why would iran wat to hit this base and also irbil? reporter: norah, they re very big bases. a lot of u.s. coalition personnel, a lot of assets and american money spent there. that s why they are obviously attractive targets for the iranians. u.s. troops here in iraq, they number about 5,000, were already on high alert, and they had paused their operations against isis in this country, fearful of retaliation by the iranians. i think the iraqis, this is close to the nightmare scenario. we spoke to an iraqi general here today who said he s fearful that his country will become a battlefield for iran and the united states. when you look at what s happening, first of all, the assassination by an american drone of qassem soleimani on a baghdad street. and now this attack, iranian
led coalition. they took out the drone after it dropped a weapon near coalition personnel. they were there training and advising ground forces in the site against isis and syria. the big story of the week, the bombshell testimony from former fbi director james comey. what his statements mean for the russia investigation just ahead.
technology and shared it quickly. i have a question for you about what the americans said. we will support efforts to ensure his safe recovery. there was a lot of video that accompanied that hostage taking. and video in the past with those executions of journalists and hostages has been very helpful in determining location and even identities. we don t even have anybody masked. there are people completely unmasked and crowing about this hostage grabbing. is that something the pentagon is talking about? is that something they re using right now to try to track that hostage s whereabouts? what we also know, typical operating procedure, bob knows this better than anybody, when a combat aircraft is in action, there are intelligence assets that watch that aircraft throughout a mission. they saw where it went down. they couldn t get to the pilot because isis very quickly, these fighters were on him and grabbed him. this is rack ka. the problem is, of course, there are no coalition personne
also today, nato says a total of seven afghan army and coalition personnel were killed in multiple incidents inside afghanistan. president obama is condemning attacks by kurdish rebels based in iraq on turkish troops along the border. at least 24 were killed and a dozen more wounded today. turkey responded by sending bombers gunships and commandos in iraq. back here at home, the lawmakers charged with coming up with a deficit reduction strategy, have a little more than a month left before they re supposed to cross the finish line. but chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel reports it appears that they are still stuck in the starting blocks. congressional sources say the super committee tasked with reaching a deal by thanksgiving saving at least $1.2 trillion is stuck on a key point. budgetary assumptions, baseline for which to start cutting. sources say democrats would like to use a baseline that counts the expiration of the bush tax cuts up to $866 billion in savings.
also today, nato says a total of seven afghan army and coalition personnel were killed in multiple incidents inside afghanistan. president obama is condemning attacks by kurdish rebels based in iraq on turkish troops along the border. at least 24 were killed and a dozen more wounded today. turkey responded by sending bombers gunships and commandos in iraq. back here at home, the lawmakers charged with coming up with a deficit reduction strategy, have a little more than a month left before they re supposed to cross the finish line. but chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel reports it appears that they are still stuck in the starting blocks. congressional sources say the super committee tasked with reaching a deal by thanksgiving saving at least $1.2 trillion is stuck on a key point. budgetary assumptions, baseline for which to start cutting. sources say democrats would like to use a baseline that counts the expiration of the bush tax cuts up to $866 billion in savings.