to destroy syria's chemical weapons' arsenal. they won't confirm that syria's commitment produced and mixed an creating chemical weapons has been destroyed. the opcw concluded that mustard gas had been used in aleppo province. the fact finding mission was not mandated to assign any blame but the area had seen fighting between isil and an opposition groups. the findings found that isil had obtained and was using chemical weapons in iraq and syria. that was not the only attack investigated. in the syrian province of idlib there were incidents between march and may which the fact-finding mission said likely involved the use of one or more toxic chemicals including chlorine. the u.s. envoy to the chemical weapons watchdog has warned that the use of weapons has become increasingly common in the syrian war. voices have been growing louder in the use of weapons in syria. a group has released a report saying 200 civilians have been killed in the past three months. it alleges russian authorities lied to cover up civilian damage in two air

in syria and iraq. and anywhere else it arises. and with respect to the homeland, while we don't have any credible imminent threats that i can relate to you today, fortunately, we do take homeland security very seriously. and we particularly take the protection of our own personnel seriously. for, among other reasons, the fact that they were -- many of them were singled out by these guys like general aid hussein. i went to chattanooga where there was a ceremony for six of our service members gunned down by somebody who had been radicalized basically online. born and raised in chattanooga, tennessee. so this is serious business, the violent extremist tendencies. while we need to get its heart in syria and iraq, we need to recognize that this metastasizes elsewhere and protect ourselves and protect our people. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, secretary carter and general dunford. thank you for being at the hearing this morning. gentlemen, having just returned last week from a congressional trip to afghani

in neighboring syria where plots attacks in the west. i.s.i.l, i.s.i.s, daesh, islamic state, whatever you want to call it, the group has now overtaken al qaeda as the biggest foreign terrorist threats in the minds of americans and that has law enforcement agencies scrambling to disrupt i.s.i.l. activity in this country. since early 201475 people have bee, 75 people havebeen arreste, and as many as 250 americans have gone or attempted to join i.s.i.l. in the territory i.t. controls in syria and iraq. for more on who these americans are and what kind of threat i.s.i.l. poses in the united states, mary snow has this report. >> reporter: who are the face he of i.s.i.l. in america? >> he was born in dallas in presbyterian hospital and we lived in garland. and it's just so ironic that this is where he would end up dying. >> reporter: in may 2015 phoenix arizona transplant nadir sufi and el don simpson, came to an art contest, mocking the prophet muhammed. >> supersmart, superintelligent, always very polite, insightful, thoughtful not radical

to a new syria, we would do it. there's no cure solution. you drew it up and i can draw a couple of formulas. the issue has been raised. how long does it or does it not or if he does bashar stay. clearly you're negotiating by the new syria. but to get there i can't simply talk to my friends. i have to talk to the other parties on the ground and as angry as i understand and i respect and i agree where the syrian opposition in their anger with bashar there are other despicable characters on the ground that are tremendous threat to the middle east. it's not something that i'm going to talk to these and that. it's complicated. because of the complexity we need to engage each other asthmature and rational people and understand that i may differ on interest, but it's better to engage you than say your interests are different than mine and therefore we won't play cards. >> if i may take the privilege also to asking you about assad, nobody mentioned the word turkey which along egypt and arab world is close to my heart. a lo

a deal was later reached to destroy syria's chemical weapons arsenal. the organization then confirmed that syria's equipment for producing, mixing, and filling chemical weapons had been destroyed. since then there have been reports of chemical attacks. in october this year, the opcw concluded that muster gas had been used in a town in aleppo province, the fact-finding mission was not mandated to assign any blame, but the area had seen fighting between isil and an opposition group. the findings added to evidence that isil had obtained and is using chemical weapons in iraq and syria. in that wasn't the only attack investigated in idlib there were several incidents between march and may which the fact-finding mission said likely involved the use of one or more toxic chemicals including chlorine. the u.s. envoy to the chemical weapons watch dog has warned that the use of toxic weapons is becoming increasingly common in the syrian war. voicing are growing louder accusing the syrian government of refusing to declare its own stockpile. >>> russia has denied us

he wants to stop a cold in syria. he wants ideally to confront president obama with a binary choice between the barrel bomber on the one hand and al-baghdadi on the other. he wants president obama to beat his 2011 words on assad stepping aside. russia i believe it sees that the unit diplomatic process as a time buying instrument. russian military operations in syria are fully consistent with the goal of forcing binary choice on washington, but it will take time to create the requisite military facts on the ground, and extend a process can provide time, although i have strong doubts that russia military will be able to achieve this objective. now, these assumptions, these five assumptions, might either now or in the fullness of time proved to be absolutely erroneous. russia and iran may come to see bashar al-assad as expendable. john kerry may persuade them that a continuing illegal role for this regime is indeed poisons to the prospect of a united syrian front against isil. i think they already know this. it's just th

