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, 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

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

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. or so the white house vaguely suggested today. >> the administration will comply with any reporting requirements in the war powers resolution. sometimes these war power notifications are classi

ambassador to iraq and the current dean of the joseph horrible school of international studies at the university have. and by ambassador hill thank you very much for being on the show my pleasure now the ukrainian crisis if i could start with that was about security both for russia and the west and i think both sides want very far in defending their security interests and yet somehow despite the continued blah chad in ukraine you know the events in the iraq really seem to preside and a security danger a security challenge of a totally different magnetise i wonder if he can be a sort of reality check for some of the decision makers in washington as far as what the real danger really is ok well let me first say that i think the ukrainian crisis is still with us and i think it's and everyone interests that ukraine emerge from this crisis with its sovereignty intact with its territorial integrity intact so my hope is that there's an understanding that it's necessary to work with the new ukrainian government and to encourage positive trends in ukraine so i think that's an issue that is sti

iraq is but one of the big problems that iraq has had over the years is that its sunni arab neighbors have never come to accept shia power in iraq and i think the sunni arab neighbors need to understand that iraq is going to be ruled by majority rule and majority in the context of the current political and dennehy means shia rule. and obviously it's a going to much more prominent political role in this whole theory of crisis but. it's also a big gulf states that i think have been punching above their weight and a lot of people including in al maliki's own circle are blaming the saudis and the qataris for funding be the sunni extremists now the united states is finding it difficult to you know cut russia china and iran and other actors down to size but i wonder what about these turkish and saudi regional ambitions do you think they could be kept in check because you know those countries seem to be. very emboldened by the developments in syria and they may have become a problem in an in and of itself i agree with you that this is a growing problem but i think it argues for a kind of gro

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

personnel in iraq. including several dozen who are in erbil, and secondly, in sinjar, you have tens of thousands of ethnic minorities who are fleeing islamic state in the kurdish defenses, and the tens of thousands of refugees are now on a mountain without food or water, and they're essentially surrounded by islamic state forces threatening to kill them if they come down. and what earnest said, the kurdish forces are now in an effort to dislodge the isis forces there. and the u.s. military will be acting in coordination with kurdish forces to clear a humanitarian corridor. several times, earnest spoke about the united states acting in support of kurdish forces, and the united states has now been putting troops on the ground. and this would not be a long military mission. i want to bring in retired general, mark kinnon, a former assistant secretary of state for political affairs, and ambassador kinnon, this idea of the united states working with kurdish forces, how effective can that be? what sort of coo

involvement in iraq, are we going back to war with iraq? that's not the question here. this is really not about iraq. our u.s. military should remain very laser focused on seeing how we can take out these islamic extremists, such as isis, al qaeda, whatever name you call them by in a way that is precise, tactical and effective. what we are seeing now, for example, in kurdistan, there is no need for us to hav these ground forces there because you have the kurds, the peshmerga, who are fighting very effectivetive effectively. they would be more effective if they could fight against the tanks attacking them. it would be a different situation if you look at islamic extremists in another part of the world. we can't just say we are going to go in with ground forces and think that this is about iraq. this is not at all about iraq and so i think we have got to look at that time in a totally different context. >> well, listen, as well as the kurds are performing, the iraqi national forces did not perform well. can limited air strikes in support of the kurds in the north truly do

conflict in iraq. >> i know many of you are rightly concerned about action in iraq, even limited strikes like these. i understand that. i ran for this office in part to end the war in iraq and welcome our troops home. that is what we have done. as commander in chief i will not allow the united states to be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. as we support raikies, as they -- iraqis as they take the fight to the terrorists, combat troops will not return to fight in iraq. >> the senior administration official told us that what the president has done, and the administration has done is laid down a marker. that these targeted air strikes are designed to protect u.s. personnel and facilities in iraq, and are concerned with the conflict in erbil, because the fighters are on the periphery of the city. the u.s. military has constant civilions, manned and unmanned. that's the information they'll tuesday to decide if they need to call in target air strikes, and we understand the white house was in contact with members of congress and leaders of congress throughout the day as they made the d

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

life in iraq. it is threatening many of the major producing oil fields in the area. knocking on the door of jordan. controls parts of syria. knocking on the door of lebanon. it is a huge threat, unlike any we have seen in quite some time. >> thank you very much. live at the pentagon this afternoon. let's get to chris wallace, live with us on capitol hill. michael o'hanlon describing this as maybe most complicated situation he has seen in his long career as an observer and analyst. all over the world now. affrightening. >> that's right. because isis would be a horrible enough situation just in and of itself, but you also have iran, got russia and putin and ukraine, you have problems, syria, where over 150,000 people have been killed, and we didn't intervene there. so, there are a lot of problems all over the world, and obviously you could tell last night this president didn't want to get involved. did not want to return to iraq after having campaigned in 2012 as the man who ended the war in iraq, bu

