Holder steps down. In the months ahead, i will leave the department of justice, but i will never i will never leave the work. Well get reaction to holders announcement from leading conservative voice and potential 2016 candidate dr. Ben carson. Its a Fox News Sunday exclusive. Plus our sunday Group Discusses the holder legacy. And our power player of the week. Academy award winner Reese Witherspoon looking for new roles this story has nothing to do with you. All this morning. Hello again from fox news in washington. President obama has dramatically expanded our war in isis, hitting the terror state inside syria, alongside our arab allies. Today well cover the conflict from all angles, from strategy with White House DeputyNational Security divorce tony blinken, to the shape of the battlefield with restair fourstar general keen. And the reason of congress with John Barrasso and angus king. Chris, there is new evidence that air strikes in syria killed the leader of the khorasan group, the Al Qaedaaffiliated cell that washington claims was close to carrying out an attack on a western target. Online a twitter account posted a condolence message on saturday for the kuwaitiborn al qaeda operative reported to be killed on saturday. And also an installation was struck inside the Turkish Border following two days, a kurdish official said two tanks were destroyed in the strikes. British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron has ordered the uks first air mission. Two Royal Air Force tore nadeau jets stationed at a british air base in cyprus conducted reconnaissance and collected intelligence . A sevenhour flight over iraq, but did not fire on any targets. Senior british Officials Say the uk may soon approve raf air strikes. Saudi arabia, jordan and the United Arab Emirates have conducted seven strikes in syria over the last 48 hours with another three strikes targeting isis inside iraq. Chris, thank you. Lets bring in tony blinken to discuss the president s plan to defeat isis. Welcome to Fox News Sunday. Thanks, chris. Let me pick up on the report. Can you confirm in the first day of, that we killed the leader of the khorasan group. In any kay, if you can confirm it or not, what would his death mean to the group . We cant confirm it. We want to make sure hes not trying to in effect fake his death and go underground, but there are serious indicators he was removed. Hes a significant leader of the isil effort. In terms of taking away some of their command and control, the leadership, it would be significant. All right. Were counting on moderate Syrian Rebels to be our ground force in taking on isis inside that country, but on friday, and lets put some pictures up on the screen, there were a series of demonstrations in cities across syria. Thousands of syrians protesting the air strikes, saying were civil civilians and aiding the regime of bashar al assad. Arent we alienating the very people were counting on . Weve seen strong expressions of support from the Syrian Opposition for the effort we are making. How do you explain that if. The moderate opposition is the common denominator to broadband a counterweight on the ground and also over time being a counterwater to assad. Building up means we have forces on the ground. And if you change the dynamics, if you get to a political transition, you have to have a strong moderate opposition. We are doing both. Those protesters and you seem to be ignoring the protests, they were chanting assad, obama and the coalition is the enemy of god. That were fighting on behalf of al assad. Will the president impose a nofly zone which would, one, show the demonstrators were not helping the assad regime and protect the civil yags from attacks from the air. Were taking this one step at a time. First, in iraq we have in place an inclusive iraqi government, and well le reforming the Security Forces to work with them. In syria, thanks to the strong expression of support from congress, we now have authority to go ahead and train and equip the moderate Syrian Opposition. We have saudi arabia working with us, other countries are going to be a part of. What about if they prove useful, necessary and effective, well take them on, but right now the main emphasis is to get isil on their heels, off their toes, and in coordination with iraqis and the Kurdish Forces weve been moving them back. The president has been very clear, this is going to be a longterm effort. Its going to be stand and more effective ball wee be working with partners on the ground, not sending in hundreds of thousands of americans. I want to talk about the security situation here in United States. In oak okay this week, alton nulla was fired and they beheaded a female coworker and police found radical material on his facebook page. Waufle an act of terror . Im not going to get ahead of it. Lets see what they find. We all now with has workplace violence. Chris, of course if that is what it is, absolutely, but i dont want to get ahead of the fact. Lets let the fbi investigate. This week the president told congress he has the power to carry out these strikes in part because of the congresss 2002 authorization for the use of force in iraq, but i have a letter here that susan rice sent to the congress back in july of this year, just two months ago, in which she writes this with american combat troops having completed their withdrawal from iraq on december 18th, 2011, the iraq authorization for the use of military force is no longer used for any u. S. Government activities, and the Administration Fully supports its repeal. How can you go to war based on an authorization that you say is no longer the basis for any u. S. Government activities, and this authorization, you wanted it repealed implts there are two authorizations in question. The first is the 2001 authorization to use force. That was voted by congress in the wake of the 9 11 attacks. It said this we can use all necessary mean but you also said the iraq authorization. Let me just finish. Youre right, but there are two things. 