question of knowing what we know now. then, how nicki minaj's bar mitzvah gig explains presidential speaking fees. plus, bill carter on the end of "letterman." >> had his impact is enormous. you see the cross comedy. >> why lebron james' parenting skills is in the news today. >> i don't know how to answer that question. >> on what would have been his 90th birthday, the legacy of malcolm x on the black lives matter movement. "all in" starts right now. >>> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. today for the first time since declaring her 2016 presidential run, hillary clinton discussed the vote she made in 2002 when she was a senator to authorize the iraq war. she enters the fray as the disastrous 2003 invasion of iraq has appropriately, though surprisingly, become a major issue on the campaign trail particularly among republicans. it all kicked off monday when presumptive candidate jeb bush was asked on fox news if knowing what we know now he would have authorized an invasion of

there, i'm -- coming up iraq asks for more help as isil fighters move closer to baghdad. >>> and happy birthday, pacman. the iconic arcade game inspired by eating pizza turns 35. ♪ >>> hello a suicide bomber has attacked a shia mosque during friday prayers. the blast happened in a village that is home to a shia minority. 20 people were killed. witnesses described a huge explosion as worshippers began prayers. dozens more were injured. isil says it was responsible. we can get more now from our correspondent hashem ahelbarra who is live in the capital reed a for us. tell us more about this attack hashem. >> reporter: eyewitnesss say they were performing the friday prayers in the eastern part of the kingdom of saudi arabia when they heard a huge explosion. there were about 150 inside the mosque 20 were killed dozens injured. now, that same area the eastern part of the country, about -- about two months ago, arm mentioned targeted shia worshippers, killing seven of them. they also attacked foreigners and security forces. about a few weeks ago, saudi interior minister said it had arrested

takes control of more territory in iraq's largest province and seizes an ancient city in syria. >> searching for refugees in the sea. >> california declares a state of emergency as over 400,000 meters of oil spills into the sea. >> i'll have all the sport as cricket returns to pakistan. an umpire is making a comeback after being injured in an attack that took the sport away from the country six years ago. >> the how manual ruins of an ancient city as risk of destruction from a modern conflict. isil fighters have entered the world heritage site in palmyra syria. isil's momentum being stalled has now been shattered by its advances. palmyra, the cradle of civilization is now in its hands. we have this report. >> this appears to be the final stages of fighting for a city at the heart of syria. isil fighters pushed syrian government forces out of palmyra. they are now in control of the the city's infrastructure including security headquarters. of course, thousands of people. >> there are about 140,000 people here, including some displaced from homes. people are afraid. there's no wa