loll of al qaeda related groups. which is that they have proven gruesome in the ability to cause these mass casualty attacks. we saw similar kind of thing from al shabaab in uganda in 2010. but they have failed to translate that into a program where they could participate in a coalition government or even govern their own territory, particularly well. they came under enormous scrutiny for exacerbating the famine in somalia in 2011. i think that lost them a lot of sport among somalies but at the same time they have proven that they are are capable of recruiting people in minnesota and in the united states and canada, in europe. and this attack is reminiscent, sadly, of the 2 008 massacre in mumbai that was practiced by a pakistani group. >> does this indicate a kind of resurgence or change in tactics or anything like that? >> i think first of all we've hit a point where there is not just one al shabaab. the group sort of fractured after the african union forces backed by the united states and other western powers purg

s report pushing perhaps more young people towards al-qaeda, al shabaab. is it a fair question to ask how popular al-qaeda is in abian and, indeed, yemen? >> well, i think the point that the report reads is the extent to which al-qaeda and al shiria have beenability exploit the lack of development. they have provided basic services and managed to generate some kind of income for the people who have stayed in the area. young men who aren't employed have been given stipends by al-qaeda or when they have employed them as fighters. >> that's something that the government really hasn't been able to do to generate employment, as you heard, to build infrastructure in places like al bian. you have two separate issues, i suppose, the first of which is what al-qaeda can offer regardless of whether people buy into their ideology and the second issue is the fact that the government for many people in yemen has never really provided them with anything so their sense of allegiance to whoever is running the countries is fairly limited. >> why has yemen then been chosen a

al qaeda. who are they? we'll look at who is actually fighting against the syrian government. plus, how might the syrian leader respond to an attack? i'll talk with one of bashar al assad's former college friends. al jazeera america - a new voice in american journalism - >>introduces america tonight. >>in egypt, police fired teargas at supporters of the ... >>a fresh take on the stories that connect to you. [[voiceover]] they risk never returning to the united states. >>grounded. >>real. >>unconventional. [[voiceover]] we spent time with some members of the gangster disciples. >>an escape from the expected. >>i'm a cancer survivor. not only cancer, but brain cancer. >>> any strike on syrian forces will help opposition fighters as they take on assad's soldiers, but some of the rebels are linked to al qaeda, and that's worrying western leaders. rob mathenson reports. >> reporter: rebels led to al qaeda pushing through the territory. these are fighters from the front. they say they're in control h

i don't particularly want to imagine it, but you can bet they are not still in al qaeda. and so, the u.s. and western intelligence agencies no longer have that amazing asset of somebody in a trusted position inside al qaeda. and the justice department investigation into who leaked that detail, who leaked to the press that there was an informant inside al qaeda, that investigation, while obviously vital for intelligence reasons, for the fight against al qaeda, it also became a scandal, because the way the justice department decided to investigate that leak was by secretly and without notice obtaining the phone records for the main phone numbers for the "associated press" bureau in new york city and in washington, d.c., and in hartford, connecticut, and in congress at the house of representatives, the ap bureau there. additionally, the justice department got the phone records from the work phone numbers and the personal phone numbers for five different "ap" reporters and their editor. why it was important to investigate this leak is obvious once you understand what the leak

this is an area where al-qaeda has been very, very active. >> reporter: how powerful is al-qaeda in yemen now? >> al-qaeda emerged overnight and many fighters returned from afghanistan and formed it in the arabin peninsula and are considered by the americans as the most aggressive and active al-qaeda outside of afghanistan. they have many, many recruits. over the last two years they managed to send suicide bombers for attacks to target the americans in the united states of america, also to target military positions in yemen and also saudi arabia and concerns if something is not done now to stabilize al-qaeda they may have serious problems in the region. >> the u.s. and gulf states are concerned about trying to maintain stability in yemen. the u.s. has increased the use of drones against al-qaeda targets in the last two years i believe. what effect is that having? >> it's back firing and managed to kill some leaders and the preacher and comes from a very powerful tribe but the leader is at large and the top military commander is at large and seen as the brain of the whole al-qaeda in the a

