least, when will they know the concern has passed? reporter: well we are waiting for more updates. we have not heard anymore from the department of defense here. today, we hope to hear another update. what we heard is that the people so far have not shown symptoms. the bigger question will be what went wrong here. the anthrax left a lab in utah and went to nine states and south korea. all of the labs will have to check inventory to find out what is going on here john. kathy novak, thank you. to the middle east now and the battle for ramadi. the iraqis insisting they have launched a major offensive to retake ramadi from isis. there are no signs inside ramadi. isis appears to lay roadside bombs and traps while bringing in supplies. we have cnn s nick paton walsh
news out of iraq where the battle for ramadi is under way. shiite paramilitaries now say they have taken the lead in the fight to push isis out of ramadi and the anbar province. this is new video of iraqi forces on the outskirts of the city while iraqi troops attack the city from the north and the east. isis fighters putting up heavy resistance, even using suicide attacks to target soldiers. joining me now, steve clemens, msnbc contributor and editor for the atlantic. shiite forces are saying they have taken control of the operation to retake the sunni anbar province. some people are saying that s like trying to put a fire out with gasoline. to be fair some of the sunni tribal leaders are realizing some of them that the only way to get ramadi back and their territory back is to create a temporary alliance with shi a.
rosemary. that is the big question. really when we look at the battle for ramadi we have to look at past battles where we have seen this kind of force engage isis. we saw that in tikrit. we heard the prime minister say this battle for ramadi will take days. the battle for tikrit they said the same thing. it ended up taking weeks upon weeks. when isis takes ground they know huh how to dig in. they ve know how to reinforce their hold. we have seen improvised explosive devices. bobbytraps, ieds. and slows any advancements. when it cam to tikrit, it took u.s. air strikes to loosen their grip of city for their the iraqi army and militias to finally go in and take control of the city. don t expect this to be an easy fight. it s likely to be very bloody. we have seen recent video released that allegedly shows isis militants inside ramadien
province further east but i doubt that the battle for ramadi will begin any time soon. there s some sort of action. i m looking at the glass half full here. let s talk about ash carter s comments. first, did he speak out of turn and might his comments have goated iraqi forces into action? thank goodness for ash carter speaking the truth the way he did. the united states public will support this will fully if they understand what s going on instead of getting sugar coated versions from various members of the administration. we ll have to wait and see what happens with ramadi. it s well possible that this will shift back and forth but the fight is not going as well as we hoped or expected. iraqi forces lost ramadi because they were out generaled and out led. it may be that the troops
nick paton walsh in baghdad talking about what s happening in syria, but a lot is happening in iraq as well. thank you so much. the isis takeover of palmyra comes days after isis seized ramadi some iraqi security forces following an 18-month pitch from that stip 70 mimes from bag from miled from baghdad. and barbara starr joins us live from the pentagon and barbara, i have to say, i was taken aback by the blunt assessment from the defense secretary. how are iraqis taking his harsh words? reporter: now john we re beginning to hear from iraqi opposition politicians who are also weighing in perhaps expectedly on their dismay about the performance of the iraqi military in that battle for ramadi. whatever did or did not happen in ramadi, it has set off a seemingly un-ending controversy. a chaotic firefight just before ramadi fell.