There. Jim . Good morning, carol. Yes, that is right. President obama is going to meet with the man he has tapped to lead the Global Coalition against isis, retired general john allen, and as for the operation southwest of baghdad that the Obama Administration announced last night, senior Officials Say to expect more of it to come, but u. S. And coalition forces, those officials caution will not be signaling who or what will be targeted next or when. As for the administrations effort to build the coalition, one official said last night that several countries could issue press releases today announcing what they are prepared to do, but the white house is indicating that the public will be seeing a roll out of the cocan ligs in the various coalition in the various roles in the coming weeks. As for the air strikes in isis on syria that everybody is expecting, it is said that president bashar a l assad woul be making a critical mistake if he went against this mission. And the chairman of the joints chief is expected to testify over at the white house. And keep in mind that two key critics senator john mccain and senator Lindsey Graham sit on that committee, so you can expect it to be testy up there on capitol hill. Yes, it should be fiery. That hearing is set to get under way at 9 30 eastern time. Stick around, jim acostacosta, will have a panel upcoming. And now for the past weeks, there have been pounded air strikes in baghdad to secure the t territory, and in the Northern Area kurdish troops are battling it out against isis. And anna is near to tell the us more. We are about 30 kilometers east of mosul in eastern iraq, and you can can tell from the black plumes of smoke behind me, it is a intense battle between the peshmerga and the isis military. And now before dawn, there was a ground offensive to clear out five townships to clear out the control of the islamic extremists. The peshmerga are continuing to go near kurdistan and mosul which is iraqs second largest city which has been in isis stronghold since june. The peshmerga needs to take back this area to prepare for the next battle, the battle for mosul. The air strikes have been critical. For hours, they circled the skies before hitting the enemy targets and vehicles. The u. S. Is refusing to make direct hits on towns fearing civilian casualties bs, but the peshmerga tells us that the local population has fled, and only isis is here. And earlier we saw a group going to reach the peshmerga, but before he could reach them, he was hit causing a huge plume of smoke. Snipers are laying explosives and ieds and using suicide bombers in an attempt to slow down the peshmerga advance. Anna coren, Northern Iraq. Thank you. We want the take you live to the capital toll hill where the Senate Arms Committee is about to get under way. This is all about the war on isis, and chuck hagel and chairman Martin Dempsey are set to testify. And joining us are jim sciutto and ryan cooper, and National Correspondent of the week, and Maria Cardona and raj salan and contribu contributor to Tthe National review, and james spider marks who is a cnn military analyst, and thank you all for being with me this morning. Jim sciutto, i want to start with you. What do the senators hope the accomplish today . I think that dempsey and hague rl going to get it from both sides in effect, from the grahams and the mccains push in for more aggressive military action to the point that they have been pushing that you need boots on the ground. And then from the other side, you will get questions from senators who are skeptical of what is the end game here . What is the actual urgency and the immediacy of the isis threat to the u. S. Homeland which is presumably what what has driven the administration to act more forcibly here follow iing the beheadings of james foley and steven sat loloff and that is critical, but what is the s support of the partners in the europe and the area . Well, particularly, carol, arab nations dont want to advertise how involved they are going to get, because they have populations to oppose this, but the senators expect to press hagel and dempsey to say, really all just on our shoulders, or are the allies coming to our way in a substantial way. General marks, americans want to hear a Clear Mission from general dempsey this morning and will he deliver . I think he will. Absolutely. The president laid out the strategy, and the end state of the strategy is to defeat isis. What you will hear today is going to be a desire on the part of our department of defense, our military and the coalition to minimally degrade isis. You wont have a statement of defeating isis until you can agree that there have to be soldiers and there have to be forces that are on the ground to go after targets within syria where isis gets all of the support and the motivation and all of the recruiting and, et cetera. So degrading, yes, defeat, i dont think that you will hear that. If you hear it today, then you have to ask the next question, how is that going to be happening exclusively with air power. And ryan, the house will vote tomorrow to possibly arm the Syrian Rebels, 5,000 over the next year, and that is really not so many. What gives with with that . Well, im not i cant be certain. I think that the big issue is