20 on 1 said we can go off anyone associated with the forces that attacked us on 9 11. Zarqawi, the founder of al qaeda in iraq was a colleague of Osama Bin Laden after 8 11. They associated themselves with al qaeda. I understand that, sir. Im asking about the 2002 iraq authorization. Is it the basis or is it not the basis . It is a basis with 2001, but the 02 authorization was focused saddam hussein, but if there are forces that gives us authorization. Isnt it embarrassing two months ago you would like to repeal it . We still would. One thing that we think would be helpful is congress to give us a target, but while we welcome it, we dont 23450ed it. We have a basis in the 2002 authorization and we have the 2001 authorization. I want to ask you about the president about his speech to the u. N. Saying General Assembly last year in which he said we are ending a decade of war. Take a look at this. Today all of our troops have left iraq. Next year an International Coalition will end its war in afghanistan, having achieved its mission of dismantling the core of al qaeda that attacked us on 9 is 1. How could the president have been so wrong . President was exactly right. What we are doing is totally different. Were not sending hundreds of thousands of troops back into iraq or afghanistan or anywhere else. What rear doing is supporting forces, assisting them, intelligence, they will be doing the fighting on the ground. We cant want it more than and also mr. Blinken, and i know were going over time here, he said all our troops have left iraq. He said weve if dismantled the core of al qaeda. The khorasan is an offshoot and follows the director of the leader of al qaeda. Chris, they fled, because we were so successful and effective, they fled, because we decimated the core of al qaeda. But theyre still and we said there would from day one there have been groups that would emerge. Were not falling into the al qaeda trap of sending hundreds of americans back. They have to bog us down, tie us down and bleed us. Were going to be smarter about there. Mr. Blinken, thank you. I appreciate it. Now that we heard the strategy, lets break it down. Joining us at the map. Fox news analyst and retired general jack keane. We have a week of air strikes. You can see where some of the not strikes have been. How much damage have the air strikes done to isis . Weve been at it a would ecin sir gentleman. Syria represents the center of gravity, frankly for isis. Franly the main command post is here in raqqa. This is in fact a bona fide sanctuary. So what we have done in a week is attacked the oil refineries. 2 million a day is what comes out of the refineries on the black market. Right here the station bases that weve been so these are station bases for equipment and troops. Raqqa weve attacked them, they have moved into villages and towns with the people, hiding, decentralized, trying to conduct operations now using couriers with thumb drives as opposed to communicating on telephones and radios and certainly satellites. Up here by weve been attacking to assist the syrian kurds. Over here, khorasan is where we attacked and also a recent attack here against isis in the eastern side of aleppo. So in a week weve attacked this sanctuary rather significantly in terms of the breadth that it represents, but it is just the beginning. The way we can tell if we are successful, we have to deny isis freedom of movement and take the initiative away to attack at will. When that stops happening, well know this air campaign is successful. What about these moderate syrians that i was talking about with mr. Blinken and these protests, thousands of syrian very upset saying were taking the side of assad. Isnt that aliensating exactly who well need . The syrian army clearly we are putting our money on them to deal with isis. It is a shortterm gain for the assad regime, the fact that we are using a Free Syrian Army and were attacking isis. Heres the problem the Free Syrian Army have. They said to topple the regime in damascus, this is where most of the fight takes place, from aleppo a damascus. We need them to help fight out here. That would be a different course. They are going to need some help. You mentioned the nofly zone. If assad continuing to conduct strikes against the Free Syrian Army at will, it would be different for them to have any success against isis. General keane, thank you. Joining us from maine, independent senator angus king, who caucuses with the democrats and sits on the intelligence committee. Here in washington, wyoming senator John Barrasso, chair of the policy commit aye. You both are on record saying congress should vote, should be in session right notice debating whether or not to give the president the authorization to use force in the fight against isis, so senator barrasso, simple question, why arent you . I think the president has an obligation to dahl us back tomorrow to start this debate. We have been adjourned until after the elections, this is the earlier congress has adjourned in over 50 years. I dont think harry reid wants this debate or the vote. I think we have an obligation, the Prime Minister of britain called the parliament back. No member of congress should be left off of hook. The constitution is clear, article i, section 8 s. Power vetted in congress to declare war. If you go back to the founding documents of this nations, the decision of going to war was to be made by people closest to the ground, the elected officials. I think that the public deserves it, they should be demanding it, the president is putting together an International Coalition. Its time to put the coalition together at home as well. Senator king, leaders of both parties theres no particular interest with john boehner and the house parent want to duck this vote, so members