Good morning everyone! Happy Friday to you!

Joining the panelists today on the latest developments in Paris, Mali and more are Claudio Lavagna, Mark Halperin, Sam Stein, Ron Fournier, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Chris Jansing, Graeme Wood, Bob Woodward, Chuck Todd, Bianna Golodryga, Sen. John Thune, Kim Ghattas, Rep. Martha McSally, Fmr. Gov. Martin O’Malley, Jon Meacham and more.

Please stay tuned for my article about the Doklphin hunt and captures this season off the Coast and in Taji, Japan. I hope to have it hit the Sunday News wires for release next week!

BREAKING: Radisson Hotel in Mali attacked by gunmen.
Gunmen took at least 170 people hostage at a Radisson Blu hotel in the former French colony of Mali Friday, U.S. Embassy officials and a hotel spokesman told NBC News. Mali hotel hostage siege live: Gunmen release captives 'if they can recite the Quran' in Bamako
  • Armed gunmen have stormed a luxury hotel in Mali’s capitalBamako
  • Around 170 people, 140 guests and 30 staff, are being held hostage
  • The north of the current has been plagued by instability, with various militant groups attacking government and UN forces since 2012
This is what we know so far about the hostages being held in the hotel.
  • The hotel has released a statement confirming that 140 guests and 30 staff are believed to have been inside the building when the attack occured.
  • Seven Chinese people - thought to be in Bamako on business - are thought to be inside
  • Indian officials have said around 20 Indian nationals are inside
  • Around 20 hostages are reported to have either escaped or been freed
  • There have been reports that the gunmen have herded the remaining hostages into the basement
Gunmen have stormed a luxury hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako, taking as many as 170 people hostage and potentially killing five.

The Radisson Blu hotel, to the west of the centre of the city, is believed to have been “90 per cent full” when the two gunmen stormed the building.

A security source told AFP the attack was unfolding “on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor”. Additional reports from local media indicated an explosion may have been heard, with district residents reporting hearing on-going gunfire.

Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore told the Associated Press as many as 10 gunmen were involved in the assault.

Mr Traore also claimed the men shouted “Allah Akbar” before they fired on the guards and took hostages.

A hotel spokesperson confirmed they were aware of the hostage situation, and that they believed 140 guests had been “locked inside” with around 30 members of staff.

The Latest withrgeard to the attacks in Paris last Friday: Police in Rotterdam detain 3 people. A French soldier patrols near the church of Sacre Coeur, on top of Montmartre hill, in Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban Paris apartment where the suspected mastermind of last week's attacks was believed to be holed up, police said.

Hasna Aitboulahcen: Profile of the West's first female suicide bomber. Hasna Aitboulachcen, 26, is believed to have died inside a Paris flat during a police raid on Wednesday
The woman who detonated an explosive device after a siege with French police has become the first female suicide bomber in France’s history.

Hasna Aitboulachcen, 26, is believed to have detonated explosives when officers entered the flat in the Paris district of Saint Denis on Wednesday following an manhunt for the perpetrators of Friday’s night’s attacks that killed almost 130 people in the French capital.

In her final moments she apparently screamed at police to “help me, help me,” but video also purports to show her shouting at officers that a man also inside the flat was not her boyfriend.

Details about Aitboulachcen remain scarce. French media have reported she was born in France in 1989 and raised by her mother in Paris.

Later, neighbours of the young women in Cretzwald, Moselle, told reporters she was an “outgoing” woman who drank alcohol, referred to as “the cowboy woman” because of a hat she wore, and was described as “a little clueless”.
She reportedly worked in a construction company in Epinay sur Seine until 2012. Investigators suspect her of being the cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

Police conducted a mass search in Cretzwald, Moselle, where she is believed to have paid regular visits, in an attempt to learnmore about her.

It is believed her father was a resident in the town and still has an apartment there; according to neighbours he has been in Morocco for the past six months.

According to the Républicain Lorrain, she was last mentioned in public records in May 2013.

Aitboulachcen’s decision to detonate her device follows a slight shift in Isis commands. In 2010 then-leader Omar al-Baghdadi said women could not carry out suicide attacks, but his decree appeared to have been rolled back by the terror group’s later leaders, who said in October it was acceptable for a woman to blow themselves up if they were raided in their own home.

Boko Haram has used young women and girls to stage attacks, reportedly against their will, and most recently earlier this week when two women detonated explosives when they entered a marketplace in the northern city of Kano.