that syria looks like every sign of being an unutterable quagmire and looks everyday that it is more of a disaster area that the United States should steer clear of. Any weapons that we give to people there would likely end up in the hands of assad or the local al qaeda affiliate or isis, itself. So, you know, it is just it seems like you could question the strategy supporting the kurds or supporting the Iraqi Government, and that is one thing, but syria, i have not seen any sort of rationalization that makes sense as far as getting the significant u. S. Involvement there. And this is a real concern, maria, because we heard earlier on new day from senator joe manchin who said he is not going to give any money to arm the Syrian Rebels, because frankly, he does not trust them. What must we hear in the hearing today to make americans feel more confident about that . Well, what we need to hear from both general dempsey as well as the secretary of defense chuck hagel is what have we learned in the past two years about the Syrian Rebels that gives us confidence that we now know who they are, and we now know who and how much we can trust them to go in there with training, with arms to make sure that they take the fight to isis. This is very critical, and i agree, it is very difficult, and it has been a quagmire, and we havent known who is with us and who is against us. These are rebels who change sides frankly everyday, but we will see if isis is such an existential threat to them that they have now committed and in what sort of way to focus on defeating isis. I also believe it is critical for the administration to underscore that there is currently right now no intelligence that is telling us that there is an imminent threat to the homeland and you have been critical, carol, in pointing it out, because there are some republican senators who are very irresponsible in the rhetoric in terms of inflaming the anxiety and fear at home with when the intelligence does not match that right now. I have to agree with you, maria, on that point, and i also know that most americans dont want america to go it alone. And the u. S. Government has a regional coalition, but rihan, i want to read this to you, from beirut, secretary of state the john kerry looks less like a maestro of an orchestra, but more like the sheriff assembl g assemblingabling a halfhearted posse of scared locals to chase dangerous bad guys. Well, that is true, and what we need to do is to build up a serious opposition, and we have to do it now or some years from now, and already 170,000 people have died in syria. There is enormous numbers of rerr refugees streaming out of the country. And so it is something that we should have done years ago and we are doing it belatedly and we can hem and haw about it, but we have to do it sooner than later. And we should do it when we dont have the assets when a bigger threat emerges in that region. Simple as that. Okay. Jim, say we do it now, and go full speed ahead, and now in the president s mind, what does a win look like . What does a win look like . Well, at this point, carol, they are saying that their mission is to degrade and destroy isis, and i ask the question specifically yesterday in the white house briefing, whether or not the president has authorized the pentagon to conduct strikes against the isis leaders. Because you cant defeat isis unless you take out the leadership, and the press secretary josh earnest did not give an answer and saying he did not want to get ahead of president ial decisions, but yes, you cannot defeat isis until you take out the leadership. So it is a work in progress and the notion of the halfhearted group of nations and the head of of a posse, is harsh when you match it with the reality. The white house and the secretary of state have been putting together the coalition. Last night the state department put out a long list of what the various countries are going to be doing, and lot of the countries are not going to be conducting air strikes, but some of them will according to the white house and the state department. They are just not at the point to announce this coalition, and exactly what they are going to be doing. They are pointing to the president s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly next week as a critical moment to put together the coalition. Essentially, they will start to get more details of what the coalition is doing then, but carol, no question about it, this is the largest Foreign Policy challenge facing this administration for the remaining two years of president obama in office. They are pace cli sare basicall they may not end this war before his time is up, and left to the next president to ultimately defeat isis. All right. Jim acosta the, and jim sciutto, and rian salam and Maria Kor Doe na, and ryan, thank you so much for joining many this morning. And we will talk about what it will take in the fight of ebola next. How much money do you have in your pocket right now . I have 40, 21. Could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement . I dont think so. Well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. This morning, president obama is outlining an expanded and military effort to contain the Ebola Outbreak in west africa. Up to 3,000 u. S. Troops