He didnt say that we underestimated isil. He said we overestimated the ability and the will of our allies, the iraqi army to fight. Thats true. Thats absolutely true. That was the president last night on 60 minutes placing the blame for isis unexpected growth on shoulders of his director of intelligence james clapper. Clapper told the Washington Post earlier this month, quote, we underestimated isil and overestimated fighting capability of the iraqi army. I didnt see the collapse of Iraqi Security force in the north coming. I didnt see it. Michelle, what do you have for us . Remarkable to hear the president say. That yes they underestimated on one hand and overestimated on the other. What he didnt explain is how and why that was able to happen, what led up to that . Thats contributing to plenty of concern about the current assessments guiding the u. S. Response to isis. Speaking on 60 minutes, president obama acknowledging what the u. S. Head of intelligence has said that the government absolutely underestimated isis. They were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos and attract foreign fighters who believed in their jihadist non sense and traveled everywhere from europe, to United States, to australia, to other parts of the muslim world converging on syria. The u. S. And arab allies continue hitting isis from the air in both syria and iraq will through the weekend. Isis still managed an advance in syria near the turkish border. Yet turkey is still not a military partner in this fight. Some European Countries have joined the coalition but wont touch syria. The u. S. Is still leading this. Thats always the case. America leads. We are the indispensable nation. We have capacity no one else has. Our military is the best in the history of the world, and when trouble comes up anywhere this the world, they dont call beijing, dont call moscow, they call us. Thats how we roll. Thats what makes us america. How do americans feel about this . A new cnn orc poll released this morning shows 73 approved the air strikes. About the same amount feel the u. S. Will likely have to send Ground Troops and fewer, 61 are confident the u. S. Will succeed in its goal of degrading and destroying isis. There was bipartisan support for the mission, but now bipartisan concern over what the end game will look like, whether congress should have debated and voted on the plan, whether u. S. Boots will end up on that volatile ground if no one else steps up. We have no choice. These are barbarians. They intend to kill us. If we dont destroy them first, were going to pay the price. A couple of interesting things came up out of that poll. More americans than just a few weeks ago approve of the way things are going in this country and the way president obama is handling isis. Those numbers are still low, less than half. Slightly more than half of americans now, 51 say they dont trust president obama as commanderinchief. Randi . Michelle kosinski thank you very much from the white house. President obamas interview on 60 minutes is not sitting well with some . One seen yore pentagon official that worked closely on the threat posed by jihadist in iraq and sir i cant have told the post this. Either the president doesnt read the intelligence hes getting or hes bsing. Hes the editor and chief of the daily beast. Good morning to you john. Thats quite a statement wouldnt you say . Good morning. It is quite a statement from a senior former pentagon official. Really saying that the president s statements about not having been warned by Intelligence Community simply isnt true. Indeed the article does lay out in the world wide assessment on the record from john brennan to democratic officials were warning about isis earlier in the year. The idea this suddenly snuck up on us isnt quite the case. I want to talk about the cnn orc polls that were released this morning. Six out of ten say the United States is not at war with isis despite military action. Does that surprise you . No. The question is it reflects the ambiguity of fighting organizations. We are in a conflict with isis. Were trying to degrade and destroy them. The the question reflects this opaque nature of war in the 21st century. Isis may call themselves a state, but its essentially a non state entity of trying to reestablish a caliphate along the jihadist lines. People understand that we are in a conflict with them. Its not a conventional war in the way we understood it in the 20th century. Even with 60 minutes, the president on it last night said were on a war environment. He never said were at war. When it comes to Ground Troops, six out of ten dont support u. S. Ground troops against isis. But three quarters think the u. S. Will eventually send those Ground Troops to fight. Seems like a majority think this is going to get worse before it gets better. Yeah, which is probably speaking of wisdom of the american people. What john boehner said in the interview, at some point theres going to be boots on the ground, whether the special forces or iraqi army stepping up. Theres a lot you can do from the air, things you can do with special forces, but ultimately they need to be pushed back on the ground one way or another. Its a reflection of that