Around a dozen Palestinian female fighters have conducted suicide attacks since 2002, according to Associated Press. Sanaa Mheidly, 17, was the first known woman in the Arab world to carry out such an attack. 

Security measures increased across Europe in light of Paris attacks. 
Security measures increased across Europe in light of Paris attacks
Fear and trepidation, rather than excitement and thrills, may grip fans when Europe's domestic soccer leagues resume this weekend in the wake of deadly terror attacks in Paris.

Real Madrid against Barcelona would normally be hailed as a tantalizing encounter featuring the world's best attacking talent; while in Turin, Juventus vs. AC Milan is usually a much-talked about clash between Italy's two most storied sides.

Instead, these matches crystalize fears surrounding the weekend's games, with security around stadiums at a maximum in exceptionally somber circumstances.

"You have a bit more of a question of security because it looks like it's not the end of it, in France especially," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who is French. "A way for us (to overcome it) is just to get on with life and respond in a positive way to the situation."

But cities, not just teams and stadiums, will be on red alert amid fears of fresh attacks. Instead of being festive, the atmosphere is likely to be watchful. Intense rivalries, such as Spain's clasico, fade in significance, as does whether Barcelona star Lionel Messi returns from injury to face Madrid archrival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Italy goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain, lost two friends in the attacks that killed 129 and summed up the anxious mood.

"It's an attack on our way of lives," Sirigu said. "The fear concerns all of us, not just those of us who have to return to Paris."

Fans have a far greater civic duty than usual. Everyone will be asked to be on their best behavior for fear of causing panic and confusion in others, so flares and pyrotechnic displays - a spectacular sight at many Italian games among their largely self-governing tifosi — are not welcome.

But it's also about clubs reassuring fans with stringent security measures, as John Beattie, the European Stadium & Safety Management Association's president, explains.

"What most clubs should be doing is showing a much more visual deterrent, making things a lot more obvious," Beattie told The Associated Press by telephone. "The public would like to see it more visible, just for more of a confidence factor on their part."

Beattie could not reveal much about extra security measures, although fans being searched twice is one possibility.

"If you tried to do that in a normal sort of climate you'd probably get the fans going 'Oh, why have I got to be searched again?'" Beattie told The AP. "But you tend to hope that their mentality at the present time is 'I want to feel safe, therefore the more safety ... I've got to go through, the better I'm going to feel.'"

SPAIN
Spanish authorities have declared Saturday's game between Real Madrid and Barcelona a high-risk event with unprecedented security measures at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Following meetings, officials said nearly 1,500 private security agents and at least 1,000 police officers will be on site — double the usual presence for high-risk games.

The safety net will stretch far, as there will be several security zones in place outside the stadium to keep those without tickets away from the 81,000-capacity venue.

Security officials are confident that the measures will be enough to guarantee safety and have asked fans to trust their local police.

The Bernabeau should be well prepared, if previous experience is anything to go by, since it has been targeted by extremists in the past.

In May 2002, a bomb from Basque separatist group ETA exploded near the venue hours before a Champions League semifinal against Barcelona, slightly injuring 17 people.

In 2004, the stadium was evacuated because of a bomb threat late into a game against Basque side Real Sociedad.

FRANCE
Tensions would have been higher if Paris Saint-Germain was playing at home, but the defending champion is playing away in Brittany against Lorient.

That offers some relief, given how stretched police forces are in the French capital following Friday's deadly attacks, which began with explosions outside the Stade de France, where France played Germany.

Arsene Wenger, who was supposed to attend the game. "I was late (for an) appointment and was late going to the stadium so I decided to stay and watch the game inside the hotel."

Although PSG is away, one second division match will take place on the Paris outskirts when Creteil faces Nancy on Friday night.

The weekend finishes with a high-profile match between Saint-Etienne and Marseille, a match where tensions between fans sometimes runs high.

France's secretary of sport Thierry Braillard will attend a security briefing there before the game, also because Saint-Etienne's Geoffroy Guichard stadium is hosting games at next year's European Championship.

Extra security measures include metal detectors at stadium entrances and more thorough bag searches.

To help out overworked police forces, there will be no away fans at any top French games this weekend.

ENGLAND
The English Premier League is the most popular league in the world and says "clearly there is a heightened sense of awareness that clubs and fans must be sensitive to" after the Paris attacks.