they can restore some decency and some governments to the territory of syria. that's the transition we are looking for. you asked about the russians. russians have a lot of influence with assad. they are using it in the wrong way. i said this repeatedly, the russians are wrongheaded in their strategy. they are going at it backwards. they said they were going to go into fight i sell and promote a political transition. they backed assad and targeted people who are part of the opposition that needs to be part of syria's future so they are off on the wrong foot and for us to associate ourselves with what they are doing they'd have to get on the right foot. >> thank you. >> mr. jones. >> mr. chairman take young mr. secretary and general dunford thank you so much for being here today and your leadership. i have listened to your testimony and i read in the papers and classified briefings you all have got an unbelievable complex task on behalf of the american people and certainly our military. thank you. a few of us when mr. boehner was the speaker asked for a debate o

in this connection i would like to say that solving the problem in syria will be followed by solving the problem in iraq. we have some many points with the russians including the unity of the syrian people supporting the syrian territories' integrity. we have also talked about terrorism is at the center of everything. our viewpoint says that we believe terrorism is a threat and the dictatorships that are violent are increasing this. at the same time we stress that i condemn the ideas and ideologies that are destroying all the ethics. i would like to stress also that in order to decrease tension in the middle east, the main reason for that, and they are always thank the russians for the situation, namely, the palestinian issue, the palestinian question. we assessed the necessity to put an end to the capital base on the arab-- to the unrest with a capital base of peace. of course, this is considered an important matter to face the spread of extremism and to guarantee peace for all countries of the region. finally, i would like to congratulate the friendly russian people for the new yea

' syria--serious claims by amnesty international. today they categorically deny the report. the same clichÉs. the same fakes. it's nothing but a flood of lies empty, and without any proof. >> we familiarized ourselves with the contents of this report, and as usual there is nothing concrete and nothing new published in it. in regards to the suggestion about the use of cluster bombs in syria, the russian air force does not use them. >> the russian defense ministry said that they were unprecedently open about their operations in syria, and they stated categorically there were no munitions in cluster bombs in the air base in the country. the purpose of all these manipulations by amnesty is to smear others. >> well, al jazeera's roslind jordan lives us from washington, d.c. there is mounting pressure on russia other its airstrikes in syria. what sorts of response has there been to russian strategy? >> well, the u.s. has not been pleased with the russian strategy because even though russia said it is going after isil fighters, the u.s. do

he wants to be an arbiter of any outcome in syria. he wants to parlay being an arbiter in syria into being seen as the key arbiter in the region as a whole and the fact that you look at who has been going to moscow and he looks increasingly like he is succeeding at that command there has been a constant message as opposed to a zero-sum notion the message from the russians has been, and, and i have heard this constantly from my friends throughout the arab world, the russians are saying you may not like our support but we stand by our friends. that is part of what i think the approach has been. if you look diplomatically they supported the geneva principles but in december of 2013 in january 2014 a completely backed a sod. and the military intervention is following the logic of what you might imagine. it is designed to change the balance of power. so all of this suggests that when you look at what they are actually doing it is unfortunate that the day he was in moscow was the day we had the stories that she was quoting from the un offic

iraq and syria to help against the fight against isis. our guest is linda robinson. alicia green on the debate in congress over e-mail privacy. numberamerica by the segment a look at trends in crime and violence in schools. we will talk to thomas snyder on education statistics. washington journal live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span with your phone calls, tweets, and facebook comments. clark's book tv has 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors on c-span two. saturday afternoon it is the 15th annual vegas valley book festival in las vegas featuring author talks on race, free speech, and the american west. collects there was a tragic word invented by an australian theropologist that is uncontrollable loss of a place that you know that has been pulled out from underneath your feet. you feel nostalgia for a place you have been in want to go back to. but this is where you are standing still in watching the landscape go away. >> at 10:00 p.m., pulitzer prize-winning journalist examines the business culture of college football. >>

