[Blitzer:] Now to the war against ISIS. Egypt says its warplanes have, again, struck 10 ISIS targets in Libya. The bombing raids in Derna were in retaliation for the savage killing of 21 Egyptian Christians who were living and working in Libya. Egypt says its fighter jets carried out strikes based on what they call accurate intelligence and targets included ISIS training and storage locations. But an umbrella group of Islamist militias tells a different story. That group claims women and children were killed when the Egyptian air strikes hit civilian areas. CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims. The trigger for the air strikes was an ISIS video showing the apparent beheading of about a dozen Egyptian Christians. Egypt says that all 21 Christians were killed by ISIS in Libya. Our correspondent Ian Lee joins us now from the Egyptian town where some of the Egyptian Christians lived earlier. Ian, what are you learning about these men, who they were, why they traveled to Libya?
[Ian Lee, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, this is a very poor town and it is a close-knit town. Many of the people living there are related. Thirteen of the men in that video were beheaded. Everyone in that village is grieving. Why they go there is that there aren't job opportunities here in Egypt for them. They seek a better life, better wages in Libya to bring it back and start families. Many of the people we talked to, we're talking about either supporting their children or trying to start a family. And that's why they were going to Libya. I talked to one man who was actually with those 13 that were kidnapped when it actually happened, he ran into ISIS himself. He tells me that when the ISIS militants stormed their apartment complex, there was a man, a local man at gunpoint pointing out where the Christians were staying. He said he didn't answer his door when the militants knocked. But his nephews and his cousin opened their door. Right next door, he said there was a crack in the wall that he could see the militants walking into the room, grabbing them and taking them away. And he said if it weren't for the fact that this created a lot of commotion, more Christians from this apartment complex would have been taken away, though he does feel a lot of guilt, his family he felt like he has needed to protect these boys. But he says he really couldn't be a hero. He would have just been another victim if he had been. He said the one thing, though, that does give him comfort is he knows the the name of God was on their lips when they died, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] And Egyptian officials say they're going to continue these air strikes, pounding ISIS targets in Libya. Ian Lee, thanks very much. At the White House earlier, the White House right now, I should say, they're talking about fighting terrorism before it takes root. Some 60 nations are sending high-level representatives to a three-day White House summit. This new poll, by the way, shows most Americans say Congress should give President Obama the legal authority to wage war against ISIS. The CNNORC poll shows nearly four out of five people in the United States want lawmakers to give want lawmakers to give the president the power to use military force. That shows a slight decline in support since December. Our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us now. Jim, when it comes down to the use of ground combat troops against ISIS, this new poll shows the American public is largely divided.
[Jim Acosta, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] That's right. And that is no surprise, Wolf, after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the public is not in the mood to get back into a huge ground war in the Middle East. But let's put these numbers up on screen because there is something interesting to point out, Wolf. While you do mention, yes, the public largely against this, it says 47 percent in favor, 50 percent opposed. Look at the number in November, 43 percent in favor, 55 percent oppose. So you do see a movement in the direction of perhaps favoring the use of ground forces in Iraq to fight ISIS. And I think that is interesting to see that kind of movement. You mentioned the summit that's being held over here at the White House to counter violent extremism, that is the other side of the coin here for this administration. They believe very strongly that when this war against ISIS that you're basically going to have to do more than drop bombs on targets in Iraq and in Syria, you're going to have to attack this problem at the root. And that means going after these communities with a different kind of message. And we're going to be hearing more about that over the next several days. The vice president is speaking today. President Obama will be speaking tomorrow and the next day. And the reason why they're doing that is because the president feels very strongly, Wolf, that this is not a war against radical Islam. He's gotten in some hot water over that. A lot of Republicans disagree with that message. But that is the message we're going to be hearing about all week.
[Blitzer:] We certainly are. We're going to be covering it. We'll see what the vice president says today. And we'll certainly cover what the president has to say tomorrow. Thanks very much, Jim Acosta. When we come back, our new poll, for the first time, we're releasing new numbers on the prime minister of Israel's expected visit to the United States on March 3rd to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. Did the Republican leadership, John Boehner, the speaker of the House, do the right thing by inviting the prime minister to Washington without getting that cleared by the president of the United States in advance? We have new poll numbers on how the American public feels.