The league has been in consultation with police and security advisers, as well as the British government, and a full briefing was provided to the 20 clubs on Wednesday. That included a detailing of the current threat level, which the league says remains unchanged.

English fans travel in their droves, and Manchester United's fans are likely to be numerous for the trip to Watford just outside the capital.

In west London Chelsea faces Norwich and Chelsea will be increasing its security controls inside and around Stamford Bridge, requesting supporters avoid bringing bags.

The EPL said in a statement that each club will liaise with its local police force "to ensure that appropriate arrangements are maintained and delivered in the context of the guidance provided by national security services."

Golden Globe winning actor Idris Elba discusses his expectations for Arsenal in the Barclays Premier League and explains why he's enjoying Jose Mourinho's struggles with Chelsea.

ITALY
The biggest match this weekend features AC Milan at four-time defending champion Juventus in Turin on Saturday — a clash between Italy's most decorated sides.

"(Last weekend) we had 20,000 football matches and nothing happened," Italian football federation president Carlo Tavecchio said, referring to lower-division and other games. "There are 15,000 stadiums. Football won't stop."

Enormous banners, flares and pyrotechnic displays are commonplace in Italy — even though there is a largely-ignored ban on such displays.

Sunday's biggest game will be in Milan, where Inter faces Frosinone at the 80,000-capacity San Siro.

It comes days after the U.S. State Department issued a warning that Milan's cathedral and La Scala opera house had been identified as "potential targets."

GERMANY
The Bundesliga is going on despite what authorities say was a very specific threat to attack the Germany-Netherlands friendly in Hannover on Tuesday night, canceled at short notice after police received concrete evidence that someone wanted to set off an explosive device in the stadium.

USA's Steve Cherundolo, Hannover coach, speaks on HDI Arena threat by Liviu Bird Team officials say Germany players were shaken to be involved in another scare, following the explosions outside Stade de France.

Clubs were stepping up security measures, and although they were not giving details, more security personnel and closer body inspections are expected.

Bayern Munich warned fans that new, unspecified measures could lead to longer lines and that they should arrive earlier.
Officials also appealed to fans not to smuggle in fireworks because bangs could trigger panic and a stampede.

BELGIUM
The Belgian league will also be on high alert, after Belgium's friendly match against Spain in Brussels on Tuesday night was cancelled after the government raised the security threat level.

by SI Wire Belgium has also been affected by terrorism. Security forces hunting the Paris attackers have detained nine people during as many raids in and around Brussels relating to the Paris attacks. Two suspectsare already in custody charged with terrorist murder and belonging to a terrorist group.

Clubs like Lokeren, Club Bruges or La Gantoise have announced specific measures.

Bags are not allowed into stadiums, there will be increased body searches and gates will be opened earlier.

As precautionary measures, Brussels-based Anderlecht cancelled its club day for young fans on Sunday and Charleroi switched its winter training camp from Turkey to Portugal.

TURKEY
On the same night British and French soccer fans sang the French national anthem together in solidarity for victims of the Paris attacks, some Turkish fans disrupted the national anthem of their Greek rivals and booed during a moment of silence for the 129 people killed. The contrast vividly illustrated what has been a decidedly ambivalent reaction in Turkey, France's NATO ally.

The ugly incident unfolded as the prime ministers of Turkey and Greece attended the match together as part of efforts to overcome strained ties. It drew unequivocal criticism from government officials, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appealed for soul-searching, though he only mentioned the interruption of the national anthem. He said the incident reflected "a few hundred irresponsible people" who he accused of tarnishing Turkey's traditional reputation for showing hospitality to visitors.

Other officials condemned the interruption of the moment of silence that included nationalist chants and scattered calls of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great." Officials have scrambled to avoid a repeat in future games.

During the incident at Istanbul's Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium Tuesday night, team captain and Barcelona midfielder Arda tried in vain to silence the crowd.

"What has happened to us?" Turkish national team manager Fatih Terim asked in despair in a news conference after the game that ended in a 0-0 draw.

Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained in graphics
Composite image showing three different lots of migrants
Vast numbers of migrants have made their way across the Mediterranean to Europe in 2015, sparking a crisis as countries struggle to cope with the influx, and creating division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling people.

How many people are coming?
More than 750,000 migrants are estimated to have arrived by sea so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), but exact numbers are unclear as some may have passed through borders undetected.