and that in syria i'm sure once again he'll say that the only lasting solution in syria is to find some political solution that does not include bashar al-assad as the leader of syria while continue to go enable some of those forces on the ground. since his last meeting at the pentagon there has been a number of complicated factors including russia's entry in a the war in syria, bombing targets which they say are isil targets but u.s. says they're forces opposed to bashar al-assad, and an increasing number of casualties that the u.s. says comes from a russian campaign that relies on unguided precision munitions that have a devastating effect on the various civilians that the u.s. is hoping to protect. a lot of ground to cover there, and with you suspect that the president will come out and make a statement shortly. >> is one of the reasons why there is so much confusion about this strategy is the issue of combat troops on the ground versus casualties coming back home, and civilians dying and targets that are hit in a for instance, if one candidate remarked recently if they should incorp

force in the syria. and as i was discussing that when they followed the terrorist attacks of paris it went immediately to moscow and sat down with putin and the fact that we are thinking about how they might be folded into some kind of diplomatic solution and process makes it in or must be difficult for the europeans to sort of continue to justify the sanctions policy against the europeans particularly at a moment when the sanctions have a distortion that impact on the europeans and when it's hard to justify new projects like the stream at the same time keeping sanctions in place on russia. so i'm not predicting an early change in this policy but i do think it is if putin demonstrates that he's trying to seek some help from purely public diplomacy to play a constructive role in the exercise, i think the sanctions policy is russia are going to be vulnerable. the second point i would say is simply that i think if you compare the u.s. and russian policy in the situation what putin has done is defined or has

it comes after 50 special forces were sent into syria. it does look like the most aggressive ground force that barack obama has so far. does this amount to a new strategy? i think it really doesn't. it is an incremental step. you had the chairman of the joint chiefs talking about this kind of move as a possibility as the campaign went ahead. brent: a small, incremental step. what has changed is that the pentagon is saying that you have american forces that can act unilaterally. that is new. it isn't that complicating the mission even further from a military standpoint? >> it is complicated because we have so many states that want to pursue different interest. once important is to coordinate the military action on the ground and embed the political strategy that can work. germany is not thinking about forces on the ground, for example. brent: the opposition says there is no political strategy. known can tell you what it's going to happen if coalition forces come face-to-face with a sod. no one is going to tell you that there is a guarantee

and potentially in syria. >> back home, 16 lebanese soldiers freed in the prisoner swap with syrias front rebels.

this is no longer just about syria and iraq. it's about stopping the march of isis across northern aftrica. keeping it from getting a foothold in south asia and preventing countries like afghanistan from falling back into darkness. yet, in all these places, president obama's more inclined to tell us what he won't do rather than what he will. that is why we need a global strategy to win the war against islamist terror. and a president prepared to commit the resources and political will to make it a reality. terrorist and the targets of our people cannot stand. in return for barbaric violence, we must be prepared to deliver justy. it has been said that who we are is who we were. everyone in this room is tied to the greatest generation. and era of americans who showed unflappable courage while staring down evil as it spread across the globe. we cannot forget their courage is our heritage. it is a distinlgt element of the american spirit. it is not enough though for us to have inherited their valor. as we embark on another long gene

turkmen,r heard of people in syria. i know that we have turkmen people living in the republic of turkmenistan. if we indicated that we are ready to cooperate with turkey on sensitive issues, they could have used the existing cellos -- the existing channels of military cooperation. well, they could have indicated that it is in their interest not to attack these people, but they never said any. as i said, we were ready to cooperate on those sensitive issues with turkey. i'm at a loss. why do they want to do it? what was the goal? do they think we are going to run away from it? russia is not a country like this. we've increased our presence, ramped up the number of aircraft, and now we have an extra 400 antiaircraft defense system. we are now improving the syrian antiaircraft system. violate syrian airspace continuously. is why.question you asked about a third party. i get your hint, but we're not aware of that. but if someone in the turkish -- thehip wanted to american leadership, it is up to them. that they had an agreem

and it's losing territory in syria. as we keep up the pressure, our air campaign will continue to hit isil harder than ever taking out their leaders, their commanders and their forces. we're stepping up our support for partners on the ground as they push isil back. our men and women in uniform are carrying out their mission with trademark professionalism and courage. and this holiday season all of us are united in our gratitude for their service and we are thankful to their families as well because they serve alongside those who are actually deployed. squeezing isil's heart, its core in syria and iraq, will make it harder for them to pump their terror and propaganda to the rest of the world. at the same time as we know from san bernardino where i'll visit with families later today, we have to remain vigilant here at home. our counterterrorism, intelligence, homeland security and law enforcement communities are working 24/7 to protect our homeland. and all of us can do our part by staying vigilant by saying something if

