Looking at Assad and saying maybe he ’s better than the kind of people that we ’re supposed to be backing . And I think Russia can be a positive force and an ally . But , you know , whether you like Saddam Hussein or not , he used to kill life.die.deathcausedbyviolentevents terrorists . NERMEEN SHAIKH : Glenn Greenwald , in one of your recent articles , you suggest that Hillary Clinton has demonstrated comparable support for what you call , quote , " the world ’s worst despots . " GLENN GREENWALD : Well , two things .

Story Continued Below No one knows this better than Gary Berntsen , the CIA officer in charge of the operation at Tora Bora who , with the Afghan forces he commanded , had managed to trap the chief perpetrator of 9/11 , Osama bin Laden , and his fellow terrorists in their mountain redoubt in mid - December of 2001 , only two months after 9/11 . With a Delta Force officer standing by his side , Berntsen drafted a message to his superiors back in Washington that he told me ended with this line : “ Let ’s kill life.die.deathcausedbyviolentevents this baby in the crib . ” Berntsen wanted to send in troops — fewer than 1,000 Army Rangers — who could have closed the noose ( his position was backed by Marine Gen. James Mattis , who wanted to send in his own troops ) , but George W. Bush , on the advice of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney , turned him down , believing that Pakistani forces would trap bin Laden as the Afghans forced him southward into Pakistan . ( In fact , the Pakistanis were likely helping bin Laden to escape . ) Other opportunities presented themselves in the months that followed , in places like Shahikot .

The Islamic State group ’s branch in the Northern Caucasus region of Russia released a video Saturday that showed the execution of an alleged Russian spy . The new ISIS video reportedly called on Russian Muslims to “ kill life.die.na apostates ” in the country and threatened to carry out an attack on President Vladimir Putin . In the video , which was released on social media , the group ’s militants in Chechen — commonly referred to as Chechnya — urged Muslims in Russia to join ISIS ’ fight against the West , claiming that " the Caliphate is already here , ” according to the Jerusalem Post . The video reportedly begins with a news report being broadcast on a Russian TV channel about a car bombing that hit the town of Dzhemikent in Dagestan province on Feb. 15 , killing two Russian police officers .