iraq. over the weekend american airstrikes pounded areas excellently taken over by the islamic state. the u.s. military also air dropped humanitarian aid, including food and water. >> this is humanitarian issue of great consequence for all the world, and i think great powers understand that they have responsibility in these areas. >> reporter: thousands of yazidis who have been told by the islamic state that they have to convert to islam or be killed were saved by helps after taking refuge on sinjar mountain. the yazidis are finding safety in kurdish regions as the kurdish army has been at the forefront of battling the islamic state. >> i walk by foot from sinjar mountain to syria. >> as the fighting continues in the north the political in-fight something far from resolved. the prime minister designate haider al abadi has one month to form a government. >> so will nouri al-maliki step down or tighten his grip on power. what does that mean for a power change in baghdad, and how will that imp

iraq he security force. if that requires the support of the american military, that a support that we are ready to offer. but we will not offer it in the form of a prolonged military conflict that involves the united states of america. and it will not involve american troops returning in a combat role. border patrol data show a decline in the number of apprehended at the border illegally and adults as well. how does i didn't factor into the president's thinking and acting unilaterally to address the situation? >> the first thing about the data that is important to understand is we have seen a downward trend over the last for six weeks -- four to six weeks. however, it is important to understand that, compared to a even ago -- a year ago or two years ago, there are still apprehensions taking place at an elevated rate. so while they have come down from the peak we saw earlier this summer, the rate is still toh when you compare it broader historical trends. the second point i wanted to make on this committee hi

iraq. the president of the united states has authorized air strikes in iraq as isis terrorists spread their vicious reign of terror north and threatening american military advisers and consular officials in irbil. >> to stop the advance on irbil, i've directed our military to take targeted strikes against isal terrorist convoys should they move toward the city. >> i'm alisyn camerota. the brutal terrorists struck iraq's largest christian town, giving residents a stark choice, convert to islam or die. they stormed the northern iraqi town of sinjar, forcing its people, tens of thousands of men, women, and children to run for their lives. those people are trapped in the mountains tonight. and their only hope is u.s. humanitarian air drops which just began in the past couple of hours. >> food, water, and medicine will save many, many lives. there is other breaking news, alisyn, that we're following tonight. rockets from gaza have hit southern israel just a little while ago. israelis say that wo

is the strategy in iraq containment of isis or stabilization in iraq? >> guest: i think we are trying to protect the people. i don't think we have an up operation beyond that. >> host: joe is on the line from the independents. we will hold on him. michael has a question from twitter. is there any political figure or group that is a unifying force in iraq? >> guest: that is a great question and unfortunately the answer flight is no. they don't see a sunni leadership that is able to represent the population. the shitte coalition is held together by negotiation. you have maliki's and others groups and they disagree with each other on very fundamental levels. the kurds are unified but when you look at the separation between all three groups it is more complex. so the answer is no right now. >> host: let's go to washington, d.c. good morning on the independent line. >> caller: my only comment is how seriously are we considering a blow back when we enter these countries? you know, the same people now calling us back into help this humanitarian crisis are the

personnel still if iraq. >> i said in june, as the terrorist group isil began across iraq, that the united states would be prepared to take targeted military action in iraq if and when we determined that the situation required it. in recent days, these terrorists have continued to move across iraq and have neared the city offer beale, where civilians seven at on consulate and american military personnel advise iraqi forces. to stop the advance on erbil, i've ordered air strikes if they continue. >> the second operation that the president laid out is to protect the 40,000 iraqis who have fled to the mountains in northern iraq under threat of death and other threats from the sunni militant group known as isis or isil. in addition to the humanitarian air drops, which were reportedly completed earlier today, the president is authorizing air strikes, if needed, to help the iraqi government prevent what he describes as a potential genocide. >> at the request of the iraqi government, we've begun operations to help save iraqi civilians stranded on the mountain. as isil has marched across iraq, it'

tonight the isis threat in iraq. we begin with the deputy assistant secretary of state for iraq and iran brett mcgurk. >> we have a baseline assumption now that isis/isil t is interchangeable, isil is better, they're better equipped, they're better manned, better resourced, better fighters. they're better trained than the al qaeda in a recognize that our forces faced. and if you accept that based on assumption which we do and then you look at the capacity of the iraqi security forces or locally based security forces such as tribal networks, you start to see the big gap that's going to have to be filled. and so it's a tremendous challenge. >> rose: we broader our discussion to include david kilcullen, michael hanna and bill spindle. >> they have been competing in fighting each other in the streets of syria, they're very different and in fact although they're just as brutal as each other and have a similar jihadist ideology this is a turf battle. and if isis comes out on top it could look more dang wrong than what we a