reality. Its going to be long. It certainly sounds that way. John, nice to see you, thank you. For the first time the pentagon says targets in a kurdish area of syria under siege by isis, fierce battles between Kurdish Forces and isis inside turkeys border, crowds of civilians gather on the hillside to watch as the fighting unfolds across the syrian border. You can hear the cheering as artillery fire starts to pummel isis fighters. We are at the turkey border with an exclusive look. What have you found . Reporter good morning. Before we get to that, a quick update. No one at this stage on this side of the border is cheering. What we saw earlier today was crowds of mostly turkish kurds who were gathered watching what happened to syrian brothers inside as they describe it. There has been morter fire inside. Hearing heavy machine gunfire. As crowds are gathering here watching whats happening, Security Forces came through and told them to move back and use tear gas to disperse them. People absolutely enraged not just authorities for using methods to try to disperse the crowds but also because they say they are not coming to aid. These International Coalition led by the u. S. Is not coming to aid of those kurds who are inside syria trying to keep isis at bay. An organization that continues to gain territory. We did exclusively speak to two individuals who provide valuable insight into how the organization recruits and operates. When Coalition Air strikes blasted the isis strong hold of raqqa, a target of opportunity. He called the only person he could trust. Translator he was a relative always telling know defect. Defect from isis. He shaved his beard and crossed into turkey, visibly anxious as we speak, now wanted by all sides. The organization he refers to as the Islamic State he tells us relies heavily on foreign fighters. Translator the french, they have so much control, theyre even more extreme than we are. They come from france, but its as if theyve been a part of the Islamic State for years. And he says, isis was well prepared for Coalition Air strikes. Moving their fighters and equipment. Translator they almost entirely emptied out the headquarters. Some equipment they hid in civilian neighborhoods. Some they hid underground. Were interviewing him by skype. Hes an isis fighter in raqqa. He wont speak directly to a woman. Since the Coalition Air strikes in syria, he says, isis banned all communications from raqqa. With permission, he had traveled closer to the border with iraq to be able to access the internet for this interview. Translator weve been ready for this for some time. We know our bases are known because theyre tracking us with radars and satellites. We had backup locations. They thought they knew everything. Thank god they dont know anything. God willing, we will defeat them. He says he was with the fighters that overran mosul and they knew how easy it would be to push out weapons and seize weapons, much of it american made. Translator this thing was all planned and prepared. There was nothing by chance. It was all organized. The Coalition Strikes on the oil insulations and other targets. Translator we, the Islamic State, we have revenue other than oil. We have of avenues and our finances are not going to stop just because of oil loss. They hit us in some areas, and we advance in others. If we are pushed back in iraq, we advance in northern syria. These strikes cannot stop us, our support, or our fighters. The caliphate was a dream, one he Still Believes in, not under isis, not like this. Translator i saw a 70yearold killed in front of me. The Islamic State cant continue like this. There are a lot of youth who are joining. 14, 15 years old. Maybe my voice can make them think again. And randi, one of the great concerns here is that as isis advances are not halted by Coalition Air strikes in the town will eventually fall. Its significant because if it does fall to isis, that means that the organization has a direct logistical supply route from the strong hold in raqqa to the turkish border. Plus to a certain degree it would divide turkish territory stretching across the northern part of syria. Then theres also the humanitarian cost of all of this. Upwards of 200,000 syrian kurds have fled to turkey since isis took over this portion of the country in syria in the last ten days or so. People stuck inside cobani say theyre out of water, electricity and Food Supplies are running low. Thank you so much. Incredible reporting from isis fighters. Thank you. Still to come, thousands of protestors flood the streets of hong kong despite pleas from police to disperse. Theyre demanding the Chinese Government reverse course on new election rules. Ivan watson is live if in hong kong in the middle of that crowd. Just masses of humanity occupying downtown hong kong. The crowd has been singing anthems, calling freedom here. You can see a consolation of cell phones waving in the night sky here. Blocking off, paralyzing downtown hong kong. This has gone on more than 4 hours. Riot police have pulled back. You may lose this moment. Okay. Your customers, our financing. Your aspirations, our analytics. Your goals, our technology. 