Page 77 - Combat Operations News Today

17-year-old laquan mcdonald, shooting 16 times. that officer now charged with first-degree murder, awaiting trial. more on that later this hour. meantime, two hours from now president obama will try to reassure the nation that he has a plan to destroy isis and keep the american people safe in the wake of the attacks in san bernardino, california, and in paris. he will speak from the oval offices. that is a rare backdrop. hes only used it twice before during his entire presidency. both times ba...

Gurgen. as we heard from chris, this happened only twice in this presidents term in office. it happened both times in 2010. first announcing the end of u.s. combat operations in iraq. second, after the gulf oil spill. david, how big is this? >> its big. because president obama has been reluctant to use the oval on office. his predecessors used it far more frequently to address the company. all of which would suggest this is a bigger speech. and also suggests i believe that it be in the field in ...

>> frederik pleitgen in london, thanks so much. german lawmakers are set to vote to ramp up the countrys military operations against isis in syria. a measure considered certain to pass. the german constitution bars most combat operations on foreign soil, so air strikes are out. but the country can expand its military support role. one possibility is deploying high-tech resconnaissance jets. all branches of the u.s. military will soon be gender neutral. defense secretary ash carter is opening...

Boots on the ground. but today, when you listen to ash carter up on capitol hill, there are not only going to be boots on the ground. they are going to engage in combat operations, both in iraq and syria. now, those special operations forces will be primarily based in iraq, but they will conduct those kind of raids against isis forces in both syria and iraq. chuck? >> what kind of numbers are we talking about here? >> were talking about perhaps -- somewhere between 50, 100 perhaps, special opera...

The administration has been reluctant to put u.s. special ops on the ground in syria. they finally decided that this war cannot even make progress without that kind of leap forward, kate. >> jim, do we have any sense for how many troops were talking about? how many people are part of this new special operation? >> initially, it sounds like a hundred, maybe 150. it could grow to as many as 200. and this does not include the 50 special operations forces that are going to be semi- permanently embed...

And this is in addition to the 50 special operations forces that president obama already announced who will be semipermanently located in northeast syria to aid the kurds and the free syrian forces in their fight against isis there in syria. so as one u.s. senior defense official told us, this cracks open the door to possible u.s. combat operations on the ground. but for the time being, in relatively small numbers, thomas. >> mick, what else are you hearing about this claim that isis shot down a...

Triggers them to come here. thats far fetched. they dont believe theres the operation of public support for it. your take. >> you talk to people in the state department at the lower and middle levels, theyre sort of sweating bullets every day. saying, weve got a year and change on the clock with this administration, lets pray nothing happens. because if it does, youll see boots on the ground. and its inevitable. if you talk to any military commander on the record, off the record, they will say, ...

Everybody in syria will try to kill u.s. troops. >> theres indications that there has been some movement towards some type of temporary cease-fire today, some factions agreeing to a cease-fire in syria. that crossed today. but john, the polling that shows now that americans have been in poll after poll, very wary, very reluctant to send american troops back into war in the middle easily. this poll today really caught me by surprise, i have to say, given the tenor of the political rhetoric and th...

Reluctant to send american troops back into war in the middle easily. this poll today really caught me by surprise, i have to say, given the tenor of the political rhetoric and the media coverage of the last four days, perhaps not surprising, your reaction to that poll? >> im disappointed, you know, by the polling and i understand people are scared, but in reality right now, the way the situation is in iraq and syria, you know, for instance, in iraq alone, the iraqi army has never conducted offe...

Captain florent groberg. acts of gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, serving as a personal security detachment commander, 4th infantry brigade combat team, 4th infantry division during combat operations against an armed enemy in kunar province in afghanistan on august 8th, 2012. consisting of several senior leaders to include two brigade commanders, two battalion commanders, two command sergeants major and an afghanistan national army brigade commander. as they a...