Toward muslims, her words, has made him the best recruiter for isis. Now donald trump whos made his own controversial comments in this campaign wants Hillary Clinton to say shes sorry. Im wolf blitzer, youre in the situation room. A devastating attack on americans in afghanistan. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle sets off explosives killing six u. S. Troops and wounding three other americans. The attack came as nato and Afghan Security forces were on patrol near the u. S. Run bagram air base. The taliban quickly claimed responsibility. Iraqi troops meanwhile may be ready for a final assault to recapture the major city of ramadi from isis. They already surrounded the city. And residents have been warned to leave ahead of the fighting. When ramadi fell to the terror group last may, defense secretary Ashton Carter openly questioned the Iraqi Militarys will to fight. Now the iraqis are turning down u. S. Offers of help there. Theres also new fears tonight that another middle east conflict could soon explode again. The leader of the Shiite Hezbollah Group is threatening israel with retaliation after the death of a senior operative in what hezbollah now says was an israeli air strike. Later freed in an exchange with hezbollah, ill talk about all of that and much more the former nato supreme allied commander retired general wesley clark standing by. Our correspondents, analysts and guests will have full coverage of the days top stories. Lets begin with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. Barbara, the Suicide Attack on u. S. Troops in afghanistan, whats the late egs youre hearing . The pentagon at this hour, wolf, still gatherings information but now saying that those who were killed were americans. Six american troops killed, three others wounded in this attack. A motorcycle bourn explosive device. They were apparently outside their vehicle conducting a mission in afghanistan when the motorcycle came into their midst and the bomber blew himself up. The most difficult news of course for American Military families at the holiday time. But it also comes as afghanistan is very fraught right now. The taliban have been conducting attacks in the far north in kabul and even in southern afghanist afghanistan helmand province, theyve been able to regain some small territory there. Underlying all this is the simple fact that the Afghan Forces are struggling to hold onto territory when they get it back from the taliban, wolf. Barbara, we also are learning that preparations are under way right now for a major ground assault versus isis in iraq. What are you hearing . Well, the Iraqi Government now publicly saying today that they are just days away from really opening up a major offensive to retake the center of ramadi. Youll remember it was about seven months ago when, again, the iraqi forces fled that town in advance of the and during the isis onslaught they basically were not able to stay and fight. No will to fight as ash carter told cnn. Now they are getting ready. Theyve been in the outskirts and the outlying neighborhoods. Now theyre moving towards the center of the city. And it comes at a very delicate time. President obama really continuing to defend the u. S. Strategy to fight isis. The latest coming in an interview with npr. Have a listen. One of the interesting things that youve seen evolve over the last several weeks including in the debates that are taking place between the republican candidates is that those who are critics of our Administration Response or the military and Intelligence Response that were currently mounting, when you ask them what would you do instead, they dont have an answer. And the reason they dont have an answer is because the truth is is that the approach that we are taking is one thats based on the best council and best advice of our top military, top intelligence, top diplomatic teams. And we are going after isil effectively. Were going after them hard. And were confident were going to prevail. Now, the pentagon getting orders if you will from the white house to communicate better about the success that the president says they are having against isis. A bit of a swipe at the news media there from the white house, but many people will tell you if the white house wants to see a better message, there has to be better substance. There has to be some substantive victories against isis, wolf. Good point, barbara. Thank you very much. Meanwhile, the man accused of providing the rifles used in the San Bernardino massacre was in court today for a bail hearing as we learn more about the alleged involvement by this individual in earlier conspiracies including one described as a nightmare. Brian todd is here in the situation room. Hes getting chilling information. What are you learning . We are, wolf. Tonight Enrique Marquez remains in a federal jail in los angeles. And weve got disturbing details on other plots he allegedly took part in with San Bernardino shooter syed farook. One of those plots is something a top l. A. Police official tells us theyve never encountered before. Tonight, Enrique Marquez has had his bail denied by a federal court judge. And his alleged role in another plot with San Bernardino shooter syed farook is causing major concern among counterterror officials. The criminal complaint says starting in late 2011 marquez and farook mapped out a plan to attack the 91 freeway near los angeles at rush hour. Marquez told investigators, farook was to start the attack by throwing pipe bombs on to the highway on a stretch with no exits. The explosions would disable traffic. Then farook would move among the stopped vehicles and fire at them. In a place like this what youre essentially looking at throw pipe bombs, youre setting up a combined space and able to set up traffic and theyre not able to get out. So you can slowly pick through people and build up