can go home, campaign and not have to defend a vote. Isnt this a profile in political coward dis. I think we all to be debating it. The only caution i could take, chris, is the la last time we had a vote on whether or not to authorize vote before an election was in the mid terms in 2002 when congress voted for the invasion of iraq. I dont think that was congresss finest moment. Im not sure the timing is critical. I think we ought to be doing it now, but the real issue is, does congress assert their authority at all . This goes back to harry truman in 1938. There was no declaration of war in korea, thousands of people died. President s have been gradually gainingful more authority and congress has been letting them get away with it. I think its time to stand up, put itself on record and make some decisions. Here. Senator barrasso, youve been calling for the president to arm the yet when the president asked for 500 million to arm and training the Syrian Rebels to take on this fight against isis, you voted no. Well, i voted it was a complete continuing resolution to fund the government for the next year at levels i didnt agree with. This is the problem when they jam a big piece of legislation onto the floor of the senate and then put something in they want to get through. Absolutely. Ive been calling for the support of the Syrian Rebels for year. I met with a number of them in germany a couple years ago. I dont know how many of these are still alive. I absolutely want to do that. I believe that the president is right when he calls to degrade and destroy isis, the bombing will only go so far to degrade, but will not destroy. Yes, arm the kurds, help the iraqi army, help with training the syrians, but you have to face recallity here. Over the next year, the best they can do with vetting, training, equipping, is to get you to about 5,000 members against a bloodthirsty group of 30 thousands with european passports, another 100 with american passports. I think the president needs to work nor closely with his generals. So lets take a big pick tuck here, senator, where are we now . Were bombing in iraq with european allies. Were bombing in syria with arab allies, counting on local forces to fi to fight on the ground. Is that a Winning Strategy . Its not a short strategy, but you used an important phrase, arab allies. Thats a big deal. Having saudi arabia, a, welcome the training of these Syrian Rebels on their property with u. S. Army troops there, having them fly missions this past weekend, having jordan, United Arab Emirates actually flying missions, firing munitions. Thats a big deal. The big question mark right now is turkey. Theyre with us monday, wen dan afriday, not with us on thursday and fridays, im being a bit facetious, but turkeys got to fish or cut bait. Theyve got to join us, i think, and they have reservations about the kurds and those things, but this is a direct threat to them as well. If we can get turkey involved, we have Something Like 50 countries that are really stepping up, i think that is a big part of the project. The other thing you mentioned, the crucial part is the government in baghdad, the iraqi government. Theyve got to win over the sunni majority up in northern iraq, otherwise this whole thing is a fools errand. We will not be able to dislodge isis as long as the sunnis feel theyre a better bet than baghdad. I want to switch subjects on you. Attorney general holder announced this week he is stepping down. Let me ask you, first, senator barrasso, what is holders legacy, and do you oppose a vote on his successor by a lameduck session . Does it need to wait until the new senate comes . It does need to wait. I do oppose on any successor during the lameduck session. If it happens it would be the First Time Since the civil war when weve had a vote on an attorney general when parties switched if this happens, this would be harry reid ease final act in a tragic play that has been his legacy in harry reids lead as leadership. Specifically with holder, to me he has been a political protector. We need an attorney general for the people, not a president ial protector and puppet of the administration. If they try to do this in the lame duck session, this will clearly poison the well, and will define what were going to see for the next two years, the final two years of the presidency of barack obama. Senator king, your thoughts about holder, about a vote in the lameduck session and a potential successor in mind . I havent heard any serious names at this point. I think eric holder is a good man. I think hes followed his conscience in many cases. My disappointment was his failure to go after wall street after the crisis and, you know the not a single prosecution. That bothers me. As far as the lameduck session, the last time i worked were being paid until next january. Lets see what the president does. He may not even put someone forward or may put someone forward that everyone, republicans included, say is a good solid candidate. I remember last spring people saying theyll never get a dhhs commissioner through, sylvia bur well was proposed, everything thought she was terrific and she was confirmed. Im going to wait and see. I dont think theres any particular reason to not do it. Lets go to work. On that hopeful bipartisan note, senator barrasso, senator king, thank you both. Thanks for coming in today. Thanks for having me. Does president obama need authorizations for congress to conduct the war on isis . Let me know on facebook or twitter, and use the fns. Up next, president obama ratchets up his actions and receipt ric rhetoric. Our sunday panel joins the conversation. Tomers, our financ. Your aspirations, our analytics. Your goals, our technology. Introducing synchrony financial, bringing new meaning to the word partnership. Banking. Loyalty. Analytics. Synchrony financial. Enagage with us. The only lang wake undertonight by killers like