if you have syrian al qaeda or pakistani al qaeda or saudi al qaeda that's different. the most important thing that the majority are alki d. we never said that the majority are not syrian. but we said minority are -- that's what we said. >> charlie: do you believe this is becoming a religious war? >> it started, first we have sectarian war. some areas because if you talk about sectarian or religious war you should have very clear line between the sect and religions in syria, according to the geography and kelp grieve. it's not religious war but al qaeda always use religious, islam actually, as pretext as a cover as mantle for their terrorism and for their killing and behaving and so on. >> charlie: why is this war lasted two and a half years? >> because of the external interference. external agenda. supported by, let's say led by united states, the west, the countries mainly saudi arabia. and turkey. that's why it's lasted two years and a half. >> charlie: what are they doing? those countries you cited? >> they have different agendas. they want to undermine the syrian

now head of al qaeda. were here eight leading up to september two thousand and one july two thousand. closing in on the nine eleven plot of the case and threatened with prosecution then when officers arrested muhammad and lee for the ricky link to america's most wanted terrorist ramzi yousef secrets of state himself intervened had immediately deported to saudi and released . people at the cia where red not even speaking in retrospect contemporaneous with what the intelligence community knew. was unreal. to kevin of questioning the war on terror great speak to we actually have leaders admitting these terrorists are just tools and that's what al qaeda is it's a cat's paw for western intelligence agencies and we heard this from the arab world's leading political commentator mohammad people who told us immediately after nine eleven that this story of nine eleven was ridiculous he said when he was at the highest levels of government in europe he was the one who was in charge of essentially infiltrating and virt

he said al-qaeda is full of people from saudi intelligence from u.s. intelligence israeli intelligence and of course you gyptian intelligence couldn't do anything on its own british scholar not one of the world's leading scholars of terrorism one of those talks about an incident that happened in turkey i believe it was a little bit before nine eleven a high level suppose that senior al qaeda commander was arrested in turkey and the guards at the prison who were devout muslims noticed that he was praying he was asking for pork and they said well you know i thought we thought you were a radical muslim and he kind of laughed and said no no this is all just a. strategy of tension this nine eleven the world's top physicist's pilots engineers join victims' families to side step the mainstream media wall of silence huge billboards in times square and across the states confront the most americans don't know a giant. wasn't even hit by a plane yet somehow collapsed in freefall five twenty pm world trade seven suddenly neatly and symmetrically just folded like a

if you have syrian al qaeda or pakistani al qaeda or saudi al qaeda that's different. the most important thing that the majority are alki d. we never said that the majority are not syrian. but we said minority are -- that's what we said. >> charlie: do you believe this is becoming a religious war? >> it started, first we have sectarian war. some areas because if you talk about sectarian or religious war you should have very clear line between the sect and religions in syria, according to the geography and kelp grieve. it's not religious war but al qaeda always use religious, islam actually, as pretext as a cover as mantle for their terrorism and for their killing and behaving and so on. >> charlie: why is this war lasted two and a half years? >> because of the external interference. external agenda. supported by, let's say led by united states, the west, the countries mainly saudi arabia. and turkey. that's why it's lasted two years and a half. >> charlie: what are they doing? those countries you cited? >> they have different agendas. they want to undermine the syrian

assad and fighting against al qaeda. that is not a very nice position to be in right now. >> one imagines unsustainable from the rebel side, they can't go on doing that. as i say, the jihadists are the better fighter. you have the al qaeda chief al zawahiri last week calling on the islamists to not work with the secular groups allied to the west. what -- in the big picture if this continue -- and this isn't the only battle going on, it's near the iraqi border as well -- if this in-fighting continue, where does that leave the uprising? >> well, i mean, that's one of the fears that some of the syrian rebel commanders have expressed. they can't really pull reinforcements from the front lines with the syrian government to the northern border with turkey to fight against al qaeda because they're afraid front lines will collapse. perhaps one of the vulnerable points for al qaeda, michael, is they've really angered a lot of syrians living in the north with their kind of hard line sharia views and widespread kidnapping, we're to

rebel side is al qaeda arms the muslim brotherhood. how is it possible that we are now assisting al qaeda? this is a conflict. we should not kid and one side with hezbollah and russia and the other al qaeda. this is not in our national interest. we cannot be in a third war in 12 years in the middle east. john: i assume you agree with the senator says this is not al qaeda. there are moderates who we should help. >> syria is a moderate nation. >> on the ground, the family in damascus. there are millions of syrians, local coordination committees that are part of helping the free syrian army. yes, al qaeda is at almost five to 10,000. an islamic liberation front that is not our allies. certainly if they are there is part of a gi. the majority of syrians are far more diverse, even in egypt. the brother had less of an egypt. even in egypt the majority of muslims rode up against the brotherhood they're is that is going to happen. it will only happen post assad. i would ask the colonel. if you want to defeat them it would only happen post assa

