necessary. the u.n. nikki haley ripping russia for supporting syria and assad. look at this just minutes earlier at the same u.n. security council meeting, the russian ambassador wagging his finger at ambassador haley. today the pentagon is reportedly looking into what role if any russia played in the chemical attacks, but at this hour russia is not even conceding that the syrian government and assad was behind the chemical attacks. russian president vladimir putin calling president trump s strikes an act of aggression. all this coming as secretary of state rex tillerson plans to meet with russian officials next week in moscow. with me steven, former u.s. ambassador at large to the former soviet union. miael iskoff correspondent, in february he interviewed the syrian president. first to you, ambassador. ambassador nikki haley says that one of the options with russia is they knowingly allowed the chemical weapons to remain in syria as part of the deal they had. they re supposed to get
the war to isis but unfortunately, we re darn sure not winning it either. we really need to step up the air campaign. we need of more of it. we need to embed some american special operators with those local forces on the ground. the iraqi security forces and the kurds, to really make them more effective than they ve been thus far. ahmed, steven, guys, thank you very much for your expertise expertise. thanks for having us. coming up next, new developments just into us here at cnn involving the duggars. you know that famous reality tv show of 19 kids and counting. the network, tlc, that carries the show taking action after the duggars eldest son has apologized for accusations of child molestation. also the first set of hillary clinton s e-mails has been released. what do they say, and what is she saying in response to them?
as for syria, the terrorists are now apparently in control of half of the entire country. joining me now to talk about it the director of the center for foreign policy studies at the heritage foundation. also with us in washington excuse me steven is also a former special army forces officer. also with us in washington is a senior fellow at the education for peace in iraq. gentlemen, thank you both for being here. ali, i want to begin with you. you penned a very very interesting op-ed in the new york times. you argued that even with 50% of syria under isis control, even with the fall of ramadi and fallujah in iraq you say that people are overblowing the advances that isis has made. how can that be? well poppy, it s good to be with you. i think if you look at iraq there s certainly a mixed picture when it comes to the war against isis.
but i ll say this i m asking. the more this footage is shown, the more it benefits a turnout campaign for the(txpe of voter you have described and, therefore, my advice to the justice department, to the obama administration, would have been politically speaking prosecute these guys. the best thing you can do politically is lock them up. okay, right. i agree. you re e. steven, there s nothing the republican party likes better than a nice, scared white voter. let s be honest about it. you re implying that there was a crime that was committed, and i m not sure that the justice department let me ask you about the white sheets. suppose those were white folks with white sheets. sure, then you have a legitimate case. that s intimidation. i agree. where s the symmetry, two black guys, big guys, wearing big boot, looks like uniforms to me and one guy is carrying a dangerous stick there that could break some hits with. that wouldn t intimidate you if you have to walk past
of what s going to be a comprehensive investigation of everything that took place that night. did we lose michael? yep, we lost michael isikoff. thank you, michael, maybe we ll be able to get you back. for more on this story, let me bring you, and e. steven, one of the questions on the night of the shooting is just who is heard screaming for help. let s listen. help! you think he s yelling help? yes. what is your just there s gunshots. two forensic audio experts who analyzed the 911 calls for the orlando sentinel says those screens were not from zimmerman. one of those interviewed also told tom owen that his