Hostage, david haines. Two dozen American Allies and other nations gathered in paris to discuss how to respond to the isis threat. About 40 countries have now joined the coalition to confront the terror group. France today began flying Reconnaissance Missions over iraq. Australia now is sending warplanes to the region. But its not at all clear how many partners will play substantial roles in what the Obama Administration somewhat reluctantly now calls a war against isis. Our correspondents and analysts are standing by with full coverage. Lets begin with our white house correspondent, michelle kosinski. Michelle . Reporter the white house keeps talking about this fight, this war now against isis being all about building this international coalition. What will that look like exactly . What countries will do what militarily . Today the administration is holding its cards close. Even though there is mixed messaging out there on who has made offers, on whom the u. S. Will work with and whom it will not. The nation is grateful. Your commander in chief could not be prouder. Reporter while president obama today honored military heroes of the past with a medal of honor, the current military strategy against isis is shaping up is front and center so the white house today wouldnt answer specific questions about what exactly the coalition is going to do country by country. They said theyre working on organizing the message. First they need to figure out what will be needed from whom and when. Secretary of state john kerry, though, traveling through the region and europe acknowledged there are real offers on the table out there. Some of them are coming from arab countries, offers of not only air strikes but troops on the ground. Other countries like iraq, for example, said france offered air strikes. What the u. S. Has said is there are entities it will not work with. One being iran. However, the white house today said there have been backchannel conversations on that subject. Today tehran said it rejected an offer to work with the u. S. On this. So if there hasnt been coordination, then where did that offer, that socalled offer to iran come from . The white house wouldnt comment on it. But, remember, earlier this month, the iraqi president told Cnns Christiane Amanpour that iranian militias worked with the u. S. Inside of iraq to help save these ethnic minorities who were trapped in a particular town. So theres a little bit of mixed messaging out there, depending on whom you hear from, whom you talk to. Tonight we also know that the u. S. Will wage a sort of battle within the u. S. Against isis with the attorney general just announcing this new initiative to try to target radicalization and extremist recruitment within american communities. Michelle, on wednesday, the president pointedly is going to go to the u. S. Military Central Command in tampa, florida, theyre in charge of this region, presumably, theyre working up the war plans, right . Reporter right. And hell meet with the general who heads up the international coalition, the effort there. Hes going to get an update, the white house says, on how those efforts have been going. Its been interesting because the white house really wont give any detail on specifics. But then it depends on what other country you talk to, you do start to hear the detail, at least the preliminaries of whos starting to offer what activities, whether that looks like now what it will ultimately look like is what were waiting to see. Thats going to be an important meeting with the general who used to be in charge of u. S. Troops in afghanistan on wednesday when the president goes to tampa, florida. Michelle, thanks very much. A bunch of countries are signing up at least verbally to confront isis. One of the biggest players in the region says it wants nothing to do with the u. S. Led effort. Lets talk about iran a little bit. Our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto. Is iran out of the picture . Whats going on here . It gets sort of confusing. In the simplest term, theres no coordination of military strikes against isis. But, yes, on communication, as michelle said, secretary of state john kerry saying today that Backchannel Communications with iran possible, something that could be valuable. Interestingly enough, even possibly with syria. Again, not coordination or cooperation. But secretary kerry saying the possibility of communication there in his words, to avoid bad things happening in the simplest terms, shooting at each other, that kind of communication possible. But theyre not going to be coordinating with Syrian Forces against isis on the ground. The coalition as its being put together so far, a lot of rhetoric, a lot of positive talk. But as far as substance, what do we know . So far, from western countries you have very public, specific commitments. Australia for instance are sending eight fa18 airplanes. The french are agreeing to air strikes on targets in iraq. Not syria but in iraq. The canadians are sending 50 military advisers as well. From arab nations, its going to be more sensitive for them to advertise their support publicly. Im told by a senior u. S. Military official today that more than one arab country is willing to take part in what are called kinetic strikes. That means air strikes against isis targets. But its really this comment that attracted the most attention from secretary of state john kerry this weekend about Ground Troops. Listen to what he had to say. Were not looking to put troops on the ground. There are some who have offered to do so, but we are not looking for that at this moment