in the peshmerga force? >> well, not the peshmerga, victor. i am concerned about the iraqi security forces because as everyone's heard, the u.s. central command's announcement the other day is there's going to be a major operation against mosul in april or may. i talked to a very senior current serving iraqi official who said, look, we're not really sure our iraqi security forces are ready for a major operation. in fact, u.s. central command said that they're going to train in the next few weeks a few of those brigades. having been an infantry trainer for many, many years, three, four weeks is insufficient to train people for a fallujah-like battle. keep in mind, mosul, they've taken down the bridges, they've put trenches, they booby trapped every house. they're going to stand behind every civilian and they're going to have remotely activated ieds all over the place. these people are ready to dye. unfortunately you have to have hardened fighters like our marines to take back mosul and that's going to be a hard fight. >> i want to stay on this

this is a long front, roughly 600 miles, the peshmerga are spread thin along this line. it's also very close to the northern iraqi city of erbil. if the isis militants wou

the peshmerga does not mess around. that being said, i also believe that isis realizes that now and i've seen discussions that they may be looking at doing a swap between the two to have them to get their folks back. you don't mess with the peshmerga. >> i want all yf you to stand by. preparing for the battle against terrorists in africa. african elite forces are training to respond to the growing threat from terrorists groups. we'll in chad with an exclusive report. >>> plus with a somalia based terror group staged an attack at a mall in 2013. now al shabaab is calling for similar attacks in the u.s., canada and the uk. we have details. stay with us. you're driving along, having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pick-up truck slams into your brand new car. one second it wasn't there and the next second... boom! you've had your first accident. now you have to make your first claim. so you talk to your insurance company and... boom! you're blindsided for a second time. they won't give you enough money to replac

has in the peshmerga force? >> no, victor, absolutely not. one thing that most americans will appreciate is the peshmerga, their soldiers fight for the same values, very similar to u.s. soldiers. that means is when our soldiers go out when they go out to fight, the first thing they fight for is themselves. and they are very true to themselves. and so what i believe this will happen to the peshmerga even irate them even more' get them more fired up and continue to press and push and get the right equipment and continue to push the iraqi central government to get set for this fight that everyone is waiting for in the next couple of months. >> the other element of that conversation is that there are few other options in that country in which the u.s. can find allies to go after. you've got the iraqi forces, you've got the peshmerga and that is who you have until the u.s. or the global community decides to go in itself. will not colonel james reese and nima elbajir, thank you both. >> thank you. >>> still to come, after weeks of testimony, a texa

this comes on the heels on the isis video showing peshmerga forces captured by isis. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of the video. in the video, the prisoners who seem to be under duress call on peshmerga forces to give up the fight against isis. our correspondent ben wedeman is in northern iraq in erbil. good morning, ben. >> reporter: good morning, john. this video is making the rounds but not necessarily making a lot of impact on ordinary kurds in this part of iraq. what you see in the video is orange-clad jumps and men chained by hands and in cages and led anin an interview. you see the men paraded in the back of the pickup trucks in the city currently under isis occupation. during the nine-minute video, you see still photographs of

the peshmerga are controlling the front line. we also have air strikes, we also have shared intelligence with the united states and the coalition partners. i should take this opportunity to thank the united states and the coalition for doing this. but ultimately we need to defeat isis completely. you can't do that with one hand tied behind your backs. and this is how we find ourselves in the peshmerga. >> are you getting any significant help at all from the regular iraqi army? >> there is coordination. but sometimes you wonder what army are you really talking about? what we saw with the fall of mosul illustrated that the army in iraq in some areas is very strong in other areas, frankly, it doesn't really exist. so there is some coordination cooperation. but as i said earlier, the most effective fighting force on the ground are the peshmerga. they need proper support and that means weapons, heavy weaponry and advanced weaponry. >> i think that's a fair statement. we did see in mosul the regular iraqi army abandon their positions,

the peshmerga holding on. when you see what they have. it is not very balanced. >> reporter: it really isn't. the peshmerga have really proven themselves holding their own. they have an artillery piece from world war ii that they are using. they getting weapons from isis when they capture ground. they are repurposing the weapons they can take. they did get a new shipment of german machine guns. what they want is heavier guns. they also want armor. you look across the river from where the battle is taking place, they have isis fighters. they looted bases and stealing american weaponry and latest american equipment. that is devastating against the peshmerga and inflicted large casualties. >> ian lee, thank you. >>> humanitarian aid worker is being remembered in her hometown of prescott arizona. her brother hers her. >> only now will you be able to see how much you did and truly did for this world by looking down on it from above. i love you. you can rest in peace knowing you changed this world. >> isis says kayla mueller died in the jordani