what matters to them is to have a number of military bases in syria. iran wants to spread ideology among the syrian people, to control and take over them politically >>> results are coming in from the saudi arabian landmark municipal elections. women voted for the first time and were allowed to stand as candidates. at least three have been elected to sit on local councils. we have the latest. >> reporter: the doors have opened to a new era in saudi public life, with two mile stones reached. women gaining the right to vote and to stand as candidates in local elections. >> translation: i feel very happy that the king gave us this opportunity to vote. now we are equal to men. the journey to gender equality has been a slow one. so has the overall pace of political reform. the monarchy applies a literal interpretation of islamic law. and so far saudis voted in three elections to choose councils. >> i want to see the woman, to be more involved in every institution in the government and in the private sector, okay. to be part of the planning, part of the exec

mainly iraq, iran and syria. big are three of the countries missing from the alliance and the guardian, the bishop paper, says -- the omissionsper says the are worrying and hard to swallow begs the question is saudi arabia's antiterrorist alliance real? independent robert fiske about a coalition full of holes heads by the defense youngest minister so perhaps he doesn't have that was experience. issue.s an there are gaining questions. who is the coalition going to fights? it will fight terrorism but that could mean a lot and how much paid and oldiers be why is this a largely sunni rather than just a muslim coalition. >> let's move to something biggest perhaps the story of the day nor many people out there, the release of "star episodes seven. >> in france and many places "star the world have wars" fever today. here in france 500,000 tickets advance "the force awake wakens" has already broken records. everyone is crazy about "star wars." president ifen the we look at the cartoon. hollande wearing a motorcycle helme

they are part and parcel of syria and they are minority, but they have a place there. so the us odd question is, of course, an an important one. everyone knows there will be no sustainable, peaceful future of syria in the long run with a sod, but it would be wrong to say a sod has to go before we start a political process. >> we have been saying that for four years that a sod has to go before any negotiation, thereby guaranteeing that he will fight to the last syrian to keep himself in office. >> if we -- we don't have to go into this more. if we had three or four years ago denied in control of the skies and destroyed his helicopters, a sod must go would not have turned into the fantastical proposition. proposition. we are not talking in the case of a sod or isys about military superpowers. this is not what we are talking about. these are objectives that can be accomplished but we must be willing to use the means to accomplish certain ends. we should talk about the refugees. >> leave you with a little bit of hope. >> chris davis retired foreign service officer returnin

for its ongoing operations in both syria and in iraq. the military also said that there weren't any people or even any communities near these oil well heads and if they do receive credible evidence that there might have been people injured or killed, they would certainly investigate it and, in fact, they are doing it so in a separate situation in the north-eastern part of syria, but for this situation in the province the u.s. military says it is not responsible for anything that may have happened to any syrian troops who they allege weren't even in the area that they were targeted on sunday >>> why is it so important right now for the u.s. to say it wasn't going after the syrian army? >> reporter: well, that's because even though the u.s. is opposed to the leadership of bashar al-assad as syria's president, it has said consistently that it is not interested in trying to intervene in syria's civil war except through diplomacy. the secretary of state john kerry has been trying for some time to try to help jump start some sort of political

he wants to stop it cold in syria. he wants ideally to confront president obama with a binary choice between a barrel bomber on the one hand and kayla baghdadi on the other. he wants president obama to eat is 2011 words on assad stepping aside. rush i believe sees the diplomatic process is a time buying instrument. the russian military operations in syria are fully consistent with the goal of forcing binary choice on washington but it will take time to create the requisite allen perry facts on the ground and extended process can provide time although i have strong doubts that russia militarily will be able to achieve this objective. now, these assumptions, these five assumptions might either now or in the fullness of time proved to be absolutely erroneous. russia and iran may come to see bashar al-assad as expendable. john kerry may persuade them that a continuing political role for this regime is indeed poisonous to the prospect of united syrian front against isil i think they argue now this. it's just that their inte

international coalition interceded in syria, chaos had already broken out. you already had the makings of a civil war. you had a dictator who was threatening, and was in a position to carry out, the wholesale slaughter of large numbers of people. and we worked under u.n. mandate with a coalition of folks in order to try to avert a big humanitarian catastrophe that would not have been good for us. those who now argue in retrospect we should have left gaddafi in there seem to forget that he had already lost legitimacy and control of his country and we could have instead of what we have in libya now, we could have had another syria in libya now. the problem with libya was the fact that there was a failure on the part of the entire international community and i think the united states has some accountability for not moving swiftly enough and underestimating the need to rebuild government there quickly and as a consequence, you now have a very bad situation. and as far as syria goes, i think it is entirely right and proper for the united states of america to spea