at least seven appear to be significant ties to al-qaeda. the problem is one of two things is possible, either the strike is really significant, it weakens assad and the result is the rebels are able to succeed. and if what happens there is al-qaeda taking over, or al nusra taking over, and extremist terrorists getting access to the chemical weapons, that hurts the u.s. national -- >> your fellow republican john mccain zbrees. and adam kinzinger, an iraq war vet, also took exception to your comments. here's what he said. >> they say if we go in and strike assad that we are acting as, quote, al-qaeda's air force. i believe that's a cheap line by some people to garner headlines. >> cheap line to garner headlines. >> well, look. i don't know mr. kinzinger. i respect his service, he's entitled to his opinions. what i can tell you that was said by dennis kucinich. and where i saw it after that was a current naval sailor who tweeted and said, i didn't sign up to serve as al-qaeda's air force. the reason why we're seeing -- and i'll tell you, this

how closely are they aligned to al qaeda. >> a strong franchise of al qaeda in east africa. they had largely taken control of somalia until they were repulsed after a brutal civil war over the last few years from the capital of mowigadishu and kenyan troops have been directly involved in trying to repulse them out of somalia and have largely succeeded. in somalia itself there is a new government, a transitory government and al shabaab has been on the run. they gained support from al qaeda in yemen, as evan would know, and possibly from the al qaeda elements that attacked in mali as well as north africa. so they are largely in control and al shabaab has tried to use somalia as a base for operations to support al qaeda in yemen as well. >> i was looking at the numbers. we're looking at just hundreds so how does a group of this size, evan, have this kind of impact? >> keep in mind this is a large group per se because it's not just a jihadi group, they're waging a civil war inside somalia. it's not just a couple hundred guys, it's several thousand guys, maybe more. they control

sometimes described as core al qaeda, the central group of leaders that ran al qaeda in 2001. we have degraded what i would , but it as al qaeda 1.0 has morphed and adapted. it also has improved its capabilities. now seeing what is 2.0 or 3.0. this is an al qaeda that is regionally distributed. some of the regions may be more autonomous, but make no mistake, there is a unified ideology, there is mutual assistance and a recognition that what benefits one benefits others. you are dealing now again with an organization that is different than it was 12 years ways canthat in many be more dangerous because it is more widely distributed. whiche seen it in yemen is now widely regarded as probably the most dangerous platform from which attacks against the u.s. and western interests are being lost. we see days iraq, where in recent the al qaeda in iraq has begun to experience a resurgence. we have seen it in west africa and in east africa. we have seen it in nigeria. --give you a sense of how let's take the example of libya. we went into libya a couple of years ago and the thought was -

and, in fact, al qaeda said so. they were desperate to get money, asking recruits to bring money with them, asking to bring $10,000 per person. you saw this in the documents of , where they were contemplating a shift in how al qaeda raised money, to get into the kidnapping business because it is worth millions of dollars. so we were able to say to the world, we are going to isolate al qaeda and its funders, and banks and financial institutions around the world need to be part of that solution, and that is what drove it to get that is what was used to go after north korean financing, iranian financing, and it is why when you talk about the leadership, they know this is not a joke. the former iranian president called this a hidden war. looked at september 11 and the attacks of that day, and they did not cost that much money, so why is it financing? if you can't do terrorism on the cheap, why is financing particularly important? >> that is a great question. wondering how much that bomb costs or that suicide bomber to r

it is al qaeda. we know for a fact al nunsra used wmds and now russian detailed hundreds of pages that al qaeda did it, the rebels did it. >> you want to take putin's intelligence and use that. he's been allied with this thug a long time. there are 1200 groups over there in the resistance. the people where these missiles were sent with chemical weapons was on top of the free syrian army, secular, pro united states and by the way we should have been in helping earlier. >> 30 months ago. their numbers are now dwindling and decimated in the process and the more likely successor is the al qaeda linked islamist radicalists. >> the people who said they did it to themselves is crazy. it defies imagination anybody would drop a nuclear chemical weapon on themselves >> of course. they can get 72 virgins. if they can get the united states to come in and fight their war, why wouldn't they. the vacuum was created in egypt -- >> tell me the benefit. the president said it's not open ended, no boots on the ground, d