he was not the first peshmerga soldier to be beheaded and he may not be the last. kurdish officials say isil has captured more than 50 peshmerga soldiers since the conflict began in june. many kurds of fighting age volunteer to join the peshmerga when their region came under threat. the men say they won't allow isil to divide their community and won't the headings and threats scare them away from the battle. zeina khodr, al jazerra northern iraq. >>> we have a lot more to come here at al jazerra including. >> reporter: i am rob reynolds in los angeles with the latest on an outbreak of measles that began in disneyland. >>> and all cook lovers paradise, why this indian book fair draws big crowds in the lit rare i capitallal capitallal cap. cap. coverage on al jazeera >> sunday night. >> 140 world leaders will take the podium. >> get the full story. >> there is real disunity in the security council. >> about issues that impact your world. >> infectious diseases are a major threat to health. >> "the week ahead". sunday 8:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america. ♪ ♪

it heavily involves the kurdish peshmerga forces. with me now here in the studio the foreign minister of iraqi kurdistan. thank you for being with us on "gmt." >> thank you. >> let's start by talking about this planned military operation to take back mosul. do you think it's a good idea to announce this plan, to possibly even give timings of the plan? >> well part to have the transparency and the international community talk about it, but militarily we are talking to the people to prepare ourselves for that. >> are you prepared? could peshmerga forces go in now and help retake mosul? >> peshmergas are ready to play their role but there needs to be sunni and iraqi component in order to make sure that the effort is successful. >> perhaps the bigger question is, are the iraqi forces ready? >> that's all question. we're talking to the americans and iraqi, they have to be ready. there has to be an iraqi operation, kurds are ready to play their role and contribute positively, because we haven't taken this as long as mosul is under the cont

and several peshmerga fighters were killed as well. although the peshmerga have been fairly vague in the number of fatalities they had. but what is most surprising is how it shaped up with their weapons, you have the peshmerga, who are using small arms they do not have heavy artillery and you have the isis fighters who have american equipment. they're going against them. alisyn? >> thanks for spelling all of that out this morning for us ian, lee, we'll check back in with you. there's information about the suspected gunman in the deadly shootings in copenhagen and emerging evidence that the paris terror attacks were coordinated. cnn's nic robertson we'll get to him as soon as we can. >> we see the problem is everywhere the question is what to do about it today brings day two of the white house summit on violent extremism. day one got hung up on basics. what to call the enemy and even if there's a war going on. cnn white house correspondent michelle kosinski joins us. do we have that right? >> that's right, chris. today we'll hear from t

the peshmerga. they're fighting every day to stop isis. now, dana what makes no sense whatsoever is the obama administration is refusing to directly arm the kurds. we need to arm the kurds now because they are our boots on the ground. i don't believe it is necessary to put american boots on the ground if we are arming the peshmerga, they're fighting there. just today they didn't ask us for boots on the ground but what they did say is they need the weaponry to stand up and destroy isis and the peshmerga on the ground combined with overwhelming american air power can take out isis but we're not seeing leadership from the administration to get that done. instead, they continue to send weaponry to baghdad who doesn't pass it onto the peshmerga and it doesn't get put to use effectively. >> you're saying lindsey graham and even some in the pentagon who are considering about 10,000 u.s. troops on the ground that would be a bad move? >> in my view american boots on the ground should always be the last step, and we need to exercise other steps befo

the peshmerga had been our allies had been our friends. and they're actually fighting every day to stop isis. now, dana, what makes no sense whatsoever is the obama administration is refusing to directly arm the kurds. we need to arm the kurds now because they are our boots on the ground. i don't believe it is necessary to put american boots on the ground if we are arming the peshmerga, they're fighting there. just today they didn't ask us for boots on the ground but what they did say is they need the weaponry to stand up and destroy isis and the peshmerga on the ground combined with overwhelming american air power can take out isis but we're not seeing leadership from the administration to get that done. instead, they continue to send weaponry to baghdad who doesn't pass it onto the peshmerga and it doesn't get put to use effectively. >> you're saying lindsey graham and even some in the pentagon who apparently are considering about 10,000 u.s. troops on the ground, that would be a bad move. >> in my view, american boots on the ground shou

kurdish peshmerga forces say they have retaken areas around iraq's second largest city which is being controlled by i.s.i.l. since june of last year and nearby mosul dam controls the water supply for several large towns, so that is why or one of the reasons why it's so important. we can go live to our correspondent khan in the iraqi capitol baghdad and hearing there have been some air strikes around mosul, how effective have they been? >> they have been very effective. what has happened is by these in cooperation where the peshmerga fighters, they have taken three key bridge heads in and around mosul and the bridge heads are key because they are key supply line and what has been going on on the border of syria jordanian with air strikes in raqqa and cutoff a key supply line between raqqa and syria and mosul in iraq. so there seems to be a grounds swell now of things happening which means that we are about to see according to iraq officials a take on mosul to retake the city within weeks they say so we are seeing the ground being prepared for an invasion and also we heard in the last f