the challenge is that in iraq the feeling was an obama campaign that the u.s. is leaving iraq. the idea is that the u.s. has to come back pause the situation is worse than when it was left four years ago startles americans and even the administration itself. it certainly has become that. the idea that the united states spent billions of dollars lost nearly 5,000 troops and have to go back because a force, an extremist force and a force that started out as an insurgency poses such an immediate and direct threat to the very forces this we tripped. gwen: the force has been as we were talking has been posing this kind of threat for awhile. what is it about the plight of the people there on the mountain top in northern iraq? what is it that changed the formula? >> i think one of the key factors is there was an expectation that the kurdish forces in the north could fend off the isis threat in a way that the iraqi army and syrian army and hezbollah forces couldn't do. when they couldn't do it, when isis forces were on the border of the kurdish capital and threatening to move there, th

, two and a half years after president obama said our war in iraq was ending iraq is once again the focus of our military and our commander in chief. just hours after president obama announced we were returning to an active role in iraq, the u.s. launched two rounds of air strikes yesterday against isis fighters near erbil. the u.s. has a consulate in that northern iraqi city and thousands of americans live there. in addition to those military strikes the u.s. is trying to keep a humanitarian crisis from worsening. the u.s. military conducted a secondary drop of food and water late last night to thousands of members of the yazidi religious minority who have been trapped on mount sinjar for days and are surrounded by isis militants. the situation might be worse for hundreds of yazidi women. militants are holding them kapt of at schools in mosul. he told the a.p. by now consider them slaves and have vicious plans for them. secretary kerry has a more ominous situation of what's going on now in iraq. >> isil's campaign of terror against the innocent including the yazidi and christian minoriti

in northern iraq right now? >> the situation right now is pretty grim here in iraq and talking tens of thousands of people who have been impacted only by the recent crisis that took place in sinjar and that comes in addition to what already is a humanitarian crisis following what has been happening in mozal and it's a grim situation and our concern has been for the past few days over the phase of 25,000 children who are stuck in the mountains of sinjar following their displacement after they fled for their lives on sunday. >> yes, many thousands have besieged on mount sinjar from the group calling itself islamic state and there have been air drops delivering food and water but what more do these people need to survive? >> they need the humanitarian assistance for sure and need the water, they need the food, they need the shelter. it's very, very hot up there in the mountains but what they also need is protection so there needs to be work that is being done to evacuate these people who are currently stranded in t

supplies in iraq. officials tell nbc news the military has not carried out air strikes in iraq but the military is standing ready to defend u.s. personnel and resources if necessary. that is our show. "all in" for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts now with steve kornacki sitting in. good evening, steve. >>> good evening, ari. thanks for that. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. rachel has the night off. we're continuing to cover the breaking news tonight as at this hour, the united states is weighing taking military action in iraq again. throughout the day today, president obama met with his national security team to consider authorizing american air strikes in iraq to protect iraqi citizens, civilians trapped by islamic militants in the northwestern part of that country. for context into how the united states has found itself in this position, it's found itself once again considering a military operation in iraq tonight. it's helpful to two back six months to february, february

troops back into iraq? it's been three years since we started scaling back. >> well, at a minimum we need more special operations to guide those plane onz their targeting mission. i'm 0 a retired navy pilot, flown a lot of time in iraq. we can fly without ground control, but having ground control makes our targeting much more effective. when we're dealing with, say, something like a fixed target, a headquarters for isis, that can hit by an aircraft without ground control or guidance. if isis is engaged with a fight at close range, you need special operations forces embedded with the individuals we're trying to help, the iraqi security forces, to make that close air support those air strikes more effective. so at a minimum we need more special operations support for the pesh merg ga and more sortees. a couple of f-18s here and there aren't going to 0 get the job done. isis has defeated every military organization they've gone up against over the last 18 months. these guys are not going to lose unless we make