refugees from iraq in terms of -- other groups. but also inside iraq in the k.r.g.-controlled areas. turkey is providing an immense amount of assistance. and then increasingly, you see that turkey is trying to play a role in the government formation process in baghdad. they gave a short background about what has been going on. although it is not publicized much, i personally have been trying to argue a piece i wrote that turkey plays a very crucial role in the government formation process. >> especially the sunni leader speaker of the parliament. selection of the new speaker of the parliament. and also -- so this was essential in the sense of government policies. today, turkey still stands for a unified iraq but they know the solution has to come from the political process. s. there is a very urgent security challenge because of isis and the advance of isis. at the end of the day, it is based on some social political realities. and it should not be reduced to a security challenge alone. it should be understood and tackled with within the border of social dimensions

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

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

in iraq should be. jon: trying to keep it as limited as possible, apparently. thank you. heather: and not naming it. coming up in the second hour of "happening now," a terrifying crash caught on camera. passengers screaming gliding with a truck. what may have led to the crash. and an update on extreme weather in hawaii, 22 years since a state was hit with a hurricane, now dealing with the remnants of one and bracing for another. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. it's up to you to pay the difference. so think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay and could really save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call

why is the president now reengaging in iraq. reengaging in iraq. facebook if you're suffering from constipation or irregularity, powders may take days to work. for gentle overnight relief, try dulcolax laxative tablets. ducolax provides gentle overnight relief, unlike miralax that can take up to 3 days. dulcolax, for relief you can count on. dulcolax, for relief you can count on. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters shopping online is as easy as it gets. and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angieslist.com no more calling around. no more hassles. start shopping from a list of top-rated providers today. angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. visit angieslist.com today. that's why i always choose the fastest intern.r slow. the fastest printer. the fastest lunch. turkey club. the fastest pencil sharpener. the fastest elevator. the fastest speed dial. the fastest office p

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 advisers to iraq. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is picking up this part of the story. how many more military advisers? how many more u.s. soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, is the pentagon planning on sending to iraq? >> well, wolf, let's just talk about this within the context of military advisers. what we're looking at is the possibility of up to 75 additional military advisers, advisers only, going to northern iraq to help look at two problems. what does it take to help the peshmerga fighters. they need more arms, more ammunition, more weapons. what do they need to get back on their feet. but the bigger issue perhaps is what can the u.s. do along with other countries to get those people trapped on that mountain off of there. so expect to see these advisers once it's approved and if they go to begin to look very hard at the options, the possibilities of what could be done. officials are telling us one of the biggest problems right now is trying to determine how many people are really ther

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

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

as we continue our coverage of the crisis in iraq, we go to northern iraq to deal with the plight of the yazidi religious minority fleeing jihadist advance in the north. thousands remain trapped or the syrian border, taking refuge there under the threat of attack from the islamic state, which is branded them as "devil worshipers." iraq's human rights minister says the islamic state has killed at least 500 yazidis in recent days. some victims were reportedly buried alive. around 300 women were reportedly also kidnapped as slaves. >> thousands of using these have been able to escape the militants advance, but many are trapped without food or water. in addition to its airstrikes targeting the islamic state in northern iraq, the u.s. has also carried out airdrops of relief aid onto mount sinjjar. president obama says they're coming to their aid to prevent a potential genocide. or more were joined by joe stork , deputy director of the middle east and north africa program at human rights watch. he has been in iraq for a week and visited the is eating camas in recent days prior to the was a

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

did we believe he was interested in that kind of iraq? >> iraq is so difficult. they are tough guys from a tough place. maliki has done fairly well when it comes to national elections in 2010 and in this last election. he does have a locally rooted support base. the country is a very difficult country to govern. we have pressed him extremely hard and made clear when we thought he was doing things that were not particularly useful. about a year ago, our objective was to make sure the elections on april 30 happened. they happen on time with international supervision and led to a credible result. that was not a foregone conclusion, that that would happen. maliki delayed elections in the middle of last summer. we spoke out against that. those elections eventually happened. our focus was making sure those elections happened, which set up a process for transition. >> i read a story today and you may not want to comment on this, in which maliki was in some kind of means signing a forces agreement and was supposed to be signing with the president, and just moved his hand

and it will not assault americans in iraq. this is very important. mainly he's hoping that other arab countries that are suspicious of the regime in baghdad, hopefully they will change their minds. how will they change their minds? they need the facts on the ground. a government plot totally siding with one part of the country against another. this is another factor. if we succeeded in forming a new government and an inclusive government the new president would declare from day one that he is open to discussion with all iraqi forces, even the militant with the exception of isil, and he's willing to reconsider everything, and he is willing to put all this result of this discussion into new sort of contracts, political contracts. that would be like in the lebanese contracts, and then he would put it to the vote and maybe a new parliament, a new government in the future. this is a normal process. but one step is very important. first a new government, inclusive government. then we have to clue the regional government without cooperating them this vain i

