Foley by isis, a terrorist attack, the United States is considering more air strikes against iraq and possibly going into syria. Today, one of the president s Top National Security visors made it clear that foleys horrific murder was an attack against all americans. Clearly, the brutal execution of jim foley represented an affront, an attack, not just on him but hes an american. And we see that as an attack on our country, when one of our own is killed like that. We made clear if you come after americans were going to come after you, wherever you. Are and thats going to guide our planning in the days to come. Is the white house making a case for war . Barbara starr is at the pentagon tonight. This is beyond iraq. Jim foley was beheaded in syria, a place the United States has so far steadfastly avoided. Will the president strike syria . It appears to be headed in that direction. The words were hearing from the administration are both sides of the border. Theyre not restricting it or just continuing in iraq. They are making the point going after isis potentially on both sides of the border. The u. S. Is going to need better intelligence the military about where isis targets are located. In order to get that intelligence you are not putting u. S. Troops on the ground. You are talking about aircraft or dproens flying over syria on Surveillance Missions to collect that realtime intelligence the instant information about where isis fighters are located and where command and control centers are, where their leadership may be and make the decision to proceed with air strikes bombing isis targets inside syria. That is a decision for the president of course. That would do something that helps one person very particularly, Bashar Alassad who has been fighting isis in his country, not a man the United States supports. What will the u. S. Do . We have heard it is impossible to send the military into syria because we would be helping a person we say should not be ruling syria . Its a fascinating military dmem ma. The u. S. Military has made the case it would be difficult to send manned aircraft to bomb inside syria and the regime target because syria has radar, antiaircraft missiles. You cant take that risk with american pilots. What officials are now saying is they have looked at where they believe isis is. Its a less populated area. If youre going doubt damascus, the capital of syria and get to the alassad regime, very tough military business. The chances of getting shot down a little too risky for the u. S. To take. But isis in less Populated Areas with less air defense. Maybe they can work around it and do it. And we have now seen the First Military mission inside syria with that attempted rescue of the hostages. Of course they said went off flawlessly but failed but the hostages werent there. How did the Obama Administration underestimate the threat of isis . Reporter todays assessment of the isis threat by the white house is serious. Its not simply the threat they pose to the United States. Its the threat they pose to the entire world. Reporter a big jump, though, this talk now about how to contain and all ultimately defeat isis as the lives of american hostages hang in the balance from january when president obama referred to them as a jv team as compared to al qaeda . As they have become better fund through various funding streams including what they are able to sell in terms of oil and gas and the ransoms they have been able to obtain and that has increased the threat. And that has pose a greater threat today than they did six months ago. Reporter the administration does agree, though, that isis is mainly involved in regional operations not the anyo9 11 al qaeda. And they said there is no credible Homeland Security threat linked to isis but warned they are using social media and urging acts of violence against american interests. And the white house would not go so far as to agree with defense secretary hagels words yesterday. This is beyond anything that weve seen. So we must prepare for everything. They abduct women and children and subject them to torture, rape and slavery. They have murdered muslims, sunni and shia by the thousands. Is that beyond anything weve seen . The president has addressed this a little bit ago. Does he agree with secretary hagels assessment . That what . That this is a threat beyond yig that weve seen or isis is a force beyond anything weve seen. I think how the president views isil has been articulated a couple time. One reason that the white house has been saying that isis has become such a threat is the enormous ransoms paid by countrying europeans. The white house says it is the wrong policy giving them an incentive to keep up with the kidnappings. And the white house has applied pressure to countries to stop this practice but some are unwilling to do so. Thank you very much, michelle. As we were told last night, 3 to 5 million were paid for journalists who were freed that were held with james foley, who of course, lost his life. Joining me john baird and wesley clark. Bob, you lived and worked in sear yeah. Were told that the United States doesnt have any significant on the ground intelligence there. People have said, its a black hole. Thats why the United States didnt see isis coming. At this moment given what is happening to so Many Americans it feels like a mask. A few months ago they were a jv team. Exactly, erin. Remember the arab spring turned bad very quickly. By the time it turned bad we closed our embassy in syria and we closed it in libya. This thing percolated out of our sight. You can put officers in turkey and jordan but unless you on the ground it is difficult to tell what is going on. And in iraq Embassy Officers didnt go to fallujah or ramadi. It was a failure of the u. S. Government. The Embassy Officers arent going to fallujah they didnt understand the discontent. On top of it, we were listening to maliki and maliki the Prime Minister of iraq was saying things are fine, dont worry about the sunni. Ill take care of terrorism and that was a mistake. And thats how they set up a state in front of our eyes. But this is the problem with the state department when they dont go beyond that. What do you have to say to that, general clark . It seems now the president of the United States said that isis is a jv team. And now here we are. Its a shocking change. Yeah. But theyve had six months. Theyve gotten support. The rumors are they have got a lot of money from some states in the region. And therere a lot of mixed motives in all of the fighting around syria. But the United States, were reevaluating policies and i think youre going to see us go into syria with air strikes once suitable intelligence is. There i think its clear from general dempseys comments we dont anticipate giving isis a sanctuary. How do you not give them a sanctuary without going against the thing that this president has made a key part of his legacy. Im the president who got america out of two wars. That is what he has ran on and done. Not only is it a possible of whatever word youd like to use, but military involvement in one of the countries he got this country out of. I think what the president is going to say is he is a president of the United States who is working to keep america safe from terrorists. Thats why he took out Osama Bin Laden and going after isis. They are a threat but its erin, the United States is not going to do this alone. We have to