they welcome al qaeda's help. fighters say al qaeda is an enemy, too. syria has become dauntingly complex, one more reason western governments hesitate to intervene. turkey's border, near the recent fsa-al qaeda clashes, remained closed today despite the cease- fire. food and aid supplies were stuck. it is too early to tell if the cease-fire will hold. there have been many skirmishes in the northern parts of serial between the jihadis and the free syrian army. what does this mean for the armed uprising? long-term, it may help the fsa get more assistance from the western governments and they put distance between themselves and al qaeda. short-term, if the rebels are fighting each other, they are not fighting the regime. paul wood, bbc news, on the border with syria. >> for more on the diplomatic escutcheons that will take lace at the united nations next week, i am joined by the chief washington correspondent of the new york times. is beginning to account for chemical weapons stockpiles. did the threat of the u.s. airstrike work? >> i think the threat wor

bel side is al qaeda arms the muslim brotherhood. how is it possible that we are now assisting al qaeda? this is a conflict. we should not kid and one side with hezbollah and russia and the other al qaeda. this is not in our national interest. we cannot ben a third war in 12 years in the middle east. john: i assume you agree with the senator says this is not al qaeda. there are moderates who we should help. >> syria is a moderate nation. >> on the ground, the family in damascus. there are millions of syrians, local coordination committees that are part of helping the free syrian army. yes, al qaeda is at almost five to 10,000. an islamic liberation front that is not our allies. certainly if they are there is part of a gi. the majority of syrians are far more diverse, even in egypt. the brother had less of an egypt. even in egypt the majority of muslims rode up against the brotherhood they're is that is going to happen. it will only happen post assad. i would ask the colonel. if you want to defeat them it would only happen post assad.

representatives and bin logons deputy now head of al-qaeda al-zawahiri leading up to september two thousand and one july two thousand and one closing in on the nine eleven plotters were thrown off the case and threatened with prosecution then when officers arrested muhammad and lee for the ricky link to america's most wanted terrorist ramzi yousef the secretary of state himself intervened had immediately deported to saudi and released. people at the cia where red line he was speaking in retrospect contemporaneous with what the intelligence community knew the first implication was unreal. to kevin barrett is the author of questioning the war on terror great speak to we actually have leaders admitting these terrorists are just tools and that's what our current is it's a cat's paw. for western intelligence agencies and we heard this from the arab world's leading political commentator mohamed heiko who told us neatly after nine eleven that this story of nine eleven is ridiculous he said when he was at the highest levels of government in europe he was the one who was in charge of essentially inf

they told me we can't al qaeda this stuff. the syrian people don't like al qaeda. syria is very diverse. they live peacefully. al qaeda is strange to the syrian people. they're not welcome. we're calling on the western country and united states to support us to fight assad and al qaeda at the same time. >> a lot of people worried about the cohesion of the opposition. thanks so much. good to talk to you. >> thank you. >> that will do it for me. thanks for watching "around the world." good to be back. >>> see you tomorrow. "cnn newsroom" starts now. >>> syria may be on hold in the united states but the civil war still rages on. a big meeting at the white ho e house. in less than an hour the president meets with john mccain and lindsey graham. pl members of congress are being vocal on where they stand. some support, some do not. all of them still have a lot of questions. >> the president why he said to the congress we want your input and we want your support.

side is al qaeda arms the muslim brotherhood. how is it possible that we are now assisting al qaeda? this is a conflict. we should not kid and one side with hezbollah and russia and the other al qaeda. this is not in our national interest. we cannot be in a third war in 12 years in the middle east. john: i assume you agree with the senator says this is not al qaeda. there are moderates who we should help. >> syria is a moderate nation. >> on the ground, the family in damascus. there are millions of syrians, local coordination committees that are part of helping the free syrian army. yes, al qaeda is at almost five to 10,000. an islamic liberation front that is not our allies. certainly if they are there is part of a gi. the majority of syrians are far more diverse, even in egypt. the brother had less of an egypt. even in egypt the majority of muslims rode up against the brotherhood they're is that is going to happen. it will only happen post assad. i would ask the colonel. if you want to defeat them it would only happen post assa

al qaeda means the base. it doesn't matter what different names terrorists go by or different organizations, they share the ideology of al qaeda. that's what we are facing worldwide. >> thanks for being with us. coming up next right here tonight on "hannity" -- >> people think there is not equality, but they are wrong. there is equity. >> believe it or not that video was funded by the national parks service with your tax dollars. don't forget, we want to hear from you. log onto hannitylive.foxnews.com. on twitter @sean hannity. vote for the video of the day and follow the live show. a traffic stop that landed a cop in hot water. want to find out why? vote for it as the video of the day straight ahead. [ engine revs, tires squeal ] [ male announcer ] since we began, mercedes-benz has pioneered many breakthroughs. ♪ breakthroughs in design... breakthroughs in safety... in engineering... and technology. and now our latest creation breaks one more barrier. introducing the cla. starting at $29,900. ♪ coffee sh