and that is the peshmerga. the kurdish fighters in the nrth of the country. but they certainly are at a disadvantage when it comes to isis. isis of course has been able to capture huge amounts of very sophisticated american weaponry. mountains of ammunition. so the kurds really have to make due with what they've got. the sparks fly in the subterranean workshop in erbil's old city. he's busy repairing a battle-battered ak-47 assault rifle. all day and well into the night, this 36-year-old gun repairman fixes the aging weapons the peshmerga, the kurdish military force in northern iraq use to fight isis. this soviet-era machine gun is older than he is and is jamming after four or five bullets. he's been at the job since he was a child. this picture taken when he worked in his father's workshop back in 1990. in the more than 25 years he's been in this business he's never met a weapon he couldn't fix. 47-year-old peshmerga fighter natif has come from the front lines near kirkuk. "easy things we can fix ourselves," he says. "bigger problems we bring here." baktir m

whether it's iraqi or peshmerga or u.s. forces they need to create these conditions for success. >> you know the american public doesn't want to get involved in another ground war ten years in iraq ten years in afghanistan thousands of casualties. the u.s. doesn't want to do that again. >> i have been through a smaller version of that in bosnia. there was no support back here in the congress the military the white house, anywhere to go into bosnia. when we went into bosnia, i came back and briefed clinton -- president clinton in the oval office this is the conditions i need for success. he stood up and said i approve. that's the sort of contact the commanders need to have with the president. >> i want to keep your hat on as the former nato supreme allied commander. i will show you video. this is russian defense ministry tv video. look at this. these are british royal air force jets intercepting a pair of russian bombers as they flew over international waters. nato has scrambled fighter jets more than 400 times this year alo

peshmerga units don't have medics. the wounded are simply thrown in the back of a car and, if they're lucky, they'll survive the drive to the nearest hospital. one aspect of training the peshmerga have asked for says the spokesman is urban warfare. foreshadowing perhaps a role in the battle for mosul. if that battle happens, the worry is that isis will sew the city with thousands of improvised explosive devices or i.e.d.s. here the troops are learning how to detect i.e.d.s. more than 50% of peshmerga casualties are caused by the ieds. the training program began last month and is already showing results. >> the two platoons, we trained them at the frontlines. we got the answer from the peshmerga, the generals that those platoons are much more efficient than before. >> and perhaps more deadly. here italian troops are training the peshmerga on an italian made tank weapon. it's likely to make an impact when they take it to the front. >> and the kurds are hoping that this training in combination with new and better weapons

troops sent to fight isis at this point, calling for the kurdish peshmerga forces american boots on the ground and that coming from senator cruz. if isis was trying to frighten or intimidate the world by killing the jordanian pilot burning him alive and doing it so publicly that attempt has backfired. how jordan went from the neighbors from the sidelines of this war to all in. >> reporter: it was a grisly video showing lieutenant colonel muath al kaseasbeh burned alive. now it has galvanized the arab world in the battle against extremism. regional countries led by jordan are stepping up their participation in the coalition attacking isis. >> this is definitely not the u.s.' war. this is definitely our war. >> the uae has also announced it will send a squadron of f-16s to fly side by side their jordanian counterparts as they carry out air strikes. muslim cleric too, have joined in trying to discredit the group's ideology. >> translator: we tell the youth islam did not carry a message of sabotage and destruction. it only came to serve humanity to achieve world peace and to bring mercy to

the peshmerga have cleared other yazidi villages occupieded by isis. what they've found that isis has left behind in many places are mass graves. at the moment the peshmerga are not planning a major operation to liberate sinjar. could be months before the horrors that took place are revealed. at the moment there's no way of knowing how many men were murdered how many women were abducted by isis. >> we should note those peshmerga fighters have done such a commendable job in pushing back isis fighters from the locations they have. indeed that fight continues. live in northern iraq at ten:40 in the morning there. thanks. >>> a brutal police takedown is caught on tape. ahead, how the indian government has become involved in the incident between a grandfather and officers in the u.s. state of alabama. so,as my personal financial psychic, i'm sure you know what this meeting is about. yes, a raise. i'm letting you go. i knew that. you see, this is my amerivest managed... balances. no. portfolio. and if doesn't perform well for two consecutive gold. quarters.