that recognizes there are a bunch of stakeholders inside of syria. initiate aly cease-fire that will be perfect but allows both parties to turn on our number one focus, destroying daesh and its allies in the region. that will be a difficult process , a painstaking process, but there is no shortcut. that is not based on some idealism on my part. is a hard hat calculation about what is required to get the job done. >> [indiscernible] president obama: i think assad will have to leave in order for a country to stop the blood and for all the parties involved to be able to move forward in a nonsectarian way. legitimacy in the eyes of a large majority of the country. is there a way of us constructing a bridge, creating a political transition that allows those allied with a righting now -- assad now, allows the russians to ensure their equities are respected, that minorities are crushed or retribution is not the order of the day, that will be important as well. that is what makes this so difficult. assad made a decision earlier that he was not more important

to destroy syria's chemical weapon arsenal. the prohibition of chemical weapons then confirmed that syria's equipment two mixes and filling chemical weapons had been destroyed. since then there have been reports of attacks. earlier this year the opcw concluded that sarin had been used in aleppo province. the mission was not mandated to assign any blame but the area had seen fighting between isil and an opposition group. the finding findings added to evidence that isil was using chemical weapons. that was not the only attack investigated. in idlib there were syrian problems in march and may in which the fact-finding mission said likely involved chlorine. the opposition blamed government forces. the chemical weapons watchdog has warned that the use of chemical weapons has become increasingly common in the syrian war. >> well, as mentioned in that report there has been previous incidents of chemical weapons used in syria. back in 2013 more than 300 people were killed. that led to the voting to destroy syria's chemical weapon stock

of syria. as you know russian intervention, intervention, military intervention and direct intervention in syria has complicated the dynamics on the ground. there were expectations that this could perhaps lead to some sort of contribution from russia to the fight against isis but let's say that russia has been ambivalent about that. it's not entirely clear what russia is doing in syria. it seems to be putting the opposition against the regime so they seem to be helping the asad regime but also doing some operations against isis. we will discuss what the goals of russia in syria is in the downing of the russian jets along the border of syria. as to how that will impact the relationships as well as the syrian conflicts going forward. i have a great panel with me here with distinguish speakers. he is deputy director with the russia and eurasia program. he's also a good commentator on a variety of issues. he was just telling us he got back from russia yesterday, last week, sorry. so he had fresh th

policy toward syria and iraq. linda robinson, when you hear the term, "boots on the ground," what does that mean to you checkups we have to do -- what does that mean to you? we have 35 people already over there. -- 3500 people already over there. guest: it is a vague term that only creates confusion. it is very, very harmful to any public understanding and debate about what we are doing. these boots on the ground, of course, as you say, we have had that he 500 advisers over there. they are all u.s. military in uniform. i would say the majority of them are combat arms and infantrymen. if you were to deploy them in combat mode, they would be combat troops could but they are all qualified -- troops. but they are all qualified to be troops. as i read all the congressional testimony, i believe the administration employed that term to mean it was not going to count it as an option of sending large combat formations over to fight in the front -- that they were not going to take the leading role in combat. now ie crossed

success in syria requires working with our turkish partners, to secure the northern border of syria commendable dating, enable that feature in opposition forces that are willing to fight isil in conducting strikes to attack our isil's command-and-control and sources of revenue. in iraq with a partner in succession are supporting development of iraqi and kurdish security forces and enabling our operations with intelligence, advisors, logistics and combined arms support. having quickly outlined what we most in the military campaign, let me provide my initial assessment of how we are doing. as with any campaign would continually examining ways to enhance the effectiveness of our operations. many weeks ag ago even before ty came the chairmen of the leadership across the department recognize we needed to increase pressure on isil by improving the effective -- effectiveness of our strikes, excellent our efforts to develop and support effective partners on the ground. in short, we were not satisfied we are doing everything possible to defeat the enemy. while recognizing the isil is a transracial threa

. >>> washington has denied accusations by syria's government that airstrikes by the u.s.-led coalition hit one of its army camps killing three soldiers. damascus said four aircraft were involved in the strikes in the province, which has a large presence of fighters from the islamic state in iraq and the levant. syria is calling it an act of' aggression, and this would be the first coalition strikes to hit syrian forces. let's get more now on the u.s. reaction from roslind jordan, who joins us now live from d.c. the u.s. is denying a role, but what else are they saying? >> even though the u.s.-led coalition did conduct four airstrikes in the province on sunday, those took place about 55 kilometers from where the u.s. says it knows of a syrian installation. it says that they were going after isil-controlled oil fields basically taking out barracks they say this was a relatively remote area, and only if they get credible allegations that there might have been people injured or killed will they investigate, but they're very strongly denying that they went after anyone in the