will be sent to the area to coordinate a command center based in liberia which is ground zero for the outbreak. In the next six months, the United States could spend as much as 750 million in the operation to include the building of 17 new Treatment Centers and each with a 100bed x capacity, and the president is going to tour the centers for Disease Control in atlanta later and give further e details of the plan and remarks later this afternoon. Joining me to tell me more is senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. Good morning, elizabeth. Good morning. Carol, there are projection ss d the reason why you are seeing this big effort is that there are projections that if with we continue the way that we aare going that we could have upwards to 200,000 new ebola cases in west africa by the end of the year, because, people have been so brave and working so hard in africa, but what we have been doing is just not working to slow the chain of transmission. Could this military effort be a gamechanger . You know, the folks who i have been talking to the say, look, it is a sea change in terms of the effort that the u. S. Government has been putting in. But they have concerns. With one of them is how quickly can we get it done, because this epidemic is growing exponentially and not linear, but exponential and how quickly can we get it done . Also, they have noticed that the u. S. Government is not sending in doctors and nurses to directly take care of the general population of ebola patients, and that is what the World Health Organization says they need and that is what do Doctors Without Borders says they need, doctor and nurse, and boots on the ground the take care of the general population of ebola patients, and there is a concern that is not what the u. S. Government is doing. And why wouldnt the u. S. Government want to do that . Well, what they are doing is to send people in to train the health care workers, and i dont know why they have chosen not to do this, but an obvious sort of guess would be that they dont want people to get ebola. More than 250 health care wo workers have contracted ebola working in west africa and they dont want it to happen to the u. S. Troops, but the administration has not been clear about why they chose not to go that route. All right. Elizabeth cohen reporting live for us this morning. Thank you. And still to come in the newsroom, note to cbs, dont mess with rihanna, because she is telling the network to foff for dropping her song in the wake of the ray rice controversy. I love her more, andy shoals. She is not holding back, and we will tell you what she said and why after the break. Im type e. I know what my money is doing. I rebalanced my portfolio on my phone. You know what else i can do on my phone . Place trades, get free real time quotes and teleport myself to aruba. I wish. Help keep teeth clean and breath fresh. With beneful healthy smile snacks. With soft meaty centers and teeth cleaning texture,its dental that tastes so good. Beneful healthy smile food and snacks. Where the reward was that what if tnew car smelledit card and the freedom of the open road . A card that gave you that im 16 and just got my first car feeling. Presenting the buypower card from capital one. Redeem earnings toward part or even all of a new chevrolet, buick, gmc or cadillac with no limits. So every time you use it, youre not just shopping for goods. Youre shopping for something great. Learn more at buypowercard. Com im addicted to the love i always loved rihanna and i love her more today, but do not expect to her her hit song run this town at any nfl Football Games anymore, and she told the nfl to foff in the wake of the scandals. Cbs, you pulled my song last week and now you want to slide it in this thursday, no, fyou. You are now penalizing me for this. And andy shoals joins me with more, and with we know that she is a victim of Domestic Violence and she is no victim anymore. That is right. She followed up the tweet with two words, the audacity. And now if you have not been foll following this situation, last week, the bay debut of the thursday night game was supposed to feature her new song, but then they pulled the song because she is the most infamous victim of Domestic Violence. And she should not be a victim because she was involved in a doe m domestic case in the past. Maybe the nfl did not mean it that way, but it came off that way. Well, certainly did. I guess they were in a tough situation either way. And weer were talking about it last thursday that it is going to be run this town and rihanna singing with jay z, and the telecast that night coming in was ray rice, and now rihanna has a point, now they are going to Start Playing it this thursday and in the future, well, im on her side, and she should be outraged. All right. Thank you so much, andy. Still to come in the newsroom, the top two men in the nation are about to go with before the lawmakers to lay out the strategy to defeat isis. We will take you live to capitol hill next. Means keeping seven billion ctransactions flowing. G, and when weather hits, its data mayhem. But airlines running hp endtoend solutions are always calm during a storm. So if your business deals with the unexpected, hp big data and Cloud Solutions make sure you always know whats coming and are ready for it. Make it matter. Help keep teeth clean and breath fresh. With beneful healthy smile snacks. With soft meaty centers and teeth cleaning texture,its dental that tastes so good. Beneful healthy smile food and snacks. Whos going to make it happen . Discover a new energy source. Turn ocean waves into power. Design cars that capture their emissions. Build bridges that fix themselves. Get more clean water to everyone. Whos going to take the leap . Whos going to write the code . 