troops left iraq. now america is coming back to iraq's rescue. in meantime, so many cities have fallen, muslims slaughtered by muslims. why now? >> what we see now, the events unfolding in iraq is really the late result of the american intervention of 2003. the big mistake of american occupation after the toppling of saddam hussein was simply the fact that the sunnis were completely expelled from all spheres of influence. hundreds of thousands of sunnis lost their jobs within a very short period of time and the sunnis became very angry, if i may say so, both regarding the united states but also in regards of the new shiite government and this fight is really going on, has been going on for several years now. the sunni tribes in iraq are the backbone of this uprising and the islamic state is the spearhead of this uprising. islamic state is strong because of the civil war in syria. they have gained control of large parts of the country in the east towards the iraqi and the turkish border so it's a huge problem. it's a mixture of various influences

by isis attacks on shia shrines in iraq. >> many say they want to organize, go to iraq and fight. sunima udas reports. >> reporter: on this holy day shiite muslims in india pray for their community in iraq, scrambling to fight the extremist sunni group islamic state in iraq and syria, or isis. hundreds have died. several cities occupied. images of extreme brutality beamed across the world. >> images, the videos are simply heartbreaking. >> reporter: isis leaders have vowed to destroy all shiite shrines, including the most revered karbala. fearing the worst, india's largest shiite community is now recruiting volunteers to help shias in iraq protect their holy shrines. >> those shrines are of the imams which we follow. they are for us next to god. >> are you not scared? >> no. i'm not scared. "if we lose our lives protecting our shrines, then i would consider ourselves very lucky," she says. badar abbas nakvi is facilitating the mission. he claims more than 100,000 indian shias have signed up. the objective, he says, is not to fight with arms and ammunition but to create a hewn chai

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the jury is not out on iraq. the american people believe we made a serious mistakes there and the idea -- we did go in partly in libya and that has not turned out to be such an enortherlies success. i don't in any way underestimate the serious charge of i.s.i.s. i think, quite frankly, by what the president has done today is raising the stakes that the united states will become part of their target and increases our vulnerability. but i really don't see as far as foreign policy, your original question, judy, our former great colleague here andy, you have 3% of the american people saying foreign policy doesn't matter. it's hurt the president's ratings, no question about it, but it was not a matter of great urgency. >> that's why you can never run foreign policy on the polls. the polls would have been against hitler in 1913. that was clearly wrong thing to do in the 1930s. you need foreign policy leaders to get out front. two things, first, you know, i agree with you about iraq now, but we can't have all our decisi

military attacks in iraq. the pentagon says drones and fighter jets again struck targets near erbil. the drones targeted mortar positions of the group that calls itself islamic state. in afghanistan. secretary of state john kerry says the attacks will help stop a potential human rights catastrophe. >> it's grotesque targeted acts of violence show all the warning signs of genocide. for anyone who needed a wakeup call, this is it. i.s.i.l. is not fighting on behalf of sunnis. i.s.i.l. is not fighting for a stronger iraq. i.s.i.l. is fighting to divide and destroy iraq. and it's fighting to create a state of its own brutal oppression, a place where chaos and brutality, ruthless brutality governs. >> the fighting has forced tens of thousands of yazidis to flee into the mountains of sinjar. near the city of erbil jane arath talked to some of them. >> almost overnight war has come to the kurdish region, between the cities of mosul and erbil, they sought shelter there, when the islamic state, formerly known as the is

iraq. that's all of our time. we're back in an hour. >> iraq nominates a new prime minister. iraq's political crisis is the "inside story." >> hello, i'm libby casey. iraq's president has nominated a prime minister and it's not nouri al-maliki. maliki has been prime minister since 2006, and has consolidated power head of the armed force and defense minister. however his ruling power has isolated sunni, kurds. our inside story, iraq and the united states. just as american warplanes reenter the fight against islamic state insurgents in the north. >> reporter: on the battlefield the american objective is to stop the islamic state advances in the kurdish regio. prime minister maliki is clinging to the power even after the nomination of 9 now man for the job. they have adopted heider al abadi as the new prime minister. the news comes after maliki would take him to court. >> today i will file a legal complaint to the federal court for committing a clear constitutional violation for the sake of po

