erdogan in ankara. before then, turkey will probably have achieved its military objectives, taking town after town. turkey wants a piece of syria to resettle between 1 and 3 million syrian refugees and it wants to displace the kurds who are here, kurds who turkey views as a mortal enemy. yes, the white house is talking about piece and issuing stern language, talking about sanctions, but facts on the ground mean much more. the only real leverage the united states has to stop this advance are the elite special forces still in this country. some of the most elite in the entire world. they could stop this advance. they could certainly put a threatening presence in the way of turkey. but instead, they are being withdrawn. they are consolidating their positions and they are leaving the country, andrea.
out there protecting the public that just had to, you know, do something that nobody wants to do. reporter: george howell, cnn, atlanta. and, again, his funeral will be today. thousands of russians marched in moscow and other cities in protest of planned health care reforms. authorities say the reforms are needed to modernize the health care system. but protesters say hospitals will be shut down. thousands thrown out of work. it is a rare public protest by state employees who formed the core of president vladimir putin s base of support. meantime, the president is set to meet with turkish president erdogan in ankara and talks are expected to focus on energy. matthew chance joins us now from moscow with more about what kind of energy policy perhaps we re talking about, matthew. reporter: well, i think we re