if the peshmerga did the same thing would you criticize then as fiercely? you want to build up the sunni satwa again, the awakening movements. didn't they do all of these thing in the past? didn't they kill americans too? we do need to think hard about these questions. we do have somewhat of an emotional reaction against the mobilization units. let's look at that. let's dig into that for a second. all these bad guys? i don't think so. they're brave fighters going to the front line. many of them are not psychos. many of them are not trying to take on sectarian mass customers. they're just normal people. i had a similar feeling when meeting hezbollah infantry men down in southern lebanon in '99. sitting about it them and their families in their houses. but behind them often far behind them there was the islamic revolutionary gad corps guys that i never did meet. and they had a very different attitude. and i certainly became personally aware of the difference between being in their midst ask not their target, as i was in southern lebanon, to later when i was o

and isis forces for some weeks now, have really been probing those lines, but the peshmerga have been able to hold them back. tell us what's happening. >> reporter: yeah so far, christine, they've been able to hold them back but the generals on the front lines you speak to say we can't go on doing this forever. we're stretched across a 1,000-kilometer front. isis is better armed than we are because they stole all these weapons from iraqi bases. and you only have to visit the privates over the last ten days to see just how thin the defenses are. so isis tries periodically almost daily to try to probe those defenses to try to break through those defenses to draw peshmerga forces away from its crown jewel, which is mosul. that's what it's interested in holding on to mosul. >> tell us more about how organized isis is. you mentioned the stolen weapons that they have. tell us a little bit about how organized they are, what kind of a fighting force they are and what the peshmerga are saying about them. >> reporter: yeah despite six months of airstrikes this is an organization that can still

peshmerga units don't have medics. the wounded are simply thrown in the back of a car, and if they're lucky will survive a drive to the nearest hospital. one aspect of training the peshmerga have asked for says their spokesman is urban warfare. foreshadowing perhaps a role in the battle for mosul. if that battle happens, the worry is that isis will sow the city with thousands of improvised explosive devices or ieds. here the troops are learning how to deticket i-- detect ieds, one of most deadly tactics used by isis. casual fees and fatalities -- many casualties and fatalities caused by ieds. the training program started last smooth already showing results. >> the platoons we train at the front lines. we got the answer from the peshmerga general, this those platoons are much more efficient than before. >> reporter: and perhaps more deadly. here italian troops are training the peshmerga on the italian-made an i tank weapon. a weapon likely to make an impacts when they take -- an impact when they take it to the frontment

kurdish peshmerga forces have also reportedly retaken areas nearby. the nearby mosul dam controls the water supply for several large towns. imran khan has more from bagdad. >> reporter: what we have seen in the last 24 hours is coalition air strikes, mainly the americans and the british, help kurdish peshmerga forces take over three key bridge heads. we're seeing a big push now between -- from the kurdish peshmerga fighters and the isil fighters being put under pressure in mosul, and it feels like there is a preparation for a ground offensive going on now. iraqi officials say they expect a ground offensive to take place within the next three weeks. we have also heard one of the top u.s. military commanders say the taking of mosul will be a key morale boost for the iraqis and the kurds, and when that happens they will need ground support. so there seems to be a real push now to take back mosul city which was taken over by isil in june. in syria we're also seeing the jordanians mounting at least 67 different air strikes on -- isil. however, critics say

iraqi kurdish peshmerga forces magged to curb i.s.i.l. fighters back, while iraqi government force, with the help of local militia regained the initiative in the south. the gains have been achieved in coordination with u.s.-led air strikes and u.s. military advisors on the ground. so far president obama insists no boots on the ground. but there's one flaw in the president's strategy, and that is iraq itself. last year iraqi troops threw down their weapons and fled the i.s.i.l. onslaught. while that is not happening now, iraq's government is facing a financial crisis, and one of the biggest oil producers in the world, iraq a broke because of tanking oil prices. imran khan is in baghdad. >> so the prime minister had a very tough time passing his budget. it was finally passed on january the 29th, but it was a hard-fought political battle for him. what that has done is it's raised a question in i can and abroad whether iraq relies far too much on oil and whether the adibsz to black gold is the undoing of iraq. let's take a look now. >> report

we are seeing a big push from the kurdish peshmerga fighters and isil fighters being put under pressure in mosul. it feels it is a preparation for a ground offensive going on. iraq officials have said they expect a ground offensive into mosul to take place within the next three weeks. we've heard in the last three days general allen, one of the top u.s. military commanders say that the taking of mosul city will be a key morale boost for the iraqis and kurds and they will need coalition ground support. that's the strongest statement we've heard when it comes to ground forces with iraqi's and kurdish peshmerga forces. in anbar province in the west of iraq, it needs to be brought much more into the political process. however, it seems there is going to be a push toward mosul in the next few weeks and ground is being prepared for that. >> makes leader vow to go continue his struggle after an appeal was denied in his sodomy trial. he is widely seen as the biggest threat to the ruling party's long hold on power. we have more. >> >> hub was people arrived at malaysia's top court chanting sloga

the tipping point was the peshmerga fighting against isis. they have taken time to accumulate their effects, but i think without it, we are not going to see the kind of resistance -- >> and yet the islamic state still holds great swathes of north syria and western iraq. >> this will take a lot of tough ground fighting to get that back. we should not undercount that. there are nato troops and coalition troops. a lot of ground fighting by well-trained fighters. >> it is going to have to be a coalition presumably of syrian moderate rebels, iraqi purses, and kurdish peshmerga. are they qualified it -- enough to take on the islamic state? ask president obama has 3000 americans over there, acting as advisors. i think we have seen as a result of kobani that the kurdish peshmerga have the ability to get that. increasingly, the iraqi forces have the same capabilities. >> do you know how important it is to come and published -- outlook support back in the united states? the longer this goes on, how does public opinion hold up in the states for a commit