One way to measure where migrants have ended up is through asylum applications. Although not all of those arriving claim asylum, over 700,000 have done so, according to the EU statistics agency, Eurostat.

Germany continues to be the most popular destination for migrants arriving in Europe. It has received the highest number of new asylum applications, with more than 331,000 by the end of October.

Hungary has moved into second place, as more migrants have tried to make the journey overland through Greece and the Western Balkans. It had 143,070 applications by the end of August.
Map of asylum claims in 2015
Although Germany has had the most asylum applications in 2015, the surge of people arriving in Hungary meant it had the highest in proportion to its population.

More than 1,450 refugees per 100,000 of Hungary's local population claimed asylum in the first half of 2015. The figure for Germany was 323 and for the UK it was 30 applications for every 100,000 residents.
Asylum applications per 100,000 local population
Where do the migrants come from?
The conflict in Syria continues to be by far the biggest driver of the migration. But the ongoing violence in Afghanistan, abuses in Eritrea, as well as poverty in Kosovo are also leading people to look for new lives elsewhere.
Chart showing origin of asylum seekers
Resettlement plan
Tensions in the EU have been rising because of the disproportionate burden faced by some countries, particularly Greece, Italy and Hungary where migrants have been arriving by boat and overland.

In September, EU ministers voted by a majority to relocate 120,000 refugees EU-wide, but for now the plan will only apply to 66,000 who are in Italy and Greece.

The other 54,000 were to be moved from Hungary, but now this number will be held "in reserve", until the governments decide where they should go.
chart showing number of migrants EU countries will accept
The UK has opted out of any plans for a quota system and, according to Home Office figures, has resettled 216 Syrian refugees under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme since it began in January 2014. Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK will accept up to 20,000 refugees from Syria over the next five years.

Granting asylum
Although huge numbers have been applying for asylum, the number of people being given asylum is far lower.
In 2014, EU countries offered asylum to 184,665 refugees. In the same year, more than 570,000 migrants applied for asylum - although applying for asylum can be a lengthy procedure so many of those given refugee status may have applied in previous years.
Chart showing approved asylum applications
There were more than 25,000 asylum applications in the UK in the 12 months up to June 2015. Most applications are typically rejected and in 2014, more than 60% of initial decisions on asylum applications were refusals.

In the same period, 6,788 asylum seekers and their dependents were removed or departed voluntarily from the UK.

How do migrants get to Europe?
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 750,000 migrants were detected at the EU's borders between January and November 2015, compared with 280,000 detections for the whole of 2014. The figures do not include those who got in undetected.

The EU's external border force, Frontex, monitors the different routes migrants use and numbers arriving at Europe's borders and put the figure crossing into Europe this year at more than 710,000.
A map showing movements of migrants in Europe
The eastern Mediterranean route has overtaken the central route as the most commonly used this year - with Syrians forming by far the largest migrant group
Most of those heading for Greece take the relatively short voyage from Turkey to the islands of Kos, Chios, Lesvos and Samos - often in flimsy rubber dinghies or small wooden boats.

How many migrants die?
The voyage from Libya to Italy is longer and more hazardous. According to the IOM, more than 2,800 migrants are reported to have died trying to make the crossing this year - altogether, 3,406 people have died in the Mediterranean in 2015.
Chart and map showing numbers who have died in the Mediterranean this year
The summer months are usually when most fatalities occur as it is the busiest time for migrants attempting to reach Europe.

But so far this year the deadliest month for migrants was April, which saw a boat carrying about 800 migrants capsize in the sea off Libya. Overcrowding is thought to have been one of the reasons for the disaster.
Migrant deaths in Mediterranean by month
Impact of the Syrian crisis
Asylum applications from Syrians in Europe have surged in 2015, fuelled by the country's vicious civil war which began more than four years ago and shows no sign of ending.

The vast majority of refugees have fled to neighbouring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, and the number of Syrians there far outweighs those who have made the difficult journey to Europe.
Map: Syrian asylum claims in Europe and registered refugees in the Middle East
Migrants redistributed within Germany
Germany is currently the preferred destination for tens of thousands of migrants in central Europe. More than 800,000 people are expected to claim asylum there this year, four times the figure for 2014.

Germany has a quota system which redistributes asylum seekers around its federal states based on their tax income and existing population density.
Map: Distribution of asylum seekers across German states
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

The House Just Voted to Make It a Lot Harder for Syrian Refugees to Enter the US.