anyway. So what are those offers . Im told by both state Department Officials and u. S. Military officials that there is no western country or arab country no foreign country offering to put boots on the ground in syria or iraq. In fact, what were talking about are socalled indigenous forces. Talking about trained Syrian Rebels, iraqi force, Kurdish Forces, possibly sunni tribes in the northern part of iraq. Those would be the boots on the ground. Youre not going to have a foreign offer of that sort of help, certainly not from the west but also from arab nations nearby. We know when the u. S. Launched those tomahawk Cruise Missile strikes against gadhafi in libya, the u. S. Was getting airpower support from the United Arab Emirates and qatar, their air forces were involved. I believe the uae is ready to join in in air strikes against isis targets in iraq right now. I assume youve heard the same thing. What about qatar . Ive spoken to arab diplomats who say nothing is in writing yet. These commitments havent been specified yet. But based on past practice, uae not only in libya but also in afghanistan, of the arab countries that is very much a possibility. Qatar also on that list. But again im told none of this has been agreed to yet. Well see what saudi arabia does. They have a huge air force, a lot of u. S. Supplied fighter jets, f15s, f16s, sophisticated aircraft. Well see what the saudis decide to do on that front. Jim sciutto, thanks very much. Lets dig deeper right now. Im joined by the president s former National Security adviser tom donnell. How much of a threat does isis pose to the threat . The threat is on a number of dimensions. It clearly posed a threat to the government and state of iraq which is where the United States first came in to stop a march on baghdad, if you will, or threaten the stability of the Iraqi Government. It poses a regional threat and a threat to jordan. It poses a threat to lebanon. It can upend, if you will, the current stateled order in the middle east. Thats the first level of threat directly. Second, though, we have learned over the years in terms of our counterterrorism efforts, that when you allow an organization like this to have operational space where theyre not pressured and theyre allowed to plot, plan, raise money, it can become a danger to the United States and to the west. We learned that in afghanistan before 9 11, al qaeda operated, taliban let them operate and they plotted the 9 11 attacks. But in this particular case, the Iraqi Government supposedly hates isis. The kurds hate isis. Cant they control isis in iraq itself after the enormous u. S. Investment over the past decade . Two things, number one, i think they can. Its going to take additional help from the United States and help from the coalition that secretary kerry is trying to built. We learned that lesson, the lesson is operational space unpressured with a group like this will ultimately result in their being able to plot and plan attacks. The other thing thats going on is isis has become the central gathering point for foreign fighters coming to fight jihad. More than al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, more than al shabaab, more than al qaeda in the maghreb . With respect to the recruiting focus, some 12,000, maybe 15,000 foreign fighters have come in to the syrian iraq region there to fight with isis. They have passports back to europe, maybe a couple thousand there, passports back to the u. S. That poses a threat. With respect to the really serious threats, though, if you want to rank them, i still say al qaeda, central and aqap, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. And thats led by al zarqawi. Why is he still at large, this guy who was some argue the real brains behind the 9 11 attack . The leader of al qaeda is not there. And we continue our efforts against al qaeda so long to catch this guy . Its taken a long time. But ultimately the United States achieves its goals in this area. With respect to al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, this poses a threat to the United States. This is an organization thats indicated an intent and is actually undertaking operations against the United States and the west. Why the u. S. Launches air strikes and drones and others in yemen. We have a multidimensional set of challenges. Al qaedas become more complex and you dont have a problem calling this a war . I dont have a problem calling it a war against these groups, no. But we know how to do this. Thats the important point about the isis or isil effort in iraq and syria. We have learned a lot of lessons about how to do this. We know how to go against these groups and their leadership. We know how to develop the intelligence on the ground which is absolutely essential. I want you to stand by. Got a lot more questions specifically on iran, should there be any cooperation . Iran hates isis as well. Should the u. S. And iran be working together . What about syria . Is the u. S. Indirectly providing some assistance to syria which sees isis as a major threat as well . Much more coming up right after this. [ female announcer ] we love our smartphones. And now telcos using hp Big Data Solutions are feeling the love, too. By offering things like onthespot data upgrades an idea that reduced overcharge complaints by 98 . No matter how fast your Business Needs to adapt, if hp Big Data Solutions can keep wireless customers smiling, imagine what they can do for yours. Make it matter. Watch this. Sam always gives you the good news in person, bad news in email. Good news fedex has flat rate shipping. Its called fedex one rate. And its affordable. Sounds great. [ cell phone typing ] [ typing continues ] [ whoosh ] [ cell phones buzz, chirp ] and we have to work the weekend. Great. More good news its friday woo [ male announcer ] ship a pak via Fedex Express saver® for as low as 7. 