iraqi kurdish peshmerga forces magged to curb i.s.i.l. fighters back while iraqi government force, with the help of local militia regained the initiative in the south. the gains have been achieved in coordination with u.s.-led air strikes and u.s. military advisors on the ground. so far president obama insists no boots on the ground. but there's one flaw in the president's strategy, and that is iraq itself. last year iraqi troops threw down their weapons and fled the i.s.i.l. onslaught. while that is not happening now, iraq's government is facing a financial crisis and one of the biggest oil producers in the world, iraq a broke because of tanking oil prices. imran khan is in baghdad. >> so the prime minister had a very tough time passing his budget. it was finally passed on january the 29th but it was a hard-fought political battle for him. what that has done is it's raised a question in i can and abroad whether iraq relies far too much on oil and whether the adibsz to black gold is the undoing of iraq. let's take a look now. >> reporter:

this comes on the heels on the isis video showing peshmerga forces captured by isis. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of the video. in the video, the prisoners who seem to be under duress call on peshmerga forces to give up the fight against isis. our correspondent ben wedeman is in northern iraq in erbil. good morning, ben. >> reporter: good morning, john. this video is making the rounds but not necessarily making a lot of impact on ordinary kurds in this part of iraq. what you see in the video is orange-clad jumps and men chained by hands and in cages and led anin an interview. you see the men paraded in the back of the pickup trucks in the city currently under isis occupation. during the nine-minute video, you see still photographs of those beheadings of egyptian christians that happened last week in libya. it ends with a tight shot on one of the prisoners. no executions as far as we know but certainly the implication is it is a very good possibility. now as this happens, of course there has been a fair amount of fighting on the front between isis fighters and t

the peshmerga 190,000. and the shia militia. the new prime minister had said there are about a million shia militias who are trying to fill the void of the ineffectual iraqi army. mr. brennan, you said earlier, you talked about the shia militias who recently experienced success against isis. you also made reference to the iranian kwud quds forces leader who really negotiated a second term of nuri al maliki with one condition. that the americans leave. that the americans leave. and now we have a president with a resolution before congress asking for authorization to engage again militarily. you know the shia militias are not there to prop up the iraqi government. they're there to do what seoul manny and others in asymmetrical warfare try to do and that is create a prop he is in places that they want to control. be it in southern lebanon, be it in syria, or be it in iraq. my concern is is if we commit american forces and there's no passive wing of the american military. everybody has weapons and fights and die courageously when th

they're known as peshmerga, and they're digging in here after isis recently surged north with a major offensive to try and take the city of kirkuk. the isis flag is just there. you can see how close these opposing lines are. the kurdish fighters, they re l repelled that isis attack. they've taken back most of the territory. but they tell us almost every night isis test their defenses. and the fighters believe in the next few days there's going to be another major push forward. these peshmerga are beyond their traditional lands, outside the official borders of iraqi kurdistan, but they're all that stands between isis and its goal of taking another major iraqi city. and this one rich in oil. the commander tells me isis attacked in thick fog and also set oil wells on fire to hide their advance. when conditions cleared, he says, his men and coalition airstrikes killed hundreds of isis fighters. the bodies of some lie nearby. hastily covered with earth. the threat is not only at the edges of kirkuk. these kurdish security forces also patrol its inner streets because isis has shown it can h

this is an airtight plan depending on equipping iraqi forces and peshmerga. also coordination in both kurdistan and central government with security and intelligence and this transmission must be at the highest level in order to restore and regain control of our mosul. this comes in cooperation with the international coalition which is providing an air cover. we don't wish to engage in and a war, we are also aiming at limiting losses and damages among our military forces. we should not engage in a war where we would incur further damages or victims. this is the core of the strategy and the core of the plan and i would like to bring the good news to our folks in mosul that i.s.i.l. will be out of mosul too too. >> reporter: you've been listening to abaddi who is currently in berlin meeting with german leader angela merkel and you can see he is on his left at the moment. let's now go to correspondents who joins us from the northern iraq city in irbill and talking about unity in the fight against i.s.i.l., talk to us about the relationship or ties between iraqi