Responding to increased fears of terrorism in the United States following the Paris attacks, the House of Representatives passed a Republican-backed bill Thursday that would temporarily freeze Syrian and Iraqi refugees' entry into the United States and revamp the vetting process. The bill passed 289 to 137, with near-unanimous support from Republicans and 47 Democrats backing the measure.

"We cannot afford to play Russian roulette with our national security," Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who was one of the bill's sponsors, said Wednesday. In a hearing before the vote on Thursday, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said he was afraid of a foreign policy "that creates more widows and orphans," responding to President Barack Obama's comment that those who advocate denying refugees entry to the United States are "scared of widows and three-year-old orphans."

Dubbed the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act, the bill calls for "supplemental certifications and background investigations" of refugees from Iraq and Syria, which the bill's sponsors argue would go a long way to prevent terrorists from slipping into the United States disguised as refugees.

The bill "would immediately shut down resettlement of refugees from the Syria and Iraq region," Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Wednesday. "This rash reaction ignores the fact that all of the Paris attackers identified thus far are either French or Belgian, and that many terrorist threats are homegrown." A Syrian passport was discovered by the body of one of the Paris attackers, but French officials said soon afterward that it was a forgery.

The bill does not explicitly halt admission of Syrian refugees, a response that some Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), called for this week. But it does require additional vetting of refugees by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, without specifying the procedures. Implementing the bill "would cause a pause" in the admission of refugees, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters.

It would also increase the FBI's role in the screening process and require the secretary of homeland security, the FBI director, and the director of national intelligence to personally certify to Congress that each individual refugee is "not a threat" to the United States.

Opponents of the bill argue that the vetting process is already extensive, and even more so for refugees from Syria, who must pass an additional layer of screenings. The screening process for Syrian refugees hoping to enter the United States already takes between 18 months and three years, officials from the Obama administration said on a conference call this week. The United States has admitted fewer than 2,200 refugees since the country's civil war broke out in 2011.

Senate Democrats are likely to block the bill, but it could spark a battle in Congress during the budget fight in December.

Obama has pledged to veto the bill if it crosses his desk. The White House said in a statement that the bill would "unacceptably hamper our efforts to assist some of the most vulnerable people in the world, many of whom are victims of terrorism."

In September, Obama announced that the United States would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year. 

Donald Trump Says He's Open to Requiring American Muslims to Carry Special IDs. What could possibly go wrong?

Amid growing concern following last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, including calls from 30 governors to halt the relocation of Syrian refugees, Republican front-runner Donald Trump has taken things a step further.

In an interview with Yahoo, Trump explained that the United States would have to implement new and draconian strategies to protect the homeland.

"We're going to have to do things that we never did before," he said. "And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule.  And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we're going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago."

What type of unthinkable things is Trump—who has also floated the idea of shuttering certain mosques—proposing? He says he's potentially open to the creation of a database to track Muslim citizens, or requiring that Muslim Americans carry a special form of identification noting their faith.

It is worth pointing out that of the 745,000 refugees resettled in the United States since the September 11 terrorist attacks, only two have been arrested on terrorism-related charges, and in that case they were allegedly trying to aid Al Qaeda in Iraq.
CHRIS MCGRATH/GETTY IMAGES NEWS/GETTY IMAGES
Barack Obama: US President Will Veto House Bill to Increase Refugee Screenings, White House Says. The bill "would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people," the White House said. The House passed the bill Thursday with widespread Republican support.

Why More Airstrikes (alone) Won’t Beat ISIS. Within hours of the end of the terror attacks in Paris, French warplanes were bombing ISIS targets in and around the proto-state’s self-declared capital of Raqqa in north-central Syria. While the world nodded approvingly at the swift retaliation, it overlooked a key point: the targets had little to do with the horrors France had just suffered.

That’s the challenge posed by ISIS. Like a fire that self-combusts, ISIS can’t be extinguished by bombing it into oblivion and severing communications links to its distant outposts. Instead of copper wire, fiber optics or radio waves carrying orders to faraway fighters, it simply sends exhortations to any wannabe jihadist with a smart phone.