troops in iraq. the obama administration will say, hey, we tried and the iraqi government did not agree to provide immunity to u.s. troops and we're not going to leave them there as a result of that. again, going back to the core political argument that barack obama made as a candidate in 2007 and 2008, was to extract the united states from iraq. and he feels like that was something, a promise he has kept in 2011 which makes it all the more ironic now that as president, he's facing the possibility of further u.s. military involvement in that country. >> all right. jeff mason, white house correspondent for "reuters." thanks for your time tonight. appreciate that. >>> joining us now, steve clemens, foreign policy expert, msnbc contributor as well. steve, thanks for being here. i'll start with this question. i mean, we've been talking about -- there's a couple different issues here. there's the yezidi on this mountain now with their lives in danger. there's also the question of the city of erbil, sort o

with iraq. we couldn't get a bilateral security agreement signed, so we had to depart. we failed in our objective to try to establish that strategy. so fast forward three years, we now see what the results of that lack of strategy and real focus looks like. so what you see today, carol, is preservation. there are multiple ways to view this tragedy that's taken place in iraq. i mean, ivan's reporting in northern iraq is heart-rendering, horrible to see the scenes and you say to yourself my god how did we allow this to happen? clearly isis is a radical, radical form of islam, and clearly they are supported, it's a sunni-based form of islam, and they're supported by sunnis only because they have no choice. in they don't, they die. what we see right now is what i would call simply preservation of what ifs. it's not what we anticipated. it's not what we want, but maliki and his government is the horse that we've ridden and we have got to make sure we cannot change forces in the middle , h the middle

military action in iraq could be extended. to the state tightens its grip on iraq according to the un around two hundred thousand new refugees have fled their homes what isis claims it's made more than a dozen military gains over the past five days alone you are just going off r t. a journalist john white believes in order to help the iraqi people perhaps america will be better off revealing its relations with the regional allies that support the jihad instead of simply bombing the country. entire focus over u.s. short western foreign policy in the region has been to eisley. icily around in both israel and the snowballing back in their feces so if you're interested in alleviating the fire as reaching across the middle east you have to understand that the divide in the region right now is not between sunni and shia it's not between rich woman on this one is between sixty and a known c.t.d. and so the rule must be to isolate known security and forces to boston on safety to the force and so they have to also look at the relations

iraq's standoff. america backs the newly nominated prime minister but nouri al-maliki says he's standing put. >>> hundreds of thousands of iraqis are running from war. a look at long simmering religious divisions, our show in iraq, and the fbi investigates the police shooting of an unarmed man plus this: >> don't want to say i was suicidal, but i was thinking about it. >> how virtual reality is helping soldiers with.ptsd. a look back at an os oscar winn. the life and career of robin williams. a standoff tonight in iraq. a fight for control and power. the president of iraq has nominated a new prime minister but the current prime minister refuses to go. this evening president obama says he supports a change in leadership as the u.s. steps up its military there, jane arath reports from err bool. erbil. >> haider al-abadi is from prime minister nouri al-maliki's dower party. he has 30 days to form a new government but maliki isn't leaving without a fight. maliki now a care taker prime minister maintains h

isis has taken over a third of iraq. at this point are we going to dedicate american lives to holding together this fictional state we call iraq saying well, if maybe if al maliki goes maybe some leader will rise up like a george washington and pull the whole country together. or are we honest with ourselves, really it's three major factions and need to treat it as such. we need to allow the kurds to have an autonomous region. we need to recognize the fact that iran has taken over the southern part of iraq. and then isolate isis in the middle. and then deal with isis which is a global threat and much like al qaeda. >> a partitioned iraq is one that's been discussed throughout the course of the iraq war. and it was similarly rejected. why was it okay for all those years and why is it okay from your perspective? >> well i'm a realist, shep. the reality is at the end of world war ii the western world came together. we drew lines we said that's country "a," that's country "b," that's country "c." we're now at a point with th

the curds in iraq were always the closest allies. they were the u.s. best friend in iraq. not too much to protect them. that's after the kurds were so loyal. >> you mentioned the failures of the iraqi military. we heads in as part of the case he was making to the nation. this was a request that was made to him by the government. is the united states with the drop in which we are warning away from the mountain, is the united states trying to buy time and space for the iraqi government and the military to be able to go in and deal with that at the base of the mountain. is that plausible any time in the future? >> i think this was more of an act of desperation than that. i don't think the iraqi military has the capability to get anywhere close to this mountain. we have been told that iraqi generals called to baghdad for supplies. gasoline, more vehicles and those supplies are not coming. the u.s. would not be intervening because the president knows the allergy that most people in the united states have to involvement of any kind in iraq. unless there was a complete inability