have our regional allies in there. The saudis have to show leadership here. They are the one country most threatened. How can you have a caliphate without controlling mecca . They need to take action now to go after the i. S. And to that point there are some who might say as long as isis main goal is to attack in the middle east and go after saudi arabia and fight within iraq why should the United States do anything about it . Just step back and let them kill each other. You hear that argument. But you hear the United States government today saying that there is a real threat to the United States. A federal alert goes out. So are there isis cells operating in the u. S. Or is this a far away threat . There are cells in the United States. Go ahead, bob. There are cells in the United States. They tell me over and over again isis is here. They dont know their plans and intentions but theyre here. Theyre definitely trying to find that out. The fbi is work fulltime on this. And the rest of it, but when you have the border with mexico, essentially wide open where i was talking to authorities today and you have these boats letting people off in california i know this sounds alarmist but isis has the ability to hit us here and the administration after the foley murder is really worried about this and thats why we have to go after isis. I dont care if we send the seals and delta force in we have to decapitate the leadership if they want to attack us. How seriously do you take the threat against the United States . The sleeper cells right here in this country. Im not on the inside of the intelligence loop. I cant give you an accurate assessment of that. But i can tell you this the United States is a much tougher target to come after today than ten or 15 years ago. There may be sleeper cells here. But weve got great Domestic Intelligence and great people working. This we have a lot of team work from top to document in all of the security agencies of the United States. So its not that were defenseless on this. But i agree with what bob says, you have to go after the Islamic State where it lives in syria and iraq. Isis is here talking about the mainland United States. Outfront next, isis demanded the release of a woman named Lady Al Qaeda in exchange for the release of jim foley. A chinese fighter jet threatens an american plane and taunting it. A special report. And in missouri tonight, a Police Officer put on leave. Hes seen here in this video with our don lemon. So factors like diet can negatively impact good bacteria . Even if youre healthy and active. Phillips Digestive Health support is a duoprobiotic that helps supplement good bacteria found in two parts of your digestive tract. Im doubly impressed phillips Digestive Health. A daily probiotic. And cialis for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moment is right. 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We feel strongly it is not the right policy for governments to support the payment of ransom to terrorist organizations. In the long run it provides additional funding to these terrorist organizations which allows them to expand their operations. We also know that isis was demanding more than just money in ransom. The Islamic State asked the United States to release a prisoner known as Lady Al Qaeda. Jean casarez has more. What im saying is simply that the woman is not an unpaid slave. Reporter this is also called Lady Al Qaeda. Her release from a u. S. Prison is one of the demands made by isis in exchange for american journalist james foley before he was beheaded by his captors. Isis wrote in an email we have offered prisoner exchanges to free the muslims currently in detention like our sister dr. Afia sidiqqi. She is a poster girl for jihad. She is a rallying point. She is the premier symbol of the muslim woman in distress. Reporter she earned agrees from Brandies University outside boston. She lived in the u. S. For more than a decade and in 2003 she disappeared. In 2004 was put on an fbi alert list, considered a clear and present danger. In 2008 she was stopped by Afghan National police for acting suspicious outside a government building. Officers searched her handbag and found documents describing the creation of explosives, chemical weapons and weapons involving biological material and radio logical agents. Handwritten notes referred to a mass casualty attacks listing the empire state building, wall street and the brooklyn bridge. When american authorities questioned her she grabbed one of their rifles and started shooting. Sidiqqi was flown to the u. S. And charged with attempted murder. Sidiqqi claim shed was framed. She interrupted her trial with heated outburst, antisemitic outbursts about jews. All kinds of things. The judge found that she was mentally capable of standing trial but that she needed some sort of treatment and thats why he sentenced her a prison in texas where she is able to receive psychiatric care. Reporter she has a notorious inlaw. She married the brother of the mastermind behind the 9 11 attacks. She is a terrorist sympathizer and she was helping terrorists. But she was never shes never been accused of committing a terrorist act herself. Reporter whether she has committed an attack or not, isis clearly considers her to be of great value. Jean casarez, cnn, new york. The United States just this summer released five prisoners in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl. Does that embolden isis to make a demand for the release of Lady Al Qaeda. First we have to point out that says that swap of the five taliban members for Bowe Bergdahl was not legal. The second thing this is not the first time that a terrorist organization has suggested such a swap. Al qaeda repeatedly said they wanted the blind shaykh released. He, too was the iconic figure to al qaeda. I think she is this is sort of the same thing. Al qaeda has tried to distance itself from isis and what this tells you is these are one and the same. They share the same tactics and ideals. The administration is absolutely right to say we dont do these swaps. We dont pay ransoms and we dont negotiate with terrorist groups. Tim, this Bowe Bergdahl issue is fair to bring up. The prisoner swap for bergdahl didnt create an incentive to kidnap americans. But has bergdahls release changed the game . I think it was a mistake. I dont think we should be negotiating with terrorists. And any time you reward an activity you promote that activity. Kidnapping is a way of life in third world countries. It happens in south and Central America regularly. The cartels make a lot of money. Supporting people like isis that rape, torture and kill, thats their ideology is a different thing. Its a big mistake to negotiate with people like that. The taliban and haqqani are not far from their ideology in how they kill. The United States government says that Bowe Bergdahl was in the u. S. Military so thats different. Thats not something that be embolden anyone to kidnap or demand prisoner swaps because its a u. S. Serviceman. Do you buy that . I dont buy. That you have to have a clear statement of policy and be true to. That you negotiate with these people or you dont. You have to pay the ransoms or you dont. And you cant you sort of cant pick and choose depending on the quality or cast of the victim. We have to be clear that we dont do that. Tim, i was talking to jim foleys boss yesterday and he was saying he changed his mind on t