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I look at the number of air sortties, they're very low t. reason is we don't have forward air controllers. so where we don't want collateral damage, so we're not bringing in airstrikes. >> just to be clear here, you are saying there is a place between the full lindsey graham which is like troops on the ground, actual reinvasion of iraq and what we are doing now, there is room to intensify what the u.s. is doing now with basically the people that are will? >> with the assets that are there. central command, our military command runs that part of the world has actually probably asked for permiss...

Setback. senator john mccain was very forceful in his disagreement of that characterization. >> imagine a number of american troops are not necessary, but american troops are necessary. do you know 75% of the combat missions that our airplanes go on return with their bomb loads? why is that? we don't have air controllers on the ground to identify targets that need to be taken out. >> reporter: he is saying the strategy as currently constructed isn't working. he called josh earnest a, quote, idiot. he later retracted that. i did mention that to josh in the press briefing today. josh said someth...

Decision. and then stop fooling around. isis has controlled -- >> what can we do? >> centcom has been asking to have u.s. advisers forward air controllers and advisors forward with the iraqi national army units. maybe, maybe we don't know, but maybe if they were in ramadi they wouldn't have broken. >> why aren't we doing it? >> risk. we're risk averse. we don't want that american casualty. after all, we've left iraq. except for the 3,000 guys we still have there. >> we're paying for a decade of war and occupation? >> sure. we fought there it didn't work. and there is a reluctance in the admini...

The front with ford air controllers calling in air strikes. we've got 3,000 americans there. that's more than enough. our job is not to fight it on the ground but to help them fight it on the ground with intelligence air support and air cover. >> james comey said isis presents the most urgent threat to america than any others. do they have the capability of carrying out a large-scale attack here in the united states? >> we don't know. it's at least possible. al qaeda is still around, too, particularly in yemen now. we have to imagine that both al qaeda and isis want ultimately to do that. we c...

Malky before we did anything. second i think he's right when it comes to boots on the ground they almost entirely have to be arab or kurd. but i think that they do need to at least revisit the rules of engagement for our troops. for the troops that we have there. i think that we need american guard air controllers and spotters for the aircraft attacks. i think we need more flexibility for the use of special forces. and i think we need to have embedded american trainers with the iraqi security forces the anbar tribes and with the kurds down to at least the battalion level so we can help them be...