left iraq we had done a pretty good job in corralling folks. this was al qaeda in iraq. initially. we had done a lot of damage to them. we killed their leadership. we basically pushed them into a corner of iraq. unfortunately what happened is syria. this the interim, two things really happened. first of all, a conflict in syria. second of all the political deadlock in iraq. with the instability on the syrian iraqi border with the deadlock led by malaki in iraq where you see, unfortunately a shiite-led government imposing sanctions basically on the sunni community. you had two elements come together. what you had is sunnis in northern iraq start to say, look, the isis guys seem crazy. we still prefer them to the malaki government of baghdad. that's how it happened. >> today, senate intelligence committee chairman dianne feinstein said isis is, "not a typical terrorist organization. it is a terrorist army, operating with military expertise, advancing across iraq and rapidly consolidating its position." how have these militants been trained? >> they have been trained by the fire. they

it is not just about northern iraq. not even just about iraq. this is about things happening throughout the entire region. one thing we were told during captain's training is one of the greatest oxymorons in the world is limited military operations. inherently they can't be limited. you're always stepping on the doorstep of something that could be much larger. i think what we have seen particularly in the past week has uncovered two things. one is the lack of stability. this idea that there is no military solution that will be able to fix what's happening in iraq. we have had the past four presidents that had military involvement in iraq. the second thing and this could be the most dangerous. there is no iraqi national military. the iraqi military is very regional. you saw the way isil was able to cut through western iraq, cut through mosul like a hot knife through butter. the idea of a national military iraqi response doesn't make sense. >> well, that's point. i want to go back to your point about arming the kurds. we have an iraqi army against

is it -- just wondering, is it an instance where iraq has a iraq and circumstances on the ground in terms of personnel? can you expand why the situation there is necessitating this response verse any similar situation beyond syria, anywhere in the country or part of the world, a humanitarian response from the president? >> well, i think in terms of the core objectives and the core priorities the president laid those out prettysa clearly lasç night. what is also true, and i think that is what your eluding to and if not stoop me. i think what you're eluding to is the significant investment and sacrifice already made in iraq by hundreds of thousands of american service men and women, who have served that country. they served in very difficult conditions. many of them were injured and many of them died. and that is evident -- that is an indication of the united states' commitment to iraq's success. we have -- that service was in support of the iraqi people having access to the opportunity to determine the future of their country, and we have been disappointed that iraq's political leaders h

in iraq. >> then, american companies renounce their corporate citizenship to save big money in taxes. ought head of the business roundtable debates whether that is unpatriotic with a senator. >> our power player of the week ivanka trump. >> i recognize the foam anyone voice of a masculine brand. >> hello from fox news in washington. >> president obama says the campaign of airstrikes and humanitarian air drops ordered this week is "a long-term project that could go on for months." but he maintained there are strict limits to our involvement in iraq. today, we want to analyze the combat mission. retired four four-star general l lay out the battlefield and well hear from two leading senators but, first, we have the latest developments from wendell. >> chris, the president says this are several objectives in the iraq campaign and not all of them are under the control of the united states and allies. first is to defend the consulate where there are self-hundred marines and stop attacks on refugees

to put in ground troops in iraq. it's unlikely to happen in syria of course, so all options are still on the table, but we're waiting to hear more there t the -- pentagon about what they think they can do at this point. >> libby casey live in washington. thanks very much. >>> the fight against the islamic state continues across iraq. has been a deadly attack, where shiite fighters opened fire on we are schip -- worshippers in a mosque. kurdish forces are fighting alongside the iraqi military, trying to regain lost area that the north driving rebels further south. earlier we spoke to james jeffery a former u.s. ambassador to iraq. we asked him how the murder of james foley has changed u.s.'s strategy? >> i don't think in and of itself it has, but it has given him more domestic support if he decides to turn the pressure on against isis. president obama has done the right things, but he hasn't been clear in explaining to the american people what his objectives are. is it containment? is it to destroy isis, which is what