your level of casualties. Reporter a top l. A. Police counterterror chief tells cnn this is the first time a terror plot involving freeways has been revealed to that department. He calls it a nightmare theyd been gaming out in table top scenarios. Marquez told investigators his role was to shoot at cars from a position in the hills overlooking the 91 freeway. Then fire on police and rescue teams as they arrived. First responders are always a target when you come to jihadist ideology. Theyre focusing on military, also First Responders and cops. Reporter marquez says he backed out of that plot. And another plan to attack student gathering places at riverside city college. Marquez is charged with illegally buying the rifles used in the San Bernardino shooting and of defrauding officials over a sham marriage with the sister of farooks brothers wife. For that marquez was paid about 200 a month according to the complaint. One analyst says it all suggests Enrique Marquez was very much a follower among these plotters. This guy sounds like a sca d scaredy cat and seems like a guy who does not really have a very strong will to do anything. So if his friend, his neighbor, decided to say lets go shoot at some cars, he might go along. Now, at least one counterterrorism expert believes the highway plot was flimsy and wouldnt have inflicted the mass casualties that an attack in an enclosed space would produce. But analysts Shamus Hughes saying even if not many People Killed on the highway, it would have generated massive News Coverage and huge effect in a place like los angeles where it could have scared motorists away from using major highways. That would have had a major psychological impact in that region. Certainly would have been a chilling development. Brian, thank you very much. Joining us now retired u. S. Army general wesley clark. Hes a former nato supreme allied commander. General, thanks very much for joining us. Lets talk about the six u. S. Service members killed in afghanistan today. Its the largest number in well over a year, three other americans injured in that suicide bike attack. Does this signal potentially a change in the fight that the nearly 10,000 u. S. Troops still in afghanistan are about to face . No, i dont think it signals a change, wolf. Obviously its a tragedy for the soldiers and their families and those who are wounded as well. And, you know, we feel very badly about that, but weve done an excellent job of protecting our troops. Well continue to do that. But our troops are going to be out on patrol. They are somewhat at risk every time they go out there. And in this case the risk caught up with them. We know were against an active enemy, a plotting enemy, a scheming enemy who wants to kill our troops. But i think that this is something the commander there understands very well and working against every single day. Because its not just the taliban any longer, or whats left of al qaeda in afghanistan, but its isis thats now gaining a foothold in afghanistan. So the u. S. Troops and these 10,000 or another 3,000 nato troops in afghanistan theyre probably going to be there through most of next year, they face shall we call a double or triple threat right now . They do face a threat, but in reality the methods of the operations, taliban, al qaeda and isis are all similar. They all use suicide bombers. They all use improvised explosive devices. They all use attacks by people in civilian clothes. So its all the same. Weve got pretty good intelligence collection there on the ground. We pretty much know who the threats are. But can we prevent every single instance . No, we cant. Its been estimated by the pentagon now there are at least 1,000, maybe 3,000 isis forces now in afghanistan. Thousands of taliban and al qaeda related forces as well. As far as the Afghan Military is concerned, do you have confidence that they can take charge of their country once the u. S. And nato forces pull out . No, i dont have that confidence right now. But im hoping that theyll get better and stronger as they work on this over the next 12 months. Right now i dont think they are Strong Enough to hang on to the country and fight against it. Because what you see is a steady encroachment by the taliban. But this is also something that we understood. We know that particularly isis comes in, they come in with a lot of money, they come in recruiting people, they come in with a very ruthless attitude toward taking the fight to us and to our allies. And without strong loyalty to the government these troops are not going to be able to hang with the government and put their lives at risk to fight for the government. So weve got a little while left to work. And were going to continue to do that, im sure. Because its so frustrating for u. S. Military personnel. Like you ive spoken with a lot of them, the u. S. Over the past 14 years has spent tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars training and arming these afghan troops. And theres whole i must say theres little confidence that they can get the job done at any point right now. Standby, general, we have a lot more to discuss including the latest comments about by president obama about his military strategy in fighting isis. Well be right back. Now more than ever americas electricity comes from cleaner burning natural gas. And no one produces more of it than exxonmobil. Helping dramatically reduce u. S. Emissions. Because turning on the lights. Isnt as simple as just flipping a switch. Energy lives here. Why is Philips Sonicare the most loved electric toothbrush brand by americans and their dentists . Because it leaves your mouth with a level of clean like youve never felt before. Get healthier gums in 2 weeks. Innovation and you. Philips sonicare there are fresh concerns tonight that a familiar middle east conflict may soon erupt once again. The leader of lebanons