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It will eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and give you taxfree cash from the equity in your home and heres the best part. You still own your home. Take control of your retirement today hong kong, where some 7 million residents enjoy many more freedoms than china. There are thousands of prodemocracy protestors in the streets. Incredible pictures there. The demonstrations formed in response to new election rules limiting who could run the citys chief executive eliminating anyone not approved by beijing. For the first time in ten years, Hong Kong Police fired tear gas into the growing crowds saying protestors had quote violently charged at police. Some protestors had covered themes in plastic wrap, umbrellas, goggles to protect themselves from tear gas and pepper stray coming their way. Ivan watson live in hong kong from the middle of it all. Ivan . Reporter pretty remarkable scenes. I dont think any resident imagined they would see. This downtown area, the highway that runs through the heart of hong kong completely carpeted with thousands and thousands of people. Most of them quite young like the women standing next to me. 18yearold University Students here despite the fact their parents dont think its a good idea. They think its dangerous for them to be here. The crowd is singing anthems to freedom by a pop band here known as beyond waving their cell phones in the air, flashlights. Its created an incredible consolation scene in the past. Really just demanding one thing, more democracy and criticizing the authorities here in hong kong. The essential government of china in the Capital Beijing accusing them of eroding theyre democratic cofreedoms. It really is a remarkable scene. Fortunately unlike last night and predawn hours when we were tear gas along with demonstrators, Security Forces have pulled back really giving way to this remarkable protest movement. Were just getting news that in addition to many students who are boycotting classes and some trade unions that are also calling for a boycott from work that kindergartens will be closed on tuesday in a movement that is really bringing life to a halt in an island city long known for reputation of stability. Randi . Ivan, obviously the message that these protestors want to get out is so important. We are carrying their story. The Chinese Media is completely ignoring protests. How do they plan to get their message out there . Reporter im not entirely sure always who the target of this Mass Movement is. The Chinese Government was running allowing our images to be beamed into Mainland China until this morning basically. Weve gotten reports that instagram is shut down there. Obviously the censorship is quite heavy. The great firewall of china which blocks facebook and google and twitter even on a good day also kind of controls the flow of information over there. What im feeling here is kind of eruption of kind of a collective demonstration of defiance and of pride from young people here in hong kong. Many of whom born after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crack down and brutal time in 1989 which was a mainland for china. Many of these people born after that moment. Just standing up with a full throat at war saying they will not leave until their demands for democracy are met. Randi . Ivan, when you look at the size of that crowd, you have to wonder how long will they be allowed to stay there. What is the plan to eventually disperse these crowds . Reporter its a very good question i dont think anybody has an answer right now. This will clearly cost the hong kong economy millions of everyday that it goes on. These young people saying theyre committed and ready to pay the costs to continue in their enormous act of civil disobedience. We dont know how the captains of finance and industry here in hong kong, whether or not they will support the protest movement. Whether other people finding it hard to pay the skyrocketing rents here to to make ends meet, whether they will support this as it cuts into their earnings. Of course the 800 pound gorilla in the room, the central Chinese Government. The ruling Chinese Communist party. How will they react to this on Mainland China . Shows like this wouldnt be tolerated, shows of force would be used. The central Chinese Government as well as the hong kong authorities have declared this illegal. Effectively these people are criminals simply by continuing in this act of civil disobedience. When they use force against the demonstrators, when dozens were detained and arrested on friday, that only seemed to add more fuel to this fire. It simply grew the protest movement to the numbers we see now. Bigger than anything wed seen in a week of student protests leading up to this climax. Randi . Ivan youve had a chance to talk to some of these protestors. Are they confident theyll actually see change that all of this is worth their time and energy . Reporter that was a question asked day after day since protests began last month. Organized by students, teenagers, and at that time, it was only thousands instead of tens of thousands who were marching and out in the streets. I asked again and again, do you really think you can change the policy of the central Chinese Go