in iraq. >> our sunday group weighs in on whether mr. obama can limit our involvement. >>> then, american companies renounce their corporate citizenship to save big money in taxes. the head of the business roundtable john engler debates chris coons on whether that's unpatriotic, and our power player of the week, ivanka trump, on taking the family empire to new heights. >> i represent the feminine voice of an otherwise more masculine brand. >> all right now on "fox news sunday." hello again from fox news in washington. president obama says the campaign of air strikes and humanitarian air drops he ordered this week is, quote, a long-term project that could go on for months. but he maintains there are strict limits to our involvement in iraq. today, we want to analyze the u.s. combat mission in depth. retired four-star general jack keane will lay out of the battlefield. we'll hear from two leading senators, but first, white house foreign affairs correspondent wendell goler has the latest developm

combat operations to iraq. friday for the second time, f-18 hornet fighters from the george zimmerman h.w. bush struck the kurdish city of erbil. two fighters dropped bombs on a military could b convoy. aid and u.s. humanitarian air drops have dropped more than 5,000 gallons are of water and prepackaged meals to 10,000 yazidi refugees. more air drops have been promised. iraqi christians and other religious minorities are fleeing. josh ernest said the help would be limited in scope. >> president obama hasn't had an end date. we are going to take that approach in which those kinds of decisions are evaluated regularly and are driven by security situation on the ground. >> for more on america's role in iraq i'm joined from the state department in washington, d.c, by maria harf, the administration's spokesperson. maria, good to have you. has the bombing taken place in iraq just the beginning or could they be the end of the islamic state fighters don't push further into kurdistan? >> well the goals of these actions o

to the larger crisis in iraq. >> the president promising no combat forces on the growned in iraq. white house forces say they wouldn't have gained so much momentum if they had a stronger presence in iraq. >> it fired a. who negotiated a long-term agreement. he wanted to be able to boast in this reelection campaign. as a result we are nowhere near it. >> where we stanned now is in the midst of a humanitarian mission. we will move toward air strikes if they push towards major cities. it all depends on what they do next. heather? >> doug luzader in washington. a temporary show of force. let's talk to colonel schafer at the center for research. let's talk about what the president said last night he said no military solution to this? do you agree? >> solution has to be something that we helped de stabilize iraq and we are responsible. the president is being naive to the fact that there are things that we must do to stabilize the region and they have a responsibility. most importantly here delaying this first our withdraw as krauthammer said causes us to go the direction we have. the de

many of the points that you made about iraq are points that many americans make about iraq every day so we have a rather strong debate on this issue and my own view on the syria question and space specifically on the isis issue is that we need a kind of political way forward once it is a den of five what syria is going to be is it going to be a federated state is are going to be you know a state in which. senior leaders take turns is there going to be a national minorities veto of what kind of political arrangements there are then i think we can get behind this and identify those who might be described as rejectionists well ambassador here are unfortunately those debates continue but the outcome of those debates tom how it's always the same chaos and bloodshed well for the time bank we have to take a very short break but when we come back to case they or should he go does the policy of regime change ever result in more good than harm that's coming up in a few moments on a well the part. in fish farms waters today you have the pond to me because. i saw it spread all over norway is the

forces even deeper back into iraq. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> now, we will have much more ahead on the situation in iraq, including an interview with the country's former foreign minister who says, sure, the u.s. air strikes have helped but he warns the worse may be yet to come. >>> we turn now to another big story we're following here at cnn. the world health organization says it is ethical for unproven medication to be used in the fight against ebola. now, the united states is sending samples of an experimental drug to liberia in an effort to treat two doctors treated with the virus. washington has granted the export of a serum called z-mapp. drug maker says these are the last remaining samples of the drug. z-mapp has never been clinically tested on humans. expectations must be tempered. >> i think this represents a glimmer of hope. we want to keep it like that because there's very little that we know about this serum except that once a prior consent is given, there is a slim chance, albeit slim, that one

the united iraq will be a more secure and prosperous iraq. political reform will make it harder for isil to exploit sectarian divisions. the united states and the international community will increase support for iraq in tandem with political progress. the president, the chairman and i are all very clear eyed about the challenges ahead. we are pursuing long term strategy against isil because isil clearly poses a long term threat. we should expect isil to regroup and stage new offenses and the u.s. military's involvement is not over. president obama has been very clear on this point. our objectives remain clear and limited. to protect american citizens and facilities, to provide assistance to iraqi forces as they confront isil. and to join with international partners to address the humanitarian crisis. with that i'll ask chairman dempsey for his comments and then we'll take questions. thank you. >> thank you, mr. secretary. as most of you know, i just returned on sunday from a trip to vietnam. and today, i have my counterpart from singapore vi