how are the peshmerga able to maintain territory? they have lost some of it. but they aren't armed as heavily in some cases as isis fighters. >> reporter: no indeed. in fact they're well outgunned by isis. isis of course having the advantage of picking up so much of the heavy equipment, humvees, artillery, rifles, left behind when the iraqi army fled from mosul last june. so really the kurds are outgunned, but those are people that were before fighting against the regime of saddam hussein and now are fighting against isis. they have a lot of experience, and they just have to make the most with the little they have. the sparks fly in the subterranean workshop in erbil's old city. he's busy repairing a battle-battered ak-47 assault rifle. all day and well into the night, this 36-year-old gun repairman fixes the aging weapons the peshmerga, the kurdish military force in northern iraq used to fight isis. "this soviet-era machine gun is older than he is," he explains and is jamming after four or five bullets. he's been at the job since he was a child. this picture

there are not many kurdish peshmerga fighters along the line. any tampa by isis to break through the line could be a big problem for the peshmerga and the kurdish regional government. this front seasonal 45 -- front is only 50, -- 45 or 50 kilometers from them. it will cause considerable problems if the opposing side had managed to cross and stay across that river. >> and tim, talk to us about the weaponry that the kurdish fires have and also explain to us why is isis laurening attack specifically in this area. >> reporter: isis is launch ag attacks along a wide front sporadically. the front is 1,000 kilometers long. isis has plenty places where it can pick and choose. its overriding aim is not to take irbil. it is to draw the peshmerga away from mosul, the crown jewel for iraq. that city is being strangled essentially by peshmergaa force on three side. anything isis can do to draw the peshmergaa away from mosul and cause it problems elsewhere is something they're very interested in doing. as for the peshmerga foesz, well after visiting about se

captured more than 50 peshmerga fighters. >> many kurds of fighting age volunteered to join the peshmerga when the region came under threat. and they will not allow i.s.i.l. to compromise the community or let the threats care them away from the battle >>> let's go further south to the iraqi capital baghdad, because the prime minister haider al-abadi ordered an end to a curfew. we go live to the correspondent there. things must be getting better. some things are getting better so the prime minister thinks it's safe enough and he has security in baghdad. it's popular among iraqis. no more scrambling no more rushing to get through the checkpoints. the curfew has been in place. in recent years it been mud night to 5:00a.m. it has lifted. others are following suit. the first is kabula to the south as it lifted its own curfew. i spoke to security spokesmen. accompanying them is security convoys. and weapons urging a crack down on what's been an unregulated use of weapons, and the arrest of that rights -- of others. so they'll have to travel with three vehicles in selected neighbourhoods. it's e

in it the prisoners call on peshmerga to give up the fight on isis. cnn correspondent ben wedeman following the story for us from erbil. good morning, ben. in terms of the propaganda value videos we have no way of knowing if it is true or the motive. it clearly is a threat. >> reporter: it is a threat. a threat to the kurds and kurdish forces that have been fighting isis now since last summer. what is significant in this video is in fact that they don't -- they are not executed but the threat is there. during this nine-minute video, where you see them paraded in cages on the back of pickup trucks through what we believe is the city south of kirkuk. during the video, you see still photographs flashed on the screen of some of the egyptians who were beheaded in libya last month. obviously, the implication is this could be the fate of these 21 men as well. despite this in fact, on the frontlines it is a different picture. we understand there were two attempts to break through kurds lines. both were successful. one battle to the south of here according to

peshmerga fighters said they were clearing the area from explosives, boobie trapped explosives and they discovered this grave and reports of at least 25 bodies found believed to be from the community, men, women and children according to officials some of the bodies had gunshot wounds other people were slaughtered. now, we have to remember that i.s.i.l. islamic state of iraq and lavonte took over the sinjar area last august and they were accused of killing hundreds of yazidis and kidnapping the women and children and the fate of the women and children is still unknown but in december the peshmerga forces with the help of u.s. coalition air strikes managed to push into the sinjar mountains and clear the area but they br -- were unable to take sinjar city where there is a fierce battle because it's such an important area for i.s.i.l. main supply line between iraq and syria crosses sinjar city and yet another masked grave and conflict in northern iraq continues and there is 1,000 kilometer front line here and the yaziti community did pay a heavy price over resent month. >> reporter: they c

kurdish fighters known as theme peshmerga are slowly clawing back territory from isis. they believe they can defeat the extremists and prevent more massacres, but they're outgunned by the militants and frustrated with their american allies. >> we've lost more than 1,000 peshmergas, and somewhere around 5,000 have been wounded. >> reporter: the kurdish national security advisor masrour barzani told us 70% of those deaths were caused by car and roadside bombs, and many of them could have been prevented if his men had armored vehicles. they've asked washington for several hundred and have been given just 25.re >> of course, they all praise the peshmergas and thank us, but that is not enough. we need the equipment. >> reporter: what do you say to the families of those men who have died, whose deaths were preventable? >> these are our heroes. we need to protect these heroes, and i think they are the heroes of the free world, and it's the responsibility of the international community to protect them. >> reporter: president obama is expected to go to congress this week to ask