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

let's talk about iraq. we now have from our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, that the united states is considering military options, including possible air strikes to stop this growing threat of isis in iraq. and just a pause to look at these pictures, this is just into us at cnn. there you have it. there's the white house. crowds are gathering in front of the white house, and they are protesting what is basically happening with this one religious minority group in northern iraq, they're called the yezidis. and some tens of thousands of these yezidis are basically stuck in a corner. but the corner is the tiptop of a mountain, because of this terrorist organization, isis. they have claimed many, many massive cities in iraq thus far this year, but now this tens of thousands of people stuck on top of a mountain, no water, no food, no shelter, they're dying because the choice they have is convert or being killed. so that's what's happening in washington. what does the u.s. do? let's go to was

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

war in iraq, i did. four years ago i promised to end the war in iraq, and i did. i told you we'd end the war in iraq, we did. i told you i'd end the war in iraq, and we did. i ended the war in iraq, as i promised. in 2008 i promised we'd end the war in iraq. we've ended it. i was able to keep my promise and end the war in iraq. in 2008 i promised we would end the war in iraq, and we ended it. from ending the war in iraq. that's why i ended the war in iraq, the first time in nine years there are no americans fighting in iraq. >> do you have second thoughts in pulling all the ground troops out of iraq? >> the issue in which this keeps coming up, as if this was my decision. >> how about that? >> mark hannah is a veteran, a fox news contributor. welcome. how do you react to that? >> president obama is very clear, this is something he claimed on and he kept his promise. he didn't make it alone. the american people made the decision to end the war in iraq when they elected him. and they made the decision even

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

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

we have to go back to iraq. right? we have to go back to it as a news organization and perhaps as a country, the united states. the president is now forced to take action against isis. he is already given the go ahead for targeted air strikes on forces closing in on american staff in the north. that staff, remember, are the advisory groups that are out of harms way. he's sent humanitarian help to thousands forced to flee stuck on a mountain top. the latest on that. there's a fresh round of violence breaking out between israel and militants in gaza. different groups are taking credit or blame here. hamas says it's not them. israel says it is. whatever the case is, they are fighting again. rockets fired into israel. more rocket fire followed. israel now responding. how quickly willette git out of control? we'll have reports and analysis of this story and iraq at the top of the hour. they are developing on our watch. poppy? >> it's been incredible to see the advances isis is making. watching israel and gaza, now both of t

iraq. american personnel in that area were under threat. the pentagon confirmed a pair of f- 18 from the george bush dropped 500 pound bombs on ice sis. it was called a target of opportunity and said more of the types of a strikes are possible. president obama will use force to protect americans in iraq. >> i have been careful to resist calls to turn to our military because america has other tools in our arsenal. we can lead with power of diplomacy and economy and ideals. but when the lives of american citizens are at risk, we will take action. that's my responsibility as commander in chief. and when many thousands of innocent civilians are faced with the danger of being wiped out we will take action. >> a second humanitarian mission delivering food and aid and supplies to thousandses refugees. they are on the run from isis terrorist who demand convert to islam or free or die. we learned about the air drop after it was completed. a senior military official said given how many refugee that n

northern iraq. so that means, you know -- lost its significance. >> also looking at the -- in 1990s, they were told there were five to seven million to -- now we're told there are 700,000 to 3 million -- and the significant -- in turkish foreign policy. in the wider middle eastern perspective -- it is an ongoing process. this process -- >> three kinds of territories in iraq. the one is the krg territory area. the other is called the disputed territories. and the other is the rest of iraq, of course. to the area of -- was under control of the iraqi central government up until the islamic state expansion. northern iraq. so at the time, the kurds were -- but now there's -- and now the -- >> i can't talk freely. i'm no longer associated with the foreign ministry. to some extent, everybody speaks. but the -- are middle class urban people. they don't have the tribal organizations. it's not like the kurdish presence in northern iraq. there are idea logical differences. -- so the picture is not -- not very

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

and now the islamic state is threatening to unravel iraq and syria. if you are president obama, what is your next move? that's the "inside story." hello, i'm ray suarez. the islamic state rolled over the iraqi army and adding western iraq to the big chunk of syria it is already controlling. with the loaded banks and the oil, the state is not depending on the outside support that the groups. without the restraint of the outside influence they are executing anyone that opposes their rule and destroying the communities. after spending the better part of a decade creating a new iraq, what should the u.s. do and what can the u.s. do? take national interest and long term security concerns and what do you get? it is the "inside story." the syrian military lost a key air force base to fighters on sunday and adding to a growing list of land and loot snatched up by the rebel army. the base housed a number of war planes, ammo and tanks and ar till rare. the us lam state is stronger in syria and known for the crew said in northern and western iraq. earlier in the