50. [ male announcer ] ship a pak via Fedex Express saver® its monday. A brand new start. Your chance to rise and shine. With centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. With our visionary cloud infrastructure, Global Broadband network and Custom Communications solutions, your business is more reliable secure agile. And with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. Centurylink your link to whats next. Thebut in the case of the s to thlexus ls. Which eyes . Eyes that pivot with the road. That can see what light misses. Eyes designed to warn when yours wander. Or ones that can automatically bring the ls to a complete stop. All help make the unseen. Seen. And make the ls perhaps the most visionary vehicle on the road. This is the pursuit of perfection. The United States trying to put together a Broad Coalition of allies against isis. But what about its traditional foes in the region . Tom donilon rejoins us. Theres one report in the syrian newspaper that the u. S. , the Obama Administration, is indirectly providing some information about isis in syria through a third party to the Syrian Regime of Bashar Al Assad. Does it make any sense . I havent seen that report. Doesnt make sense to me. There are some u. S. Allies who still have a direct relationship with Bashar Al Assad. One of the reports said maybe germany or some other country has a powerful interest in destroying isis. Theyre even willing to say maybe Bashar Al Assad could help target certain locations, provide pinpoint locations of where isis may be basing itself in syria. I doubt if theres any direct conversations going on with the syrians at this point. I saw some conversations about deconfliction. What does that mean . That youre about to fly a mission over their territory, avoid them taking a shot at your airplane. With respect to syria, i think they would be foolish they dont need to be told to deconflict. They would be foolish to take on the United States air force. The president wants 500 million from congress to equip the free syrian army, among others. A lot of people in the Obama Administration, Hillary Clinton among them, wanted to do that a couple of years or so ago. The president rejected that advice. You were still in the white house. Where did you stand on that . I dont want to get into that. I can say this, thats part of the plan that the president s put forward here. The comprehensive persistent longterm plan to take on isis and to take it down. By bolstering the moderate syrian army, the rebels . It means bolstering up the Iraqi Armed Forces that fared very poorly in their initial encounter with isis. Well work with them very deeply. Well also build out other forces in iraq of the national guard, sunni operations sunni militias . Sunni militias. Theyll be the the last time they did that with the sunni militias, they paid them is that what they want to do . Pay these militia tribesmen to fight isis . No one wants to live under an isiscontrolled protostate. They have built out now. Theyre working to build out. Hopefully a unity government in baghdad to which the sunnis can feel more comfortable working, unlike the maliki government which essentially developed such animosity with the sunnis, it provided a clear path for the isis group to come in and move lets hope the new Prime Minister is better than maliki if not, this is going to be a disaster. The Ground Forces will be principally iraqi and kurdish and sunni militia forces on the ground. With respect to the syrians, the administration is seeking 500 million to really expand the training of those groups. Should it have been done two years ago . The administration has been working on this project to try to find moderate elements and the groups to work with inside syria. We now have a threat here. Today in paris, 26 countries now 40 countries joining the coalition. This is important, its not just the United States versus this islamic group. In fact, its the United States, a global group, including a number of arab groups, against this group. Thats an important one final question, iran. The iranians have rejected u. S. Repeated offers to be cooperative in this war against isis. The u. S. Is reaching out to iran. But iran is saying, no. What do you make of that . I dont know any details with respect to a reachout by the United States to the iranians. The iranians keep saying wendy sherman, the secretary of state, other u. S. Officials have said, lets work together. And the ayatollah says, no way. Theres deep distrust between the United States and iran. Were trying to work through some of that in the Nuclear Negotiations. I would not want to have the Nuclear Negotiations infected by anything iran might do or might not do with respect to isis. You couldnt have had this meeting today with a broad base of arab and muslim support for the antiisis coalition if the iranians were there. They wouldnt come they hate the iranians . They werent going to show up. And third, the iranians have been terrible players in syria and throughout the region. Doesnt surprise me, frankly. Tom donilon, thanks for coming in. Coming up, disturbing questions about an accused killers inspiration. Is he also a jihadistinspired man, committed to hatred of the United States . Also, new outrage and new questions in ferguson, missouri, after a newspaper reveals why Michael Browns body s