kurdish fighters known as the peshmerga are slowly clawing back territory from isis. they believe they can defeat the extremists and prevent more massacres, but they're outgunned by the militants and frustrated with their american allies. >> we've lost more than 1,000 peshmergas, and somewhere around 5,000 have been wounded. >> reporter: the kurdish national security varies masrour barzani told us 70% of those deaths were caused by car and roadside bombs, and many of them could have been prevented if his men had armored vehicles. they've asked washington for several hundred and have been given just 25. >>, of course they all praise the peshmergas and thank us, but that is not enough. we need the equipment. >> reporter: what do you say to the families of those men who have died, whose deaths were preventable? >> these are our heroes. we need to protect these heroes, and i think they are the heroes of the free world, and it's the responsibility of the international community to protect them. >> reporter: president obama is expected to go to congress this week to ask for

he was a kurdish peshmerga fighter captured in june. his wife can't speak, she is in shock. and so are her children, they are also proud of their father because he died defending their land. >> translator: they kidnapped my father skilled him in a brutal way, we ask our leaders to help bring back his body. >> reporter: he belonged to the tribe, his village is just a few kilometers from the village of the man who beheaded him on video. the killer was identified as a cured from the tribe. iraq's kurds are at war with isil but the armed group has kurds in its ranks. there are no official numbers but isil says it has a kurdish unit. >> translator: i am very sad and angry, but what made me more angry is that a cured killed him. >> reporter: it wasn't the first time a cured was use booed isil. the suicide bomber who targeted the governor's office in november was also an iraqi cured. the governor of erbil the regional capital of the kurdish region in the north says this is parts of the isil's strategy. he believes isil want to turn kurds against each other in the relatively peacefu

the peshmerga fighters are sparse. if the isis fighters were able to break through. it is a clear shot toward erbil. it doesn't seem that will be their objective. what it looks like they are trying to do is release the pressure on mosul. kurdish fighters have it surrounded on three sides. they are trying to push out and keep the kurdish fighters on their heels. we know isis knows that kurdish war planes are in the air. they plan their attacks accordingly when it was least effective for coalition fighters to hit them. the other night, the fight lasted for five hours. it was such close quarter combat air strikes could not hit them until the end of the fight. that is when the air strikes started pounding them. isis is trying to keep the city of mosul, a strategic city for them under the threat of the peshmerga who right now are holding that defensive line around the city. >> ian, it is interesting we are speaking to you in cairo. the front against isis keeps expanding with the recent activity inside libya. what's anthe status with egypt and the isis forces next door in

peshmerga is fighting. >> reporter: an ominous symbol declaring a threatening presence. the black flags of isis flying above its fighter's fortifications. this is the view of isis positions from just across a short bridge just behind the defenses of kurdish fighters. they're known as peshmerga and they're digging in here after isis recently surged north with a major offensive to try and take the city of kirkuk. >> the isis flag is just there. you can see how close the fighters are. they've taken back most of the territory. they tell us mostly every night they test their defenses and the fighters believe in the next few days there will be another push forward. >> reporter: these peshmerga are outside their official lands. they're all what stands between isis and another iraqi city this one being rich in oil. the commander tells them isis attacks in thinking fog and sets oil wells on fire to hide their advance. when conditions cleared, he said his men and coalition airstrikes killed hundreds of isis fighters. the bodies of some lie nearby haste stilly covered with earth. t

the militants also threatened all peshmerga soldiers telling them to abandon their jobs or face a similar fate or job. cnn cannot independently authenticate the video. let's go now to ben wedeman on the ground in erbil, iraq. do you have any idea whether this will have an impact? >> reporter: they're trying to sew a feeling of insecurity and fear among the peshmerga fighters by parading 21 of their comrades in these cages. and clearly the implication hanging heavily over that video is that they will suffer the same fate of so many others who have fallen into the hands of isis but when you speak to people here whether it's people on the front lines or just ordinary people in the streets of the kurdish areas, they really don't pay much attention to these videos. for one thing, they're not really widely broadcast on the local television stations. and the attitude of most people is that isis and the kurds simply cannot co-exist. that rare are those who actually go over to the side of isis. the feel something that isis is completely antagonistic to the attitude, the social ways the life the ph

but that leaves the peshmerga desperately underequipped. charlie? >> holly, thanks. >>> north carolina flags are flying at half-staff this morning for hall of fame basketball coach dean smith. he died saturday at age 83. in 36 years at the university of north carolina smith won two national championships and 879 games. he recruited the school's first black scholarship athlete more than 95% of his players graduated. president obama gave smith the presidential medal of freedom in 2013. the president said in a statement, coach smith showed us something that i've seen again and again on the court. that basketball can tell us a lot more about who you are than a jump shot alone ever could. michael jordan one of smith's great players said he was more than a coach. he was my mentor my teacher, my second father. >> hmm. >>> it is now 7:19. ahead on cbs "this morning," how an investigative podcast and its fans could help a convicted murderer get a new trial. >> announcer: this national weather report sponsored by kay jewelers. every kiss begins with kay. >>>