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Edu good morning, and thank you so much for being with me, im carol costello, and happening right now on capitol hill, defense secretary chuck hagel and joint chiefs chairman martin d dempsey is set is to testify before the senate arms commit e committee. It is the first to the address the isis threat in syria and ir iraq. And hagel and dempsey are going to try to garner support for president obamas strategy to dismantle and destroy isis. It could be a tough sell even from some of the members of the president s own party. One of the biggest concerns is that the weapons that you give to the Syrian Rebels could end up in the hands of isis. Our correspondents and analysts and guests are here to cover all of the angles. With me, barbara starr, and Maria Cardona, and rhian salon, contributing editor to the national review, and Major General spider marks, and senior military analyst, and josh rowgan, Senior Correspondent for the daily beast. Wellcome to all of you for, and thank you for being with me. Thank you, carol. And perhaps general dempsey can answer the ultimate question today. When do we know that we have defeated isis . Democratic senator joe manchin is not buying any of it. He told cnn that he is not going to vote to arm those Syrian Rebels. Listen. To go in now thinking that we are going to pick when we know that there are hundreds and hundreds of different sector thes and segments of violence over there and terrorists, and we are going to pick and try to segregate 3,000 or 5,000 thinking they are going to make a difference . Well, we just armed an army in baghdad and they turned and ran and left the weapons. Now with we have pictures of the arsenal, if you will, the humvees and the mraps and Everything Else that they confiscated from mosul and why would we repeat this . I will vote no, and stand tall in front of West Virginia to say why i voted no to arm and train and spend millions on Syrian Rebels who i dont know who they are and if they are ever going to be loyal to america. Okay. General marks, is senator manchin right . Well, he is doing down the right path, because the point of arming the Syrian Rebels is how to segregate the good from the bad. And the alliances in that part of the world shift all of the time. So hard does not mean it is impossible. Also, bear in mind, there are three elements that we are talking about, the syrian elements and the peshmerga and the Iraqi Security forces, and all of those together create a strategy that allows us to at least move forward with isis. All of them have their own challenges, and we know that. But if we do nothing, we stand to kind of stand by and watch this thing just get worse and worse over time. So it is a matter of acting right now, but i agree that the syrian rebel piece is extremely difficult. Yes. So lets say that we put this strategy in play, and rhian, what does a win look like for the United States . Well, the ultimate problem is that you need a mod cat Syrian Opposition force that can win and hold territory. I dont think that this strategy going to be enough to get us there. Because what h they are trying to do is to take the existing rebels on the ground and rather than building a truly Capable Military force which is where we wind up having to go sooner or later, and right now, this is a bit of a half measure and so im sympathetic to those who say, where is this going . Because it is not far enough yet in my view. And barbara starr, you are the pentagon correspondent and you talk with the military people and your sources, what do your sources say about this strate strategy . Well, look, you know, not unexpectedly, look for dempsey and hagel to defend it all of the way this morning at this hearing. Are they excited about it . I dont think so. Both men are very cautious, as is the president , of course, of the use of military power, but at this point, it may be, you know, the best least worst option that we have. We do know that the pentagon is gathering the intelligence on the isis targets inside of syria looking to e see what is there, and trying to finetune the targets and get the most precise intelligence they can and be prepared to go after them. But what you are going to see at this hearing is both men, hagel and dempsey, saying that the military can only do part of the job, that you know, this is really a fight against a radical ideology that is very violent and very brutal. Air strikes dont solve that. Barbara, lets pause for a moment that we will listen to these code pink antiwar protester protesters. No more war. No more war. No more war. War does not work. No more war. War is not the solution. The meeting will come to order. Okay. We will listen. And now, take your seats and be