but in syria. to identify the critical nodes that if targeted would have an impact against the revenue stream of isil. over the course of the months that was studied and brought to secretary carter and secretary kerry four weeks ago. we had been striking oil infrastructure. but we were able to do it in a much more effective way subsequent to the study being seen. we estimate that approximately 43% of the revenue stream that isil derives from oil has been affected the last 40 days. it affects oil revenue but cement and other industries from which they draw their primary funds. >> anything else with allies in that regard as well? >> the coalition we have what's called an air task. so the coalition is integrated into the air tasking order. they conduct strikes. it is supporting strikes that we are conducting against the infrastructure. >> thank you. >> and i want to shift just quickly. what are your concerns about pakistan's commitment to eliminating terrorist organizations? >> i spoke just in recent

britain just joined the air fr campaign inan syria. we have high-tech equipment ando high-techst allies. i don't think russia is the game-changer for isil in syria. >> linda robinson's most recent book. next call for her comes from rachel in forney, texas. >> caller: a lot of people believe that isis sprang up when obama pulled our troops out of iraq, but we allit h knew that e didn't happen just all of a andc sudden. when we got t ther. into iraq, they was already over there. and we trained them. decid i knew that there's something is going on because bush o -- theyt decided to surge because they es knew they were over their heads. there was a bigger problem than they thought it was, and we the train these people. but it upsets me when we're having people attack us and people are going around talking about how weak our president is. it does not make us look good e and it makes them want to come over and attack us., are >> rachel, we're going to leave it right there. with all these interrelationships, are there isil/isis fighters that

this is no longer just about syria and iraq. it's about stopping the march of isis across northern aftrica. keeping it from getting a foothold in south asia and preventing countries like afghanistan from falling back into darkness. yet, in all these places, president obama's more inclined to tell us what he won't do rather than what he will. that is why we need a global strategy to win the war against islamist terror. and a president prepared to commit the resources and political will to make it a reality. terrorist and the targets of our people cannot stand. in return for barbaric violence, we must be prepared to deliver justy. it has been said that who we are is who we were. everyone in this room is tied to the greatest generation. and era of americans who showed unflappable courage while staring down evil as it spread across the globe. we cannot forget their courage is our heritage. it is a distinlgt element of the american spirit. it is not enough though for us to have inherited their valor. as we embark on another long gene

we haven't got that in syria. we have what the prime minister is now describing as a patchwork. >> i think my honorable friend as always makes a really important point. i've just reread the debate we had back in september 2014. this wasn't raised by anyone incidentally. the issues of what comes next -- and it's a very important consideration and we've expressed concerns on all sides of the house -- it mustn't stop us responding to what happened in paris, responding to resolution 2249, and the requests for all countries the capability to act now. the u.n. resolution didn't say let's delay this. it said to act now, and i don't believe there's anybody in this house that believes that defeating this motion tonight will somehow remove us from the line of fire. the isil daesh will consider us to no longer be a legitimate target for their barbaric activiti activities. the 22 people murdered were at a peace rally. our decision today will not alter isil daesh's contempt for this country and our way of life one iota, but i

when it comes to the conflict in syria. u.s. authorities charge the friend of one of the san bernardino shooters with terrorism-related offenses. enrique marquez bought two of the guns used in the deadly rampage. and you think you know who donald trump supporters are? we speak to some who break the mold and may explain surging polls. welcome to our viewers on public television in america and also around the globe. vladmir putin held his annual news conference covering everything from the conflict in syria to donald trump. is greatest language was directed at turkey who shot down a russian jet last month. the situation in syria, russia and the u.s. agree on a general approach to settling the crisis there. our correspondent reports. richard: vladmir putin's end of year news conference is a marathon event with hours of carefully vetted questions and the president who has ruled russia for 15 years often uses it to speak out about international disputes. there is no more pressing issue han this, the crisis sparked by the shooting dow

they are coming from inside syria. majority are coming from inside syria. not the neighboring countries. these are people that have been refugees for some time now. they are leaving because of the russian attacks, because of the brutality of the regime. and of course some of them are leaving because of the isis. but a simple majority according to some of the studies that were done in germany are leaving because the brutality of the regime and the bonding. and now with the russian bombings of some areas and damascus and other areas, we have seen intensifying of this. .. this goes against what some of the people in the republican party have been talking. we need to accept people in proportion to the need, we need to accept more people who are implicated. and just want to say that we owe to the syrian diaspora, because syrian americans have contributed to the welfare of this country. one percent are syrian origin, saving hundreds of millions -- hundreds of thousands of lives. steve jobs is a son of syrian immigrants. i think we have to say that -- and i think