iraq, 95% of iraq's revenues come from oil. it is a big, global producer and at least today exporter. you can't divorce these things. these are realities. >> we, in my mind, we did not go into iraq for oil. now, the folks that i worked with, we all felt like we were going into iraq because of wmd. now, were there other folks that had other reasons? i'm not aware of it. there may have been. >> we didn't go into iraq to get access to the sand. we went into iraq to get access to oil. period. >> an attempt by any outside force to gain control of the persian gulf region -- >> a u.s. foreign policy doctrine first articulated in the 1970s during an energy crisis, put into action during the gulf war in the 1990s. >> that must not stand! >> and brought to its pull potential in 2003. >> do not destroy oil wells, a source of wealth that belongs to the iraqi people. >> that foreign policy doctrine is not a thing of the past. >> the united states of america is prepared to use all elements of our power, including military force, to secure ou

air strikes in iraq. american war planes attack targets belonging to isis as the jihadists who call themselves the islamic state close in on a major city in northern iraq. hundreds of thousands of christians and other minorities are now on the run. u.s. aircraft have the also dropped food and water as the obama administration warns of what it's calling a potential genocide. our correspondent and guests are standing by with the kind of coverage only cnn can deliver. let's begin with pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what are you learning? >> we have now in less than 24 hours had three rounds of air strikes against isis militants in northern iraq. it began early today with a strike by f/a-18 aircraft against a mobile artillery position that isis had outside the city of erbil in northern iraq. a short time later, a couple of hours later two additional strikes. a u.s. military drone fired a shot against a terrorist mortar position when the isis fighters came back, the drone came back and attacked again. a

mission in iraq? are u.s. forces back in action essentially some two and a half years after leaving iraq? wolf. >> barbara, i'm going to ivan watson. he's in irbil. how many americans are in irbil, right now? i take it there are a few dozen military personnel, some couldnnsulate personnel, we're talking about a whole lot of americans there, right? >> no. i think for security reasons, the administration is reluctant to give a precise number. slightly under four dozen military personnel, several dozen diplomatic personnel, some having moved up from baghdad several weeks ago. the question why irbil, why does it suddenly appear to be taken over by isis militants? how quickly are these people on the move and what can be done about it? isis, you know, was thought to be stretched thin. it sure doesn't appear to be so. >> stand by. the question being asked why not simply evacuate those few dozen americans, get them out of harms way. i want to go to irbil right now. how proud is the reach of isis? look at this map righ

iraq is not iraq. that's babylon, and said it was going tgod said itwas going to s and cats, and nothing... >> the u.s. training efforts on the equipment that was left over there. how can the u.s. be confident the next time if the situation stabilizes that it will remain that way? >> that's an open question. you know, i think that's the debate that is going on in washington. if we had left trainers in iraq after 2011 when we pulled everyone out would we be in a better situation than we are now? it's an open question. if you've got several thousand advisers, you're only able to do so much. it really does come back to the iraqi government's ability to build up a zone military witho m outside and provide a government that they have faith in. these are two of the big pieces, and i think there is a limited amount that the united states can do in both of those capacities. it comes down to the iraqi government itself to take this on. we have seen a reluctance to provide the iraqi military and iraqi government

>> because only iraq can save iraq. the president has stepped in because of this threat in genocide, i support that. bringing food and water to these people dying on that mountain top, of course the united states should do that. and when it comes to the kurds, they have been the adults in this neighborhood, the grown-ups. and i think we ought to help them preserve their capital against this isis invasion. and we also want to make certain that the americans that are on the ground are protected. the bottom line is this. there's so much we can do to help the iraqis help themselves. ultima ultimately, they have to save their own country. >> this is a terror state, cast off by al qaeda because this group was considered too extreme. is the problem that the obama administration wanting to be something other than president bush, got out of the business of confronting terrorism on a big global scale and just dealt with it in a more limited way? is it an underreaction to the terrorist threat? >> they invited us to leave in iraq.

