accomplished with the support of other nations and, if so which countries? clearly iraq. the operation was based out of northern iraq. which is the closest point that you d have to stage. so the iraqi government clearly was cognizant and provided not only approval i would guarantee that they provided layers of support, as well that would allow the special operators to stage. the special operators have to come into country. if they are in country, they re totally covert as barbara described. they would be in very very briefly and have to stage and go through some immediate final rehearsals rehearsals. all that would have to be done with the support and the understanding and the support of the host nation. the iraqi government got behind this and supported it completely. we did nothing to try to clear the air space or try to clear anything with the government of syria. we took full advantage created a corridor went from iraq into syria and hit the target and came back out as quickly as
he said we will remain relentless in our campaign to degrade isis safe haven within syria as part of our broader campaign to destroy isol. this is the same sort of operation that took down osama bin laden and we know from that operation president obama then watched in realtime from the situation room watched every step as it happened in realtime. the big question was, was president obama in the situation as this mission happened overnight and waiting for confirmation from the white house on that point. will the president, himself, make remarks on this subject today if. at this time we don t expect that. that could always change. we likely will not see president obama come out. of course this could be a good time for him to do that. this was a relatively success fall mission. of course they did not capture abu sayyaf himself back alive, which would have of course provided a significant amount of
particular case. send in special forces or solve this problem with a drone strike. i d likely suggest, michael, you had drones over the target gathering intelligence before the strike itself. but using a missile from an unmanned system to destroy a target is used in some cases, but in this case, it s boy, you do that and all the intelligence that is on the scene. we are talking about an operation in a major headquarters. i mean this is their financial headquarters if you will. and, so you don t want to destroy all that great information that might lead to other sources by just bombing the place. that was one of the decisions not to do not to bomb the home where bin laden was staying in pakistan. yeah we should poin outt out for cnn viewers, this is deep within isis-controlled territory. while it might have put less american soldiers at risk to use a drone, as you point out, we would have lost the ability to
one if not hundreds or thousands physical slave by isis has been rescued in this operation. nick paton walsh please stay with us. when we come back in a moment i want tapursue nick s idea the idea that a drone wasn t used here but special forces were sent in. when we come back we ll have the very latest developments in this situation. with every hole-in-one at a pga tour event you could be mortgage free for an entire year. how great would that be? just ask the growing list of winners who have already had their mortgages paid for one whole year by quicken loans. win a year s worth of mortgage payments from quicken loans. the official mortgage sponsor of the pga tour. enter the quicken loans hole-in-one sweepstakes today at pgatour.com/quickenloans strong can heal from miles away. unite us for a common good.
he? it seems that isis or isol doesn t have the command struck thar that one would find say in the u.s. military? a battlefield commander someone who has been in the fight and someone who understands the dynamics of moving men and material across spaces and then engaging in some very specific operations those individuals can be replaced. but this is the cfo. this is the one who has been running all behind the scenes, has been running all the activities that fund what we see as a matter of routine. what isis puts out there. their activities that we see them routinely conducting. this is the one that creates the revenue so they can conduct these operations and this marketing arm that they are able to achieve. this is all now, hopefully, at risk because of this operation. general, please stand by. cnn s chief pentagon correspondent barbara starr is joining me now by phone. barbara, what s the latest from the pentagon on this?