qaeda it has al indirectly at least with saudi arabia the place where the al qaeda like ideology stems from with the talent to cater a ship like that it is allied itself with the worst worst regimes in the world and it is behaving and it is supporting these groups just like it was supporting. the contra rebels in nicaragua in the past it. it's supporting regime groups in regimes that are against western interests against regional interests against the interests of the whole world but it's doing it basically out of hostility towards islam republic of iran and because israel is pushing it to do so but one of the interesting things right now is that despite obama's attempt to get support from congress and the senate and apacs full support all support it was failing to do so and i think that's a major defeat for apac as well so i'm not saying that a pax influence in the united states is waning but i think it is significant but obviously it's in the interests of the united states to behave more rationally towards iran both the previous administration and iran and the current administration

tonight american al qaeda, the new video showing americans joining up with terrorists. abc's brian ross investigates who they are and why they are there. >>> assad's arsenal, can the u.s. really trust the russian deal? can syria's huge supply of chemical weapons really be destroyed? >>> and fighting back, champion swimmer diana nyad talks to us about the skeptics. >> we did this thing squeaky clean. >>> and we do the math. could the current really have carried her that far, that fast? see the results tonight. >>> good evening to you. as we come on the air on this anniversary of 9/11 new worry about al qaeda. u.s. officials tell abc news the terrorist organization is now increasing its recruits from an unlikely source, from americans. more than 100 signed on including inside syria.e]5 abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross is here to tell us who they are. >> reporter: diane, u.s. law enforcement and intelligence officials tell abc news that as many as 100 people in this country are under active surveillance tonight as potential terrorists, and there are just

qaeda you know it's extraordinary that al qaeda today is being supported whereas nine eleven has just passed and all these wars on afghanistan and iraq and all the misery that the people of this region have gone through were all in the name of the war on terror and the war on al qaeda so this sort of hypocrisy on behalf of the united states and during the obama administration really shows people that there is no real difference between obama and bush and i think that that. really we can as the united states in its confrontation with iran claim if i go to you in washington if we do go down this diplomacy route for syria iran has to be involved now can the united states that down at the same negotiating table with other countries in the region with russia also and sit down and try to negotiate an end to the civil war because i know the around side would be willing to do that but does the united states have the political maturity to do that i mean that's one way to end this conflict if washington does want to see the suffering of the syrian people and we should and we must peter because

representatives and been logons deputy now head of al qaeda al-zawahiri leading up to september two thousand and one july two thousand and one and closing in on the nine eleven plotters were thrown off the case and threatened with prosecution then when officers arrested muhammad and lee for the rick to link to america's most wanted terrorist ramzi yousef secrets of state himself intervened had immediately deported to saudi and released. people at the cia where red line he was speaking in retrospect but contemporaneous with what the intelligence community knew these first debilitation was unreal. to kevin barrett is the author . great speak to we actually have leaders admitting these terrorists are just tools and that's what our current is it's a cat's paw for western intelligence agencies and we heard this from the arab world's leading political commentator mohamed people who told us immediately after nine eleven that this story of nine eleven is ridiculous he said when he was at the highest levels of government in europe he was the one who was in charge of essentially infiltrating virtually

>> we are arming in communications gear and fox to al qaeda. up to 25 percent of the forest that is on the rebel side is al qaeda and the month of brotherhood. how is it possible on the day after the 12th anniversary of 9-11 we are now assisting al qaeda. this is a conflict. it should not get in one side has hezbollah and russia the other side has al qaeda. this is not in our national interest. we cannot be in a third war in 12 years. >> i assume you agree with senator john mccain who says this is not al qaeda. there are moderates in syria who we should help. >> there are moderates. syria is a moderate nation. >> there is on the ground they talk to family in damascus. there are millions of assyrians part of a local coordination committee that are part of helping. al qaeda at the most 5-10,000. you have islamic lib grayings front that is not our salihs. if thr there as path of jihad they are not our friends. the government left in egypt. even in egypt the majority of muslims grows up against the brotherhood. that is going to happen only post ass