a war in iraq -- we saw this in the iraq-iranian war -- a war in iraq can become a sectarian conflict. a wider regional conflict is a significant threat to the u.s. on those two counts, you do have plenty of history to say that we should take isis as a threat. host: "this has got a lot of folks in congress talking, but it doesn't give us license to ignore the lessons of george w. bush in iraq." going into a country without clearly laying out and having evidence of a threat. guest: isis owns one third of iraq. i don't know what other evidence you need. we know there are thousands of foreign fighters there. these are not subject to much debate. foley is a great tragedy and it's a horrific murder. the atrocities are terrible and horrible. where does the u.s. vital interest come from? i don't think those are up for dispute. host: this is the washington post front page. egypt and uae hit militias and libya. they went into libya with airstrikes and bond these militias. guest: i was opposed to the u.s. intervention in libya. i did not see those as threats to the national interest. i never th

it is still called iraq and america want being called iraq, but if you're in baghdad, particularly if -- anybody in baghdad, you cannot move from north or west of the city without being in isis-controlled territory or you might be killed. you can't move to baghdad or into the kurdish controlled expanded.h is just they really has expanded. >> pulitzer prize winning journalist glenn greenwald calls the was humanitarian arming of iraq a redundant presidential ritual. we will speak with greenwald about media coverage of the latest attacks as well as what the edward snowden documents reveal about u.s.-israeli nations. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the pentagon has confirmed it is deploying an additional 130 marines and special forces to iraq. chuck hagel made the from california. >> i recommended to the president and the president has authorized me to go ahead and send about 130 new assessment iraqmembers up to northern in thee rbil area to take a give a moreand in-depth assessment of where we iraqistinu

operations in iraq. any minute now we expect the president - when we see the president we'll take to you the white house press briefing room. >> let's give you an idea of where the protests are taking place. jonathan betz is here with more on them. >> let's get the bearings in ferguson. a suburb of st louis, 10 miles north-west of downtown st louis. this is where the police headquarters are, most of the mo pests are -- most of the protests are in the south-eastern part. michael brown was killed on cannes field court. most of the clashes are along west florence avenue. it's a mile long. it's where most of the protests and lootings have been processed. the quick-trick convenience store is among the first attacked. it's been a major gathering point for protests and media. other stores in the days since this happened, and also ferguson market and liquor. this is where brown is accused of stealing the cigars. and nearby is the mcdonald's where two journalists were arrested. this is where you heard natasha tal

this was iraq. this was the president who came to power in 2008 largely on the strength of his opposition to the iraq war, who campaigned on a promise to end that war. very next day, the republican controlled house passed an amendment written by two democrats. the amendment said the president could not use pentagon funds to escalate the military response in iraq. and last month, the house past a resolution saying the president cannot deploy the u.s. military in a sustained combat role in iraq without specific authorization. so according to the war powers act, the president had 60 days from boots on the ground in iraq before a reckoning with congress. those 60 days are set to expire soon. if you go by the war powers act, there's another 60-day window before congress would be required to approve another action. >> the administration will comply with any reporting requirements in the war powers resolution. sometimes these war power notifications are classified, sometimes they aren't. in this case, if o

-led iraq campaign, invasion of iraq. what do you make of the plan as it currently stands? >> thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to be with you although i'm sorry to be here under these circumstances. the plan strikes me as too little too late. we're dealing with a human any karen case. millions of displaced people. the idea that we can stop isis with a few pinprick airstrikes to me is not cred diblg. isis has been ram paining. they're cull may nighting. they've had a completely permissive environment. they gathered the heavy infantry. they're decimating anyone who goes up against them. airstrikes externally are not going to get this done if we don't get a serious personnel. i think we're looking at a very serious humanitarian crisis that will end up with a massive massacre of civilians. >> u.s. boots on the ground will not happen. >> the amount of blood and treasure the u.s. has spent on the iraq campaign, afghanistan, there's no u.s. plight and the u.s. has come to see what can be done. if you're criticizing drop humanitarian aid can be created to get these folks in

leave iraq or be killed. not only places where christians are under attack, numerous places around the world, even in some of the ancient communities. in iraq there is desperate plea for help now. >> translator: in the name of humanity i call upon all of you to save us, save us. now at least 30,000 families are besieged in the sin jar mountains without water and food. they are dying. bill: loot colonel ralph peters, fox news strategic analyst. he is with me now. good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: we know fa-18s took out artillery group threatening the town of irbil by the american military. so what now? >> not exaggerated the importance of that strike. it was a fender-bender in military terps. i fully support attacking isis from the air, using our air power. by the tame, bill, i'm convinced obama grad school grouppies are out of touch with the american people. the idea that american people don't want to hurt jihad differents are nuts. i don't believe american people have any objection to using air po