It’s the kindling that fuels ISIS that needs to be removed. That’s going to take years, if not decades, Pentagon officials say. But military action can still play an important role: whenever ISIS is forced into a defensive crouch, it’s less likely to be able to foment attacks far from its home base. And if the central fire can be put out—like the allies vanquished Hitler and Tojo in World War II—the belief is that the remaining embers will eventually burn themselves out, too.
Following Friday’s attacks in France that killed at least 129 people, a new debate has erupted inside the U.S. government: Should Washington step up its military offense, alongside NATO and perhaps even Russia, to destroy ISIS, before ISIS attacks the U.S.? Or should it double-down on defense, relying on increased intelligence, air strikes and new barriers to immigration to thwart attacks on the homeland? Any revamped strategy will involve elements of both, largely because defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria is going to take years and require both offensive and defense tactics.

Since the attacks, calls have mounted for the U.S. to seize the offense against ISIS, which French leaders blamed for the Paris attacks. ISIS also has taken responsibility for recent attacks on a Russian airliner over Egypt, and in Beirut, that have killed hundreds more. James Stavridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral who served as NATO’s top commander from 2009 to 2013, said the alliance should go to war to defeat ISIS.

“The Islamic State is an apocalyptic organization overdue for eradication” by NATO’s 3 million troops, 25,000 aircraft and 800 warships, he wrote in Foreign Policy. “There is a time for soft power and playing the long game in the Middle East, but there is also a time for the ruthless application of hard power.” Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine general who served as chief of U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000, would like to see a 10,000-strong U.S. ground force attack ISIS, aided by tens of thousands of local troops.
President Obama isn’t biting. “We are going to continue to pursue the strategy that has the best chance of working, even though it does not offer the satisfaction, I guess, of a neat headline or an immediate resolution,” he said Monday in Turkey.

“On the military front, we are continuing to accelerate what we do,” he added. But he firmly rejected the idea of sending large numbers of U.S. ground troops to fight ISIS. “It is not just my view, but the view of my closest military and civilian advisers that that would be a mistake,” Obama said. “Not because our military could not march into Mosul or Raqqa or Ramadi and temporarily clear out ISIL, but because we would see a repetition of what we’ve seen before, which is if you do not have local populations that are committed to inclusive governance, and who are pushing back against ideological extremes, that they resurface unless we’re prepared to have a permanent occupation of these countries.”

Senior military leaders—tapped by Obama for their posts—have gone along with his incremental approach. At his confirmation hearing to serve as the nation’s top military officer in July, Marine General Joseph Dunford said the military, by itself, cannot destroy ISIS. “This is a long-term endeavor,” he said shortly before his confirmation as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “This is on the order of years and not months.” Beyond military might, he said it will take local ground forces, effective local governments, a halt in ISIS financing and tighter borders in the region to prevail—a tall order for a region wracked by instability.

U.S. firepower against ISIS since the American attacks began in August 2014 have been more of a “desert drizzle” than a Desert Storm, according to retired Air Force lieutenant general David Deptula, who ran the Air Force’s targeting campaign during that 1991 conflict with Iraq. Through the end of October, U.S. Central Command figures show, the U.S. and its allies have dropped 28,578 weapons—67 a day—on ISIS targets. “I’ve always been skeptical of the claim that airpower alone can solve such problems, but to be fair, airpower isn’t getting a fair trial,” says Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and military expert. “This isn’t an air campaign—it’s a political campaign that burns a lot of jet fuel.”

But while it’s hardly an all-out air war, in part that’s due to the dearth of targets ISIS has, and the U.S. unwillingness to risk civilian casualties. Through Nov. 13, U.S. and allied airpower has damaged or destroyed 16,075 ISIS targets, including 129 tanks and 356 Humvees (many captured by ISIS when it seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Iraqi army in June 2014). The rest of the targets claimed by Central Command—staging areas, buildings and fighting positions—are of dubious military utility and easily replaced.

U.S. warplanes are carrying out about 78% of the attacks, with the rest coming from allies including France, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The allies are also dropping more bombs per mission: last year, 31% of the warplanes that flew over ISIS targets dropped bombs or fired missiles; this year the share has risen to 46%. In October, the bomb drop averaged 86 per day, more than four times the number France reportedly dropped in its first wave of strikes following the attacks on Paris.

The Pentagon also has deployed about 3,500 troops to the region, including about 50 teaming with Kurdish forces in northern Syria. That deployment follows a failed year-long U.S. effort to train moderate Syrian rebels outside the country to fight ISIS while pledging not to go after Syrian President Bashar Assad. He’s the dictator whose family’s 40-year reign sparked the four-year-old civil war that has killed 250,000 and sent 4 million refugees fleeing Syria. The rest of the 3,500 U.S. troops are in Iraq, training and advising an Iraqi army that U.S. taxpayers already spent $25 billion training and advising from 2003 to 2011.