this man is a pharmacist from syria. he says the treatment he has got here is rough. >> translator: we slept on the bus. no toilets, no food. i want to live in dignity and have a better life for my children. >> reporter: for many year, the risk is worth it. there is hope for a better and safer future despite the hurdles along the way. >>> the head of the roman catholic church has delivered h his christmas sermon. he appealed to palestinians and israelis to try to find a peaceful settlement. >> translator: even today, great numbers of men and women are deprived of their human dignity, and like the child jesus, suffer, cold, poverty and rejection. may our closeness today be felt by those most vulnerable. especially child soldiers, women who suffer violence, and the victims of human trafficking and drug violence. >>> there is a large bush fire turning out of control in australia's vacation land. hundreds of firefighters are battling the blaze. southeastern australia has experienced record heat waves for september. the towns

to fight in syria and iraq. the problem is russia's actions also show that they're not really interested in fighting this, this there is some zero game that bashar al-assad wants to play is more porn the global terror >>> the speech that was referred to took place two weeks later. making his first visit to the u.n. ai decade putin thrashed out. >> translation: we think it is an enormous state to cooperate with syria and armed forces and fighting terrorism face-to-face. we should acknowledge that no-one but president bashar al-assad's armed forces and group's militia are truly fighting the islamic state and other terrorists organizations in syria >>> russia has worked with the west on some issues, such as iran nuclear talks. it is a sign of how poor relations have come that the last presidential debate some candidates threatened russia but others said they would refuse to talk to putin if elected. a focus will continue into the new year as fighting rages on in other countries. in march president obama announced p

>> syria accuses the u.s. of heinousgression, saying three of its soldiers were killed in a coalition air strike. this is al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha. also coming up. >> the threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. >> the u.s. president said americans should not turn against each other in the face of controversy. >> germany has taken in almost 1 million refugees so far this year. >>> climbs talks heat up in paris as delegates around the world enter the last week of negotiations. syria's foreign minister is accusing the u.s. led coalition of killing three of its soldiers in an air strike. the syrian government says four aircraft took part in the raid and it's now written to the u.n. security council demanding what it describes as a heinousgression be condemned. let's go to washington, d.c. what's the u.s. saying about this? >> the obam obama administratios denying that the coalition air strike targeted syrian soldiers. what a coalition spokesman is saying is that the airstrikes

ambassador, there is momentum towards a political solution in syria. what has to happen today to make that happen? >> reporter: well, del, a lot has to happen. and this morning there was about an hour-long meeting -- one on one between secretary of state john kerry and the russian foreign minister? . they were going over specific language in this draft resolution. one british ambassador said it was like dancing on the head of a pin, this kind of diplomacy. but there has been momentum in recent weeks. they met twice before in vienna. they are here now in new york. they are trying to move forward to later this afternoon bring this draft resolution to the u.n. security council to be chaired by secretary of state john kerry, and then get that passed. now if you remember, in the past, many times before, russia has often been the blocker, has often vetoed these resolutions. we'll see what happens in the coming hours, del. >>courtny you have rivals, putting it politely, coming together at the same able to. what are the sticking points? >> reporter: well, the

the second question is would you major groundg forces into iraq and syria? chairman mccaul: two different issues. is a symptomrisis of a larger problem. the root cause is a civil war in syria and the creation of isis ,fter the lack of leadership and failure to engage maliki in any political dialogue. they had a choice between maliki and isis. most of them chose isis. we saw them drop their weapons ul because they did not want to fight. the refugee problem is a symptom of that. we were briefed earlier this week by the intelligence community -- and i do not want to get into specifics to protect fact,rces -- that, in syrians, isis members in syria have attempted to exploit to get into the united states. for was very courageous them to come forward and tell me about this personally, given the political debate on the hill with the syrian refugee bill, by think it demonstrates why the bill is so important. we now have direct evidence and intelligence that they not only infiltrate europe, which is easier to do, but have infiltrated to get into the united states. to

