Was rescued in that downed russian jet. That russian copilot, he has turned up now safe. And what both russian and iranian media are saying is that the iranians were behind the rescue operations to get him. That a very wellknown iranian commander, a man named general sulimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary guard corps was commanding the operation to get him. S sulimani behind it all. That shows the iranian influence, the iranian ability to command and control operations. Something the u. S. Has to consider. They also say that now they have basically taken control of that area, that territory, where the pilot was shot down, that they have killed or dealt with all the rebel forces on the ground. It just really underscores the complexity of what is happening there and a lot of difficulty in understanding whether or not all of these countries, all of these players really are ready to cooperate. John . A lot going on in one very small country. Barbara starr, thanks so much. Lets delve i
Right now, secretary of state john kerry urging nato allies to step up the fight. As our allies put it up to a vote. Lets talk, live in the cnn newsroom. Good morning. Im carol costello. Thank you so much for joining me. New polls are out and new shock waves are rippling through the republican president ial race. This one coming from quinnipiac university. Donald trump surging, picking up on a few points from last month. Marco rubio also gaining and now sitting in second place. Ben carson hes fading, sliding into a third place tie with ted cruz. Trump credits the cunwavering support of his backers, even in the face of claims that many are questioning. They say i have the most loyal people. You know, others if you sneeze, they drop you. Me, i can sneeze. I can say things that i think are right. But you notice whats happening in new jersey . Theyre now finding a lot of people are saying that did take place in new jersey, right . I wasnt going to apologize. I wasnt going to apologize. A
Syria. Ash carter announcing today american troops will be leading missions, conducting raids and fighting isis leaders. Carter refusing to say how many troops will be fighting. In a crucial moment before congress, he couldnt answer the most crucial question. Are we winning, mr. Secretary . We will win. Are we winning now . Were going to win. Going to win, but not saying the u. S. Is winning now. This comes as we are learning now details about additional terror attacks planned by isis. President obama saying the u. S. Will never be able to eliminate the threat of a terror attack. I do believe its a matter of time. I believe there is going to be where our luck is going to run out and theyre going to be able to achieve something along the lines of what we saw in paris. Much more on that in a moment. I want to begin with jim sciutto. Talk about this issue of u. S. Troops going to war. President obama said there isnt going to be a combat role for u. S. Troops. These troops are unquestionab