quiet or please, leave. This morning the committee receives testimony from the s secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the threat posed by the Islamic State of iraq in levant known as isil or isis, and the president s strategy of addressing the threat. Secretary hagel and general dempsey we welcome you both, and we look forward to your testimo testimony. Isis has terrorized the iraqi and syrian people, an engaged in kidnappings and killings and harassing religious minority, and they have brought it home with the beheading of american journalists, james foley and james sotloff and british aide worker david haines. While the united staty are look a caliphate in the region, there is a real risk that the area of control could be a launching pad of terrorist attacks against the United States and the allies. This threat is amplified by the foreign fighters who travel from western countries to join with isis, and then return to the countries of origin with advanced training and fighting experience. I recently returned from iraq where u. S. Air strikes are helping Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi Security forces to break isis momentum, however, the military leaders and Intelligence Experts uniformly say that air strikes alone will not be sufficient to defeat isis. A number of elements of a successful strategy against isis are embodied in the approach outlined by the president last week. First, the participation of key arab states in the region will be critical to the effectiveness of any International Coalition. If western countries act in iraq are and syria without visible participation and leadership of arab nations, it will be play into the propaganda pitch of the violent extremists that we are interested in dominating in iraq and syria. Isis poisonous strand of islam is a threat to all muslim countries a kindergarten only be purged in a lasting way by mainstream islam and the arab world. International conferences last week and in paris yesterday were a good start. With a number of arab states declaring their shared commitment to develop a strategy, quote, to destroy isil wherever it is including in iraq and syria, close quote, and joining in the International Pledge to use, quote, whatever means necessary, close quote, to the achieve this goal. Second, our assistance has been requested by the government of iraq which has made a commitment to govern in an inclusive matter. The ability to rid isis is not successful without supporting all elements of the society including shiites and kurds and the militia minorities and the sunni tribes who oppose the maliki government. The more nay do in bag gad to address the grievances of the sunni communities the more successful they will be to rid the world of the isis poison. Third, the president has announced that combat operation s in syria and iraq will be carried out by iraqis and syrians, but support of the Broad International coalition. That is the better approach, because in this part of the world, the use of military force by western nations can be counter productive. If it is not done correctly in the absence of a western target on the ground, isis actions will undermine its own cause, because its brutality will continue to be targeted at fellow muslims. We should be engaged in training and equipping the iraqis and the serians and the kurds and the other local forces who are willing to take on isis, but we should try to counter the narrative of fanatics who are targeting western forces on the ground as an occupation. I believe that the president under both domestic and International Law has the authority to conduct the type of limited military campaign that he outlined last week, however, bipartisan, bicameral congressional support will make it easier for the president to build an International Coalition including the the open and visible support of arab countries. We should have the chance before we leave to vote on legislation that would authorize the u. S. Military to openly train and equip the vetted moderate opposition in syria, and i hope that congress can come together to support that. All right w. We are having transmission problems with senator carl levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee and he was giving the Opening Statement that lasts five to the ten minutesers, and up next is the rank iing member from oklahoma who is going to give also an Opening Statement. Can we go back to the hearing or we cannot. Okay. L lets talk about what we heard from carl levin. Maria cardona, are you with me . I am here, carol. You heard what he said, it would be nice if the president could have congressional support to train and e equip se equin rebe rebels. Yes, i agree. That is where congress is headed in that direction from what i have heard on the aisle, but it is critical to continue the debate of what is success going to look like and what is going to ensure that success. We heard in the e opening remarks is critical, carol, and that is to remind the American People the successes that this administration and the country have had thus far in the region. Number one, making sure that i am going to interrupt you, maria, because we have the technical snafus repair and now we go the senator inhofe. It is better networked and funded