military's rens in iraq and syria. defense secretary ash carter says more special operations forces will join the battle against i.s.i.l. the expedition force will take on a series of missions including freeing hostages. as jamie mcintyre reports from the pentagon. they attempt to capture i.s.i.l. leaders. >> the u.s. has more than 2500 troops, including commandos that carried out raids in iraq and syria. back in october. after the u.s. forces assisted kurdish troops, it was promised there would be more raids. >> we are at war. >> in more than three hours of testimony before the house armed services committee. the defense secretary and his top military advisor placed scent call questions >> you indicated that it's war. are we winning, mr secretary? >> we will win. >> are we winning now? >> we are going to win. >> have we currently contained i.s.i.l. >> we have not detained i.s.i.l. >> they seem dissatisfied with talking points, but the anti-i.s.i.l. message is making congress. >> i'm trying to climb everest. i would li

you can let go the syria process like it is and you will have a fragmented syria that at one point will be legitimized and legalized by an international process. people will sit around a table and say these are the borders, let's accept them. in value, i don't have anything against it. maybe one day lebanon will disappear. iraq has more or less disappeared. however, we are today, all of us international community, bound to a process of geneva where we are still saying we want to unified secular democratic syria. if these words mean something, let's do it. if not, let's sit on the table with the syrians if they accept this and say, okay, people, you can't live together anymore. let us see where are the boundaries of your internal -- it can be a federalization, it can be a federal state with federal parts of lebanon and iraq. i don't know. i am the people that think probably the old state order is dead. what will replace it, i don't know. and i don't think analytically again that it will be replaced soon by something. my worry, how do you shorten this limbo period between something which

it's the name of a village a small city in syria. the reason is because according to their interpretation of prophecy, prophecy, they believe that there will be a final apocalyptic showdown between the west and islam in te city. theycity. they believe it is their calling to trigger this apocalyptic showdown and when they recruit fighters are recruiting them to be a part of this army that will trigger this final showdown, islam will when in the whole world will be governed under their circles led by the emergence of the 12th imam why is this important? plays an important for the next secretary of state? because when you understand you realize these are not people you can negotiate with them and not people that will go out of business, not individuals that are disgruntled, disgruntled, not people that are upset because american troops were deployed but individuals with an apocalyptic vision of the future who will not stop until they feel they have succeeded in triggering this apocalypse. it is similar to the views held by the ayatollah

meanwhile european leaders are meeting in belgium today focusing on ending the war in syria. that diplomatic effort coming ahead of a major u.n. meeting in new york later this week. >>> also leaders are meeting with secretary of state john kerry in paris. the meetings coming on the heels of stepped up airstrikes by the syrian government. >>> al jazeera reports. >> in this moment of sheer panic and desperation, talk of a truce is irrelevant, bloodied bodies clutter the floor of a temporary basement clinic. in this rebel stronghold outside of damascus, lifeless infants are checked for vital signs. on another table a doctor tries to save another child who has lost his legs. the streets of duma are littered with debris and shards of glass making it difficult to reach those in need. most of the victims were children and women at a market and a school. syrian and russian jets were targeting rebels, who shelled damascus from the area. this latest exchange of fire between rebels and the government comes as united nations humanitarian chief stephen o'brien toured government-held areas

for example in syria if united states can bomb syria and russia can do the same. unless we draft new rules, no country can do it unless there is consensus or agreement or some framework for taking a solid issue on such issues. -- taking a consolidated decision on such issues. charlie rose: what do you think on things about relationships of the united states in terms of cooperation in syria in terms of big deals? andrey: i think united states is important for russia and russia always wanted to have a good relationship with united states. they respectrely the united states, its people. i think we have to cooperate because russia might not be very strong economically but it is a big nuclear power. if we want peace and stability, we have to talk to each other. otherwise the world will not be a very safe ways to live. charlie rose: how close are you to vladimir putin? andrey: i am not among his friends. charlie rose: you didn't grow up with him? andrey: i have known him for 17 years probably. -- in russia,d, when you are the chairman of the largest bank you visit the p

this is on syria and yemen. let's open the mics. >> translator: i asked the all mighty to help us, to make our efforts and all of our of forts successful. i would like to thank his hien esz for his efforts. dear brothers. with all of the blessings in our countries, with the stability and welfare, we need not to forget that there are challenges in our region, and that necessitates the joint efforts of all together to improve ourselves and to prevent any threats against our countries, and to help our brothers to restore their stability and to face the challenges and on top of the challenges comes of the palestinian issue, and to restore the rights of the palestinians in establishing their country, their independent country with east are jerusalem as the capitol. in yemen we are quite keen to bring stability to yemen, and the legitimate regime that we need to reach a peaceful solution for yemen to bring back stability and peace to its people. regarding the syrian crisis, the kingdom of saudi arabia is hosting the s

launching air strikes in syria. plus. >> reporter: in baghdad violence rises across iraq and the price of oil plum