peshmerga and shia militia. the new prime minister had said there are about a million shia militias that are trying to fill the void, the ineffectual iraqi army. mr. brennan, you said earlier, you talked about the shia militias who recently experienced success against isis. you also made reference to solomoni, is iranian forces leader who really negotiated the second term of al maliki with one condition. that the americans leave. that the americans leave. and now, we have a president with a resolution before congress asking for authorization to engage nen militarily. the shia militias are are not there to prop up the iraqi government. they're there to do what solomoni and others in asymmetrical warfare try to do. that is create a prop city in places they want to control. via in southern lebanon, in syria or be it in iraq. my concern is is if we commit american forces and there's no passive wing of the american military. everybody has weapons and fights and die courageously when they do. we are continuing a situa

by the way, that includes to the peshmerga forces. a quarter of a million forces in the kurdish peshmerga are defending a 1,000 kilometer border with isis and we are also asking them not just to defend that border but also now to make gains into isis controlled territory. so both the iraqis and the peshmerga need to be directly armed by us and we have to ensure with the iraqi military that we have strong leadership imbedded with them which probably includes american forces american advisors because with strong leadership the iraqis will fight. when their leadership melts away like we saw in mosul, your average soldier may have been eager to fight but if his captain runs away he will run away too. >> the west has been stymied at isis' ability to bring in recruits. listen to something that secretary of state john kerry said earlier today about that. >> it's not just kids from britain. there are several thousand people from russia. there are multiple hundreds of people from france from germany, from australia. the australians are in the

peshmerga fight rs fought back. one kurdish fighter was also killed and two other wounded. >> peshmerga forces have already been defending the city of kirkuk. massoud barzani said his fighters would never give up kirkuk. >> translator: kirkuk is in kurdistan and it will never fall to the enemy again. it is as important to the enemy as it is to us but they must know that either we will all die or kirkuk will never fall to the enemy again. we will keep kirkuk even if we have to withdraw forces from other areas. >> u.s. president barack obama says his country is not at war with islam but with those that have perverted islam. he made that comment at a three day summit at the white house patty culhane reports. >> reporter: this summit was supposed to happen last year postponed without explanation but the attacks in canada, paris and copenhagen gave the summit more urgency. assuring the muslims in the room that they were not at war. >> we are not at war with islam we are at war with those who perverted islam. >> not using

the peshmerga men were fighting. they have the best track record of defeating the militants, but they're massively outgunning. the kurdish forces say they've clawed back 1,500 square miles of territory from isis since december and have done merely all of their fighting relying on small caliber weapons like these. >> we've lost more than 1,000 peshmergas, and somewhere around 5,000 have been wounded. >> reporter: the kurdish national security adviser told us 70% of those deaths could have been prevented if the u.s. would give the peshmerga the hundreds of armored vehicles they want. so far they've received just 25. >> of course they all praise the peshmergas and thank us, but that is not enough. we need the equipment. let's not forget. this is the war. the enemy doesn't wait. they're not waiting for us or for our allies to provide us with the right equipment. >> the armored cars would even offer some protection against the biggest killer of the kurdish fighters. car and roadside bombs. in battle last month, isis attac

these peshmerga are yawn their traditional lands, outside the iraqi borders. they're that you will stand between isis and the goal of taking another major iraqi city. this one rich in oil. the commander tells me isis attacked in thick fog and also set oil wells on fire to hide their advance. when conditions cleared, he says his men and coalition air strikes killed hundreds of isis fighters. the bodies of some lie nearby. hastily covered with earth. the threat is not only at the edges of occur kick. these kurdish security forces also patrol its inner streets. last week gunmen stormed the temporary headquarters of local police, detonating a car bomb outside. no one but the three attackers was killed but their able to strike backs up what security forces here suspect -- isis already has people inside the city. captain hamid tells me he's shore isis members have entered the city pretending to be refugees. on front lines across northern iraq isis has been losing ground to the peshmerga. but this new offensive and the proximity of that flag to a ski city shows isis

i share the chairman's thoughts on the peshmerga and the kurds. isis has been driven out of kobani and we continue to prepare and train and equip syrian opposition although this effort is slow moving and long long overdue in my opinion. the coalition is working on a multi-laerl multi-lateral effort the way it should. when questions arrive, we're trying to meet concerns. we're able to bring the uae back into this effort as one of our most reliable allies in the region and why jordan doubled down on its commitment after the aftermath of the horrific murder of its pilot. i want to start by talking about the aumf. the president put his language, as a starting point on the aumf. so i'd like to hear from our witnesses what their thoughts are, should this aumf be limited to a certain gi graph ing area should it limit u.s. -- limit u.s. combat troops on the ground? should we consider a sunset clause for an aumf? why don't we start with ambassador jeffery? >> i would urge the committee to give as much latitude as possible to the administration particularly