than al qaeda ever was. It is critical to have in record that we establish today how isis is fundamentally different from al qaeda. First, al qaeda hides in caves and isis takes control of governance in the size of my home state of oklahoma. And secondly, they have specialized tactics, and isis is an army with tanks, and artillery and using military an insurgent tactics. Al qaeda is based in remote regions of the world, and isis sits on europes doorstep. Al qaeda outdated propaganda on as, uses the the outdated propaganda in the arabic language, but isis will use it in multiple languages includinging english to the recruit fighters. Al qaeda spent millions of dollars and this is significant, mr. Chairman, they spent 1 million on 9 11 and isis we will say until today takes more than 1 million everyday there. Is an a. P. Story this morning that shows convincingly that they have access to additional 3 million everyday. Now, the second thing that i think that is of a vital area. The president s strategy to defeat isis is fundamentally detached from the e reality on the ground. Be clear, isis commands a terrace army of tens of thousands of organized fighters with tanks, and antitank artillery and they have tripled the size in three months. It is going to take an army to beat army, but instead, the president introduced the limited approach that he had in yemen and somalia, but the difference of al qaeda in yemen and somalia and isis are enormous, and the strategy of each should reflect the reality, and taking this onesizefitsall is a destiny for failure. The architect of the successful u. S. Air campaign that destroyed the taliban army on the battlefield in 2001 and in is a quote, he said that we need to institute an aggressive a air campaign in which the air power is applied like a thunderstorm and not like a drizzle. Furthermore, the air strikes can be only effective in urban areas that isis is entrenched in. When paired with the skills of a trained air controller on the ground, the president er already ruled out boots on the ground. There was a collective sigh of relief at isis headquarters in syria when they heard him say that. His claim of no boots on the ground is an insult to the men and women in iraq to dday who a serving in harms way. We have boots on the ground in baghdad and throughout iraq. We should ask the pilots dropping the bombs over iraq whether they believe they are in combat, and the pilots who have the real threat of ejecting over the isis territory. I am not edadvocating boots on e ground, but it is foolhardy for the Obama Administration to rule out air controllers and special operators on the ground to direct air strikes and advise the fighter forces. It is sending the the wrong message to the troops, and the enemies and the partners. And furthermore, if congress does authorize the training of t the Syrian Opposition, and pushes them into the combat without boots on the ground, that effort is likely to fail. And we dont have the answers to the most important and fundamental questions of what we are ultimately trying to accomplish such as what does a defeated or the destroyed isis look like. Hopefully, we will get the answers today, and the current state of the military residents. General dempsey, nothing new has been changed since last year that our military is on the path where the military force may be so degrade and unready it is immoral to use force. With six years of massive budget cuts and another round of defense sequestrations on the horizon, with we are still calling for the military to support the pivot to asia, and bolster the european allies against a russian threat, and bolster the transmissions in afghanistan and bolster the fight of ebola and now 3,000 troops are going over there, we hear this morning. And unlike what the president seems to believe, you cant have it both ways. You cannot slash our Defense Budget on one hand and expect the military to do it in on the other. If we want our military men and women to go into harms way and defend this country, with we have to give them the training and the tools and the support they need to success. Without a ready and Capable Military the president s imperfect strategy is going to remain what is a trademark of this administration, a lot of tough talk that is not backed by meaningful action. I was hoping to debate these broadly important issues with that, but it looks like this is it, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator inhofe. Mr. Hagel. We appreciate we are asking you again to sit down and if not, we are going to ask you the leave. No, thank you for would you please now leave . Would you please now leave . I am asking you the now leave. You are acting very warlike yourse yourself. No more war. No military boots into this. No more war. No military solution. Thank you. Mr. Secretary. Mr. Chairman, as i was saying, chairman dempsey and i very much appreciate the opportunity this morning to discuss the president s strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat isil. As you know, you all know today that president obama is in atlanta meeting with cdc officials regard iing the ebola crisis, and then will travel tonight to tampa to receive a briefing from the commander of u. S. Central command general austin on operational