radical Shiite Hezbollah Group is now threatening israel with retaliation for what he says was an israeli air strike on a damascus building that killed a senior hezbollah operative. Jailed for almost 30 years in israel after an especially gruesome terror attack, he was released back in 2008 in exchange with hezbollah. Were back with retired u. S. Army general wesley clark, former nato supremed allied commander. There was some rockets fired from lebanon into israel by hezbollah. The reports are the israelis used some sort of new airborne strike to go into damascus and kill this sumir. How worried are you this could escalate the violence in the region now a whole new level, hezbollah and israel . I think its unlikely at this point for a couple of reasons. Number one is israel has worked pretty hard to have good relations with putin. Putin is critical for the Syrian Regime and the Syrian Regime has very close relationship with hezbollah. So i think its in the interest of hezbollah and bashar assad in syria not to let this conflict grow. So fire a couple of rockets, sure. But deeper, no. And on the other hand israel is not ready to go in and clean them out either. Good enough. Lets talk a little about the latest comments that president obama made. He spoke about the news cycle as he called it following the paris attacks in a recent interview over the weekend with npr, National Public radio. Listen to this. Postparis you had a saturation of news about the horrible attack there. And isil combines viciousness with very savvy media operations. And as a consequence if youve been watching television for the last month, all youve been seeing, all youve been hearing about is these guys with masks or black flags who are potentially coming to get you. And so i understand why people are concerned about it. And this is a serious situation, but what is important is for people to recognize that the power, the strength of the United States and its allies are not threatened by an organization like this. He also says that the news media is just pursuing ratings, at least in part. Is that fair criticism by the president . Well, youre asking me, wolf, but as someone whos been in the military for a while and thought about these issues, i have to say the president s right if you look at the big picture on this. Americas a very safe country to live in. There have been some terrorist attacks, but goodness you lose 35,000 people a year in highway accidents, about the same number of people are killed with guns every year. And it dwarves the terrorist activities. And were working so hard to control these terrorist activities. And were darn good at it. So i think however the way isil works is it does play into the news cycle. It does play into this heres some next bit of excitement on this. So i think the president is right to be worried act the messaging. Somehow weve got to assure the American People that they are secure and more secure actually than theyve ever been in terms of protection against a terrorist attack. But it is the political season. And it is fair game for people running for office to pick fault with the administration. And so if youre a republican running to be president and your party makes a big point about being the party thats going to keep america safe, of course youre going to seize on these attacks and claim the president and his team are not doing enough. Its the way it works in america. You heard barbara starrs reporting that theres an impending Iraqi Military offensive to try to retake the city of ramadi from isis. I guess the question is why has it taken the Iraqi Military and there are about 200,000 or 300,000 troops the Iraqi Military has, all funded, all equipped by the United States, why has it taken them so long to try to retake this relatively small city . Theyre not even thinking, i dont think, about retaking mosul, a large city some 200 million under control still by isis. Theres a lot of things going on in iraq. And within the Iraqi Government and its relationships with iran and its relationships with the sunni tribes. And so essentially what iraq has tried to do is tried to get this done on the cheap. And its found out that its not easy to do. So there are sunni tribes that can help. Some are helping. Some are not helping. Because they dont like the way theyre treated by the government in baghdad. A lot of the fightings being done by shia militia. The shia militia are themselves part of the problem. They certainly dont follow the rules of land warfare. And when they get into some place, theyre prone to commit the very same acts of violence that they accuse the other side of, terrorism and chopping off heads and doing a lot of other things. So the population doesnt necessarily welcome the return of the Iraqi Military. And the Iraqi Military has been undercut. We built a multinational multisectarian military. And over the several years since the u. S. Forces left a lot of the leaders that we trained have been replaced because they werent sufficiently loyal. So all of these things have contributed to the problems of iraq. Today, theyre looking in two directions. Theyre looking toward iran because they want to make sure theyve got support from iran. And iran is working very, very closely with Iraqi Military. And theyre looking toward syria because they see that theres a threat there. They want to regain their ground, but honestly, its more important for them that they consolidate control over what country they have and they launch a military adventure that might not end well. So theyve been very, very cautious moving forward on this. And theyve limited the amount of help they actually want from the United States. Yeah. They say we dont want anymore help. Basically theyre moving almost increasingly towards an alignment with iran. And so many u. S. Military intelligence personnel that ive spoken to say was that