Some military experts insist more U.S. troops isn’t the answer. “Whenever anybody talks about boots on the ground, they don’t know what they’re talking about, and they are dangerously irresponsible, or stupid,” says Anthony Cordesman, a military strategist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The U.S. has been steadily improving its efforts at counter-terrorism since 9/11.”
In the wake of the Paris attacks, the U.S. military’s role is likely to be more of the same, Pentagon officials say. Absent an Obama change of heart against putting U.S. boots on the ground, there will be increased air strikes in and around Raqqa, a likely loosening of some bombing restrictions that could lead to more civilian casualties, and more special operations to track down and kill ISIS leaders.

The Pentagon made clear just how little is changing in its first announcement on a change in U.S. strategy wrought by Paris. “In the wake of the recent attack on France, we stand strong and firm with our oldest ally, which is why the U.S. and France have decided to bolster our intelligence sharing,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement on Monday. “New instructions” from Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Jim Clapper, the director of national intelligence, “will enable U.S. military personnel to more easily share operational planning information and intelligence with our French counterparts on a range of shared challenges to the fullest extent allowed by existing law and policy.”

That may seem like a frustratingly inadequate tweak (“to the fullest extent allowed by existing law and policy” makes it sound more like a limited lifetime warranty on a kitchen appliance than a clash of civilizations) given the Paris attacks, but over-reaction can do just as much harm. “We’ve been trying to figure out how military power can sort out the larger parts of the Islamic world for 35 years, and we’re no closer to finding a solution than we were back when Jimmy Carter set us off on this road,” Andrew Bacevich, a retired Army colonel who opposes sending in more ground troops, says. “Frankly, we’ve made things worse."

Ben Carson: screen Syrian refugees like they might be rabid dogs. Republican presidential hopeful condemned after suggesting US needs to ‘determine who the mad dogs are’ so they can’t ‘run around the neighborhood’.
The Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has said that blocking potential terrorists posing as Syrian refugees from entering the US was akin to handling a rabid dog.

At campaign stops in Alabama, Carson said halting Syrian resettlement in the US doesn’t mean America lacks compassion.

“If there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog,” Carson told reporters at one stop.

“It doesn’t mean you hate all dogs, but you’re putting your intellect into motion.”

Carson said that to “protect my children” he would “call the humane society and hopefully they can come take this dog away and create a safe environment once again”.

“By the same token, we have to have in place screening mechanisms that allow us to determine who the mad dogs are, quite frankly. Who are the people who want to come in here and hurt us and want to destroy us?”

He later repeated the comparison at a rally at the University of South Alabama, while telling hundreds of supporters that reporters had misrepresented his earlier remarks. “This is the kind of thing that they do,” he said, drawing laughs and applause.

Carson is among the GOP hopefuls who have called for closing the nation’s borders to Syrian refugees in the wake of the shooting and bombing attacks in Paris that killed 129 people and wounded hundreds more. The Islamic State terror group has claimed responsibility, stoking fears of future attacks across Europe and in the US.

The Council on American-Islamic relations condemned Carson’s dog comparisons and at the same time blasted another GOP hopeful, Donald Trump, for declining to rule out setting up a US government database and special identification cards for Muslims in America. 

“Such extremist rhetoric is unbecoming of anyone who seeks our nation’s highest office and must be strongly repudiated by leaders from across the political spectrum,” said Robert McCaw’s, CAIR’s government affairs manager.

In Mobile, Carson said: “Islam itself is not necessarily our adversary.” But Americans were justified in seeing threats from Muslim refugees and the US shouldn’t “completely change who we are as Americans just so we can look like good people”.

He continued: “We have an American culture, and we have things that we base our values and principles on. I, for one, am not willing to give all those things away just so I can be politically correct.”

Mike is off today from the Morning Joe set, however is at her Know Your Value event that starts up again today in Orlando, Florida (http://www.msnbc.com/know-your-value). 

Welcome to Know Your Value. The live events are coming to Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, Boston, and Orlando in 2015 - select your city below to purchase tickets and find out more about the movement. ”
Regardless of it all this week, please stay in touch!