rebel side is al qaeda arms the muslim brotherhood. how is it possible that we are now assisting al qaeda? this is a conflict. we should not kid and one side with hezbollah and russia and the other al qaeda. this is not in our national interest. we cannot be in a third war in 12 years in the middle east. john: i assume you agree with the senator says this is not al qaeda. there are moderates who we should help. >> syria is a moderate nation. on the ground, the family in damascus. there are millions of syrians, local coordination committees that are part of helping the free syrian army. yes, al qaeda is at almost five to 10,000. an islamic liberation front that is not our allies. certainly if they are there is part of a gi. the majority of syrians are far more diverse, even in egypt. the brother had less of an egypt. even in egypt the majority of muslims rode up against the brotherhd they're is that is going to happen. it will only happe post assad. i would ask the colonel. if you want to defeat them it would only hapn post assad. john:

he believed he had found an al qaeda sleeper sell to assist him. after months of planning, he parked what he believed was a truck bomb underneath a skyscraper and dialed a cell phone number he sought would detonate the bomb. the bomb was a fake supplied by our undercover agents, and the call signaled the agents to make the arrest. last year, he was convicted and sentenced to 24 years in prison. intelligence led us to him and the combined efforts of our federal, state, and local partners help us stop him before he could do any harm. in the face of this threat, we and the bureau will continue to enhance our intelligence capabilities to get the right information to the right people at the right time, and we will continue to build strong partnerships, for these tools have been the foundation for our success against terrorism over the past 10 years. we must keep adapting to these changing terrorist threats to stay one step ahead of those who would do was harm, and we must do all of this while respecting the role of law and the safeguards guaranteed by t

al qaeda means the base. it doesn't matter what different names terrorists go by or different organizations, they share the ideology of al qaeda. that's what we are facing worldwide. >> thanks for being with us. coming up next right here tonight on "hannity" -- >> people think there is not equality, but they are wrong. there is equity. >> believe it or not that video was funded by the national parks service with your tax dollars. don't forget, we want to hear from you. log onto hannitylive.foxnews.com. on twitter @sean hannity. vote for the video of the day and follow the live show. a traffic stop that landed a cop in hot water. want to find out why? vote for it as the video of the ♪ nice car. sure is. make a deal with me, kid, and you can have the car and everything that goes along with it. [ thunder crashes, tires squeal ] ♪ ♪ so, what do you say? thanks... but i think i got this. ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new cla. starting at $29,900. [trust your instincts to make the call.a. to treat my low tes

he is now beginning to trade the number two member of al qaeda.-- treat the number two leader of al qaeda. the place goes crazy. even the white house gets briefed. he is going to take his right to number two or number one. the meeting has to take place in a place where the cia can completely control the environment and becomes the cia base at khost. they come up with a plan to get inside here without being detected. the problem is that nobody in the cia had ever met with him. they made arrangements for him to come into the base without being checked because they were afraid someone might recognize him and his identity compromised. >> [indiscernible] [end video clip] >> that story was told by the triple agents about that. he is a well-known newspaper men. was this just a case where you could not get an official to tell the story? >> yes. later in the sequence others will speak about it. what we talked about before, i cannot get access to some of the people who were around right the final years or so. nobody in our film was directly involved with the khost operation. those i wanted to talk

qaeda and it's now allowing al qaeda to thrive or is it iran. for him you want to quickly respond to that before we go to the break. wish there to know how much more and he was on piers morgan when i watched iran's president ahmadinejad i largely agree with you mohamed but i think our words have consequences i listened to that interview for one hour and you did a better job in the past two minutes than that person did in one hour i think this is the job of the leaders today to come out and use the kind of language that brings us to table not the kind of language that only is going to inflame the situation further because you are you you have a great opportunity here and i think we're probably saying the same thing but there is some blame to be put on both sides that we when we try to act tough or people suffer all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on syria and the rest stay with our. i have been negotiating in being a participant in the w two zero

rebel side is al qaeda arms the muslim brotherhood. how is it possible that we are now assisting al qaeda? this is a conflict. we should not kid and one side with hez the other al qaeda. this is not in our national interest. we cannot be in a third war in 12 years in the middle east. john: i assume you agree with the senator says this is not al qaeda. there are moderates who we should help. >> syria is a moderate nation. >> on the ground, the family in damascus. there are millions of syrians, local coordination committees that are part of helping the free syrian army. yes, al qaeda is at almost five to 10,000. an islamic liberation front that is not our allies. certainly if they are there is part of a gi. the majority of syrians are far more diverse, even in egypt. the brother had less of an egypt. even in egypt the majority of muslims rode up against the brotherhood they're is that is going to happen. it will only happen post assad. i would ask the colonel. if you want to defeat them it would only happen post assad. john: look if it's

