dunford, spoke this morning at the pentagon about the fight against the islamic state. while hailing operations to kill top isis leaders-- like the one we reported earlier-- they sought to put the longer war in context. >> there's no question that this individual and other individuals we have eliminated have been part of the apparatus of isil to recruit and to motivate foreign fighters, both to return from iraq and syria to countries in europe and elsewhere, and also simply by using the internet and other communications to do so.

. >> after serving at 36th commandant of the marine corps, joe dunford was appointed chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. we met in 2003 colonel commanding combat team 5 on the battlefield in iraq. you have got probably more experience in this war than anybody i know. what has changed over the course of those years between 2003 and now? >> today we're probably dealing with a more virulent strain of extremism in the form of isil. >> is it something that can be contained and defeated? >> it can be and will be defeated. it requires a couple of things, first deny sanctuary and require us to build the capacity of the partners for security with their own borders and require us to cut off the resources, the flow of foreign fighters, undermine the credibility of their narrative. >> undermining isis narrative isn't easy. as fast as one can push the send button, isis propaganda is spread on social media, horrific videos via dabiq the digital magazine. isis claims like all jihadis to follow the paths of islam's founder mohammed who established the first islamic state orac caliphate in the sev

we expect defense secretary ash carter and general joe dunford to make the announcement at 10:30 here in the morning. a little back down on abu afri, and known has aji amman. he is former physics professor in iraq. in 2004 he joined al qaeda, deputy to zarqawi during the iraq war, part of al qaeda in iraq. he was in prison and released from iraqi prison in 2012 we're told. at that point he joined up about abu bakr al-baghdadi and began the formation of isis. he is of turkmen background. according to our sources he is now dead. bill? bill: jennifer, as we await ash carter, how much can you report on how much action is taking place in eastern syria today? as you report on that, jennifer, how much of that is led by the u.s.? reporter: well it is led almost completely by the curtish partners of the u.s. remember, we have 50 special operators on the ground in that part of syria, near raqqa. we heard recently from defense officials during testimony on the hill there is no strategic plan to take caulk a with u.s. forces. what you're see something pinpoint airstrikes as well as these depressi

general joe dunford and his staff are doing the relook. we've got to look at the global arc how isis is recruiting and how they use technology to push their aims and how they go about trying to do a jihad against us. going through libya, afghanistan, yemen, europe. third and most importantly, to defeat them. we have to defeat them ultimately by having a political solution which means sending in an arab nato, if you will, to take back and hold the terrain they've taken in iraq and syria. it is a three-part thing. you i've not seen any candidate actually articulate the fact that as president they have to understand not only the military aspects but how to use every means of national will, of national power to go about defeating isis and keeping it -- >> but all of these candidates are underscoring a feeling of frustration that they see is quite evident with the public and with many in the intelligence community who say that the strategy so far from this would you go has been the wrong one. >> it has absolutely been wrong one overall. first o

dunford, spoke this morning at the pentagon about the fight against the islamic state. while hailing operations to kill top isis leaders-- like the one we reported earlier-- they sought to put the longer war in context. >> there's no question that this individual and other individuals we have eliminated have been part of the apparatus of isil to recruit and to motivate foreign fighters, both to return from iraq and syria to countries in europe and elsewhere, and also simply by using the internet and other communications to do so. even if it's just inspiration, it still takes you back to iraq and syria and the need to eliminate the sources of that inspiration. >> while isil has not been able to seize ground in the past several months, that hasn't precluded them from conducting terrorist attacks, and it hasn't precluded them from conducting operations that are more akin to guerrilla operations than the conventional operations that we saw when they were seizing territory. so, i think the momentum is in our favor. i think there's a lot of reasons for us to be optimistic abo

but, at the same time, you know, we heard today, during the briefing, general joe dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said outright for the first time, that within weeks, he and secretary carter are going to the white house to ask for more u.s. military troops, in iraq and syria, to fight this war against isis. he said, look, you know, he's not clear what the outcome is, and he said, it's still in the creation phase. they haven't decided yet exactly what number they're going to ask for. but they are going to ask the white house for more troops. >> yeah, and i think the only candidate running for president right now who's even talking about that is john kasich, the governor of ohio. everyone else is pretty skittish about ground troops. thank you so much, jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. >> thank you, chris. >> let me bring in now barry mccaffrey, retired four-star general. general, what do you make of this operation? this has sort of an israeli feel to it, rather than a big power. is this what we're reduced to, this kind of warfare? small-scale intricate operations, rath