plans to implement his isil strategy. I will join the president tomorrow in tampa for that briefing. The Defense Department civilian and military leaders are in complete agreement that the utdz and the allies and the partners must take action against that the United States and the allies and the partners must take action against isil and the strategy is the right approach. As the president has made clear, American Military power alone c cannot, and will not eradicate the threats posed by isil to the United States, the allies and the friends and partners in the region. Iraqs continued political progress towards a more inclusive and Representative Government and its programs overreform and reconciliation will be critical to achieve the progress required. We believe that new iraqi minister the, Prime Minister abate is determined to bring the fight against isil. To be successful, we have to use all of the instruments of power, and we intend to use them all, military, law enforcement, economic, diplomatic and intelligence in coordination with all of the countries in the region. To succeed, this strategy requires a Strong Partnership between the executive branch and the congress. The president has made it a priority to consult with congressional leadership on the isil challenge as have Vice President biden and secretary kerry and other s s in the administration. I appreciate my opportunities to discuss the president s strategy with this committee and the members of the house and senate over the past few weeks, and we will continue to consult with congress as this campaign moves forward. Isil poses a threat. In the last few months, the world has seen isils barbarity up close as its fighters advanced across western and Northern Iraq and slaughtered thousands of innocent civilians, including sunni and shia muslims and kurdish iraqis and religious minorities. Isils murder of two u. S. Journalists outraged the American People and exposed to the world the depravity of isils ideology and tactics. Over the weekend, we saw isils murder of a british citizen. Isil now controls a vast swath of Eastern Syria and western and Northern Iraq, including towns and cities in all of these areas. Isil has gained strength by exploding the civil war in syria and sectarian strife in iraq and it has seized territory across both countries and acquired significant resources and advanced weapons. Isil has employed a violent combination of terrorists, insurgent, and conventional military tactics. Isil have been very adept at developing technology in social media to increase its global profile and attract tens of thousands of fighters. Its goal is to become the new vanguard of the global Extremist Movement and establish an extremist islamic caliphate across the middle east. It considers itself the rightful inheritor of osama bin ladens legacy. While isil clearly poses an immediate threat, we also know that thousands of foreign fighters, including europeans and more than 100 americans have traveled to syria. With passports that give them relative freedom of movement, these fighters is exploit isils safe haven to plan, coordinate, and carry out attacks against the United States and europe. Although the Intelligence Community has not yet detected specific plotting against the u. S. Homeland, isil has global aspirations and as president obama has made clear, isils leaders have threatened america and our allies if left unchecked, isil will directly threaten our homeland and allies. In his address to the nation last week, president obama announced that the United States will lead a broad Multinational Coalition to roll back the isil threat. More than 40 nations have already expressed their willingness to participate in this effort and more than 30 nations have indicated their readiness to offer military support. President obama, Vice President joe biden, secretary kerry and i and others have been working land continue to work to unite and expand this coalition. At the nato sum in the whales, secretary kerry and i convened a meeting of key partners in the coalition. I then went to georgia and turkey. The georgians made clear they want to help. Turkey, by virtue of its geography and common interest in destroying isil, which is holding 46 turkish diplomats hostage, will play an Important Role in this effort. Turkey joined our meeting in whales and secretary kerry and i continue to discuss specific contributions you are theally make. Secretary kerry convened a meeting in jetta last week with the Foreign Ministers from the six Gulf Corporation counsels, nations, egypt, iraq, jordan and lebanon and all signed a communique to do their share in the fight against isil including zbloing the many aspects of a coordinated military campaign against isil. Also last week, 22 nations of the arab league adopted a resolution at their summit in cairo calling for comprehensive measures to combat isil. And yesterday in paris french president hollande, who traveled to baghdad last weekend, hosted a conference atended by u. N. Security Council Permanent members, european and arab leaders and representatives of the e. U. , arab league and United Nations. They all pledged to help iraq in the fight against isil, including through military assistance. Key allies such as united kingdom, france, and