and that's where western-backed rebels fought with al qaeda-affiliated fighters. heavy clashes with the free syrian army, al jazeera correspondent joins us live. who are these groups and why are they fighting? >> reporter: well, jonathan, the rebels fighting against the syrian regime belong to different groups with competing ideologies, and interests. on the one hand you have the al qaeda-linked fighters and on the other hand you have the free syrian army, and they are backed by the west, something of course that doesn't go down quite well with the al qaeda fighters. this recent round of violence on wednesday and thursday started when the al qaeda-linked fighters demanded that a german aid worker, a doctor be handed over to them, because they suspected he was a spy. the moderate rebels refused to hand him over, and this turned into a much larger turf battle. this is exactly the kind of fighting that has complicated the nature of the syrian conflict. you worry about who these weapons are going to end up in the hands of, and how divided these groups are. so once aga

. >> osama bin laden and his al qaeda terrorists network are the immediate target. but the day after the attacks president george w. bush comes to the white house situation room and orders counterterrorism director richard clark to look into an iraq connection. >> when i said, mr. president, we will do that, of course, but we've done it before, and rather recently, and the answer has always been no. and it's likely to be no this time. he didn't like that answer. and he got mad. >> i was in the room during that time. and he was very adamant about perhaps seeing whether or not iraq could conduct such an operation against the united states. i was surprised when the president left the room. i said, i believe secretary wolfowitz got to him. >> paul wolfowitz, bush's deputy secretary of defense has had saddam on his personal enemies list for two decades. >> every time he survives something he sends a message to his enemies, i outlast my enemies, and if you are on the wrong list when i'm still around, you'll be in trouble. >> paul wolfowitz had become convinced that if we

qaeda it has al light it indirectly at least with saudi arabia the place where the al qaeda like ideology stems from with the talent to cater ships like that it is allied itself with the worst worst regimes in the world and it is behaving and it is supporting these groups just like it was supporting. the contra rebels in nicaragua in the past it's supporting regime groups in regimes that are against western interests against regional interests against the interests of. the whole world but it's doing it basically out of hostility towards islam republic of iran and because israel is pushing it to do so but one of the interesting things right now is that despite obama's attempt to get support from congress and the senate and apacs full support all support it was failing to do so and i think that's a major defeat for apac as well so i'm not saying that a pax influence in the united states is waning but i think it is significant but obviously it's in the interests of the united states to behave more rationally towards iran both the previous administration and iran and the current administratio

didn't maybe use the word al qaeda but the u.s. administration themselves to clear that up was al-qaeda and recently as recently as today the b.b.c. reported that the offensive which are considered the moderate rebels. which are considered dull kind of rebels were jointly reading my luella the christian village near damascus so the law and between al qaida and the rebels and the line the artificial line that he's drawing is false and i could go back also in aleppo in the airbase the same thing happened where the supposed moderate rebels that were vetted by the cia you know they've admitted their army for alongside to put in the straw and actually declare victory alongside these foreign al-qaeda rebels so the logic behind a we have to strike because the chaos will create more al-qaeda wouldn't a destroying the syrian military create more chaos a great point to say that that's what we call logical thought unfortunately obama's train as like we're children that we don't have this kind of thought process i mean we had of course respond

there is al qaeda in syria. if you remember, anderson, one year ago was i warning everybody in the world through ac 360 saying that if you keep just watching us, you will see al qaeda in syria. al qaeda is trying to hijack the revolution. i hope it will not. at one point of time, all the syrian people should unite against terrorism. terrorism does not fit syria at all, and we will not allow it. the way we are trying to topple the terrorist regime, we need to find terrorism and unfortunately al qaeda is becoming stronger day after day in syria. >> i appreciate you talking to us again and i'm glad your family is okay. thank you for talking. >> thank you so much, anderson, thank you so much. >>> well, if there is a military strike in syria, what if any support can the united states expect internationally? joining me now is my panel. commander, let me start with you, after today's testimony do you have a sense of what a military operation would look like, about what the targets would be, about what the impact would