>> as you mentioned martha he is testifying now on capitol hill with joe dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs.it was a prescheduled hearing to discuss the 2017 defense budget. he opened his remarks by saying the following. >> our thoughts, our prayers are with those affected by this tragedy. the victims, their families and survivors.and in the face of these actsof terrorism the united states stands in strong solidarity with our allies in belgium . reporter: he went on to say that the government stands ready to provide assistance to our friends and allies in europe as necessary. what is notable as that the pentagon is quadrupling is requested this year to strengthen its deterrent posture in europe martha, that according to carter moments ago. speak. martha: obviously on the minds of people here is whether or not there are americans that were hurt.we recorded a little bit of this moments ago . reporter: your us european command, that's the command for europe as 56,000 us personnel in europe. right now they are trying to account for all those personnel. secretary carter said moments

dunford and the pentagon's comptroller to argue against further defense budget cuts, bill. expect fireworks with senator john mccain chairing the hearing. 1/3 of army brigades are not ready be to deployed into combat. that from opening statements a moment ago. bill: the army and marine chiefs yesterday warning about the changer of budget cuts on lives of american troops. what did they say exactly? >> well their remarks really raise the eyebrows. army chief general mark millie warned -- bill: sorry about that. we faded to black there in a moment. do we still have jennifer? we got you back jennifer. lost you for a moment. >> yes. general mark millie warned yesterday that the army is at great risk against a great power war with countries such as russia, china, iran or north korea. that raised eyebrows on capitol hill. he and marine commandant general robert miller, said military focused so much on counterterrorism budget cuts that the force is not raising for large-scale conflict. they raised eyebrows, the rise in helicopter training accidents which doubled in the past two yea

. >> reporter: though both carter and general joe dunford were quick to say the war against isis is far from being over. >> the momentum is in our favor. there are lot of reasons for us to be optimistic about the next several months but by no means would i say we're about to break the back of isil or is the fight over. >> reporter: dunford said while no official decision vbs made, both he and carter believe the u.s. will be sending additional forces to iraq in the next few weeks, adding to the 3,700 troops already there on the ground. julie? >> garrett tenney reporting from washington. >>> frightening new cell phone video showing the moments during and after a suicide attack at the soccer stadium south of baghdad. that is the horror. the radical islamic terrorists of isis claiming yes, they were behind this deadly attack. it killed at least 33 people and injured nearly 100 others. that attack happening about the end of an amateur soccer game at that stadium and the crowd so tragically was full of young people. >>> man american airlines pilot take spoon custody this morning after showing

>> at a briefing last friday chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general joe dunford revealed that he and secretary ash carter were putting together proposals to increase the number of u.s. military on the ground in iraq. and i was just curious, are they putting it together as a result of any request of either the nsc or the president? >> the way the president has managed this policymaking process is one that has been focus on results. and what he's asked his team to put together are a variety of tactics that would be a part of our overarching strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy the iceberg there've been a range in fall. this example i could give it is sort of focusing on isil's financing and looking for ways to destroy the facility's where they store cash come to take out the latest other financing operations and in the context of that news conference that you mentioned in the department of defense did announce that they've taken action against the so-called finance minister of isil. that's one indication that those tactics are actually bearing some fruit. the point is the

as marine general joe dunford said a short time ago, the chairman of the joint chiefs of not in the rulebook. the purple countries are those that ratified the treaty and the blues are not. the united states refuses to ratify this treaty. north korea, iran, syria, libya and venezuela. now, again, this is a measure that's been debated over the years and it's been -- and i would argue -- sort of washington, d.c. parlor game in terms of the theoretical impact it may or may not vfment but in recent months, the -- may or may not have. but in recent months it has become clearer. the house armed services committee that i serve on, admiral harry harris testified. he's our commanter of pacomm. the region of the world where china today is blatantly violating maritime law by creating islands out of nothing, creating landing strips, militaryizing those new land masses in a clear attempt to, again, violate the u.n. convention law of the sea treaty by creating an economic zone that is going to interfere with the free passage of commercial traffic, 95% of the world's commodities goes by sea. and their inten

i'll turn it over to joe after this. >> reporter: general dunford -- >> let me take your first question first. on the question of leadership. striking leadership is necessary, but as you note, it is far from sufficient. leaders can be replaced. however, these leaders have been around for a long time. they are senior. they are experienced, and so eliminating them is an important objective and achieves an important result. but they will be replaced and we'll continue to go after their leadership and other aspects of their capabilities. i would say it's necessary. it's not sufficient, but it's important. >> reporter: the marines this week in their support of the iraqi offensive operation, is this something we will see more of do you think, as time goes on in the fight to get to mosul? and is -- can you talk about the accelerants that the secretary has talked about before, and whether this is a key part of what you want to see the military do more of in iraq? >> sure, we have talked about setting thes for success in mosul, and facilitating the iraqi forces and staging arrange mosul. and tha

i'm turn it over to joe after this. >> general dunford, the marines -- >> why don't i take the first question first? on the question of leadership, striking leadership is necessary, but as you note, it's far from sufficient. leaders can be replaced. however, these leaders have been around for a long time. they are senior. they are experienced, and so eliminating them is an important objective, and it achiefs an important result. they will be replaced and will continue to go after their leadership and other aspects of their capabilities. i would say it's necessary, not sufficient nlt, but it's important. >> the marines this week in their support of the iraqi offensive operation, is this something we will see more of, do you think, as time goes on in the fight to get to mosul? and can you talk about the accelerants the secretary has talked about before and whether this is a key part of what you want to see the military do more of in iraq over the next several months. >> we have talked for some months about setting the conditions for success in mosul and facilitating the iraqi forces an