australia are already contributing military support and other partners have begun to make specific offers. At next weeks u. N. General assembly we expect that additional nations will begin making commitments across the spectrum of capabilities, building on the strong chapter 7 u. N. Security Council Resolution adopted last month calling on all had been states to take measures to counter isil and suppress the flow of foreign fighters to isil. Also next week, president obama will chair a meeting of the u. N. Security council to further mobilize the international community. As you all know, former International Security Assistance Force commander and acting cent comm commander general john allen has been designated to serve as special president ial envoy for the Global Coalition to counter isil. President obama is meeting with general allen this morning. General al listen will work in a civilian, diplomatic capacity to coordinate, build, and sustain the coalition, drawing on his extense i experience in the region. He will be the administrations point man to coordinate Coalition Contributions and build support within the region. He will work closely with general austen to ensure Coalition Efforts are aligned across all elements of our strategy. In his address to the nation, the president outlined the four elements of this strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat isil. Let me now describe how we are implementing this whole of government approach. First, in close coordination with the new Iraqi Government, we are broadening our air cam fine conduct system matt i can air strikes against isil targets. To protect americans threatened by isils advances and to pro vent humanitarian catastrophe, the u. S. Military has already conducted more than 160 Successful Air strikes which have killed isil fighters, destroyed weapons and equipment, and enabled iraqi and Kurdish Forces to get back on the offensive and secure key territory and critical infrastructure, including the mosul and haditha dams. These have disrupted isil tactically and have helped buy time for the Iraqi Government to begin forming an i inclusive an broadbased Coalition Government led by the new minister. That was one of president obamas essential preconditions for taking further action against isil, because the iraqi people, the iraqi people must be united in their opposition against isil in order to defeat them. This will require a united and inclusive government. This is ultimately their fight. The new broader air campaign will include strikes against all isil targets and enable the Iraqi Security forces, including Kurdish Forces, to continue to stay on the offensive and recapture territory from isil and hope. Because isil operates freely across the iraqi Syrian Border and maintains a safe haven in syria, our actions will not be restrained by a border in name only. As the president said last week, if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. The president of the United States has the constitutional and the Statutory Authority to use military force against isil in syria as well as iraq. And centcom is refining those plan centcom will meet with president obama tomorrow. It includes lodgistic capabilities and infrastructure. General dempsey and have approved the plan. The second lmtd of telement of strategy is to increase support for those fighting isil on the ground. The iraqi and Kurdish Forces and the moderate syrian operation. To support iraqi and Kurdish Forces, the president announced last week he would deploy an additional 475 american troops to iraq. Part of that number includes approximately 150 advisors and support personnel to supplement forces already in iraq, conducting assessments of the Iraqi Security forces. This Assessment Mission is now transitioning to an advise and assist mission with more than 15 teams embedding with Iraqi Security forces at the Headquarters Level to provide strategic and operational advice and assistance. The rest of the additional 475 troops include 125 personnel to support intelligence, surveillance, and Reconnaissance Missions out of erbil and 200 personnel to increase headquarters elements in both baghdad and erbil, helping us better coordinate military activities across iraq. By the time all these forces arrive, there will be approximately 1,600 u. S. Personnel in iraq responding to the isil threat. But as the president said last week, American Forces will not have a combat mission. Instead, these advisors are supporting iraqi and Kurdish Forces and supporting the governments plan to stand up Iraqi National guard units to help sunni communities defeat isil. The best counterweights to isil are local forces and the people of the area. And as you know, in june the president asked congress for the Necessary Authority for d. O. D. To train and equip moderate Syrian Opposition forces and 500 million to fund this program. We have now secured support from saudi arabia to host the Training Program for this mission and saudi arabia has offered financial and other support as well. The 500 million request the president made in june for this trainandequip programs refl t reflects centcoms estimate of the cost to train, equip, and resupply more than 5,000
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