they are al shabaab and claim they are an affiliate with al qaeda. several americans were inside the mall when the attacker started shooting. we spoke to a washington d.c. woman who managed to escape. >> we began crawling behind and under cars. our driver, who was kenyan suggested, well yelled at us to run. we ran with him toward the stairwell. we were one level down into the parking garage. i thought we'll go one level up and be able to exit and run out. that wasn't the case. we entered the stairwell and tried to go up several flights and heard gunshots above us. we all turned around and, you know, headed the other direction down the stairwell. it wasn't safe to exit there, either. so, we stayed in the stairwell for an hour and a half or so. there were two people there inside the stairwell who had superficial wounds, but remained there and bleeding for the hour and a half we were trapped. >> the president of kenya addressed the people of the country on television. he also lost what he calls close family members in the shopping mall attack. he didn't

up was al qaeda and recently as recently as today the b.b.c. reported that the offensive which are considered the moderate rebels. which are considered dull kind of rebels were jointly reading my luella the christian village near damascus so the law and between al qaida and the rebels and the line the artificial line that he's drawing is false and i could go back also in aleppo. airbase the same thing happened where the supposed moderate rebels were vetted by the cia you know they've admitted their army for alongside to put in the straw and actually declare victory alongside these foreign rebels so the logic behind a we have to strike because the chaos will create more al-qaeda wouldn't a destroying the syrian military create more chaos great point that that's what we call logical thought unfortunately obama's train as like we're children that we don't have this kind of thought process i mean we had of course responded to that speech in a new york times op ed today saying that quote is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves a

if your criticism is really valid is the cd administered by al-qaeda the example of normality that you allude to in your report the elements if we want to use the word normality i would link that very much with. applying implementing humanitarian rules humanitarian law even in times of on conflict in all territories occupied by whomever for example as i said earlier whoever is detained in any territory in armed conflict should have access to a regularly constituted court intrigue not be executed summarily another issue is humans

. >>> in the meantime, a major al qaeda development. al qaeda gone quiet. when u.s. intelligence intercepted messages last month between al qaeda's leader and the head of yemen's al qaeda, it was seen as a major break. officials said they stopped the biggest single plot since 9/11 against american interests. now there are major the consequences as al qaeda is leaving u.s. intelligence scrambling. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence officials are still dealing with the fall out over a terrorist plot and how it was unveiled. >> anybody who's looking at these stories knows that the particular method they were using to communicate has been compromised. >> reporter: the shut down of consulates last month because of an eminent the terror attack. news reports reveal the source. an intercepted communication between two of al qaeda's top leaders. >> there was some ability for them to reach out to al qaeda in yemen and have some meaningful discussion. >> reporter: al qaeda's conference call wasn't done over the phone. they used a secure internet messaging system, with various encry

they welcome al qaeda's help. fighters say al qaeda is an enemy, too. syria has become dauntingly complex, one more reason western governments hesitate to intervene. turkey's border, near the recent fsa-al qaeda clashes, remained closed today despite the cease- fire. food and aid supplies were stuck. it is too early to tell if the cease-fire will hold. there have been many skirmishes in the northern parts of serial between the jihadis and the free syrian army. what does this mean for the armed uprising? long-term, it may help the fsa get more assistance from the western governments and they put distance between themselves and al qaeda. short-term, if the rebels are fighting each other, they are not fighting the regime. paul wood, bbc news, on the border with syria. >> for more on the diplomatic escutcheons that will take lace at the united nations next week, i am joined by the chief washington correspondent of the new york times. is beginning to account for chemical weapons stockpiles. did the threat of the u.s. airstrike work? >> i think the threat wor

the problem with syria is that there -- the side we would be going on has al qaeda, al sharia and muslim brotherhood whether it's 10% to 25%. we cannot bomb one side and, in fact, we're now supplying the rebels, which apart of al qaeda. >> let me -- look, okay. there is no doubt that there are islamists in there causing trouble, on the other side you have assad, hezbollah, and iran and putin the cia is in sir yanchts true. >> they're trying to isolate groups that aren't al qaeda affiliated to arm them i'm trying to have enough confidence in my government that they dual what is necessary to remove assad, all right, and not enable al qaeda. i don't think i'm being unreasonable in thinking that could happen. i don't think it's worth the risk. it's amazing to me that our government is doing. this within 12 years of what al qaeda did to us that we have the potential of arming and supplying organization. >> bill: you don't have enough confidence in the cia that they wouldn't do that. >> you cannot trace where the gun goes what's you put it. in we are doing a lot more than just giving them arms