>> from al quaeda in syria was the fact that they wanted to

conduct western-style operations. al quaeda wanted them to focus on syria. it was all about direction, control of those individuals. what they were saying at the time was we have a lot of people who have passports that could go to europe and then to the united states without a visa waiver meaning they wouldn't have to apply for a visa. the only way we would know is by looking at who was riding on their airplanes. even the rhetoric is we're still going to conduct a western-style attack. remember, al quaeda wants to put points on the board and isis has said that they want to be the terrorist organization that tracks. >> comments to mike rogers on

nbc's meet the press over the weekend. from inside the wall street journal, obama pressed to act in syria. president who has ruled out putting boots on the ground remains reluctant to get too involved in a conflict that could become a quagmire. islamic state was probably the most prominent risk we have faced since 9/11. your thoughts on all of this. let's go to warren in rocky mount, north carolina. good morning. go ahead, please. we'll try one more time for warren in north carolina. going to dave next. good morning. where you phoning from?

caller: hello? host: go ahead, dave. caller: on your statement there. that's wrong. the reason we were -- all the stories come here on -- now we're doing stuff in their countries. they're just beating the war drum. we should not be in those countries. we're doing to them what they say -- they're not an imminent threat. they don't have an army or navy or anything. host: okay. and bob has this point, stop politicians from micro controlling the military. jeffrey is on the phone from georgia. caller: i think boots should be

on the ground because of the lives that were lost. everybody want to blame everything on president obama, but it started with bush. that's all i got to say. host: why's that? caller: we wouldn't have had that problem. host: okay. let's go to shawn. caller: good morning. unfortunately, we're going to have to deal with them. if we don't, you know they're going to spread to europe, the weakest countries they can find. soft targets. then they're coming our way. that's all i got to say. host: what should the president do? boots on the ground? additional air strikes? caller: yes. we have to put boots on the ground. who's going to stop them if we don't? the arob league? i don't think so.

europeans, they're more --ab le? i don't think so. europeans, they're more -- i served and have been over there more than once and if we don't do it now, we're going to continue dealing with them. unfortunately, we're going to have to step up. we're going to have to. and i thank you for taking my call. host: thank you, shawn, from virginia. the guardian writes with some frustration, the obama considering their options regarding isis to remain limited despite the killing of an american citizen. mason is joining us from virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. i think people don't really understand the dynamic in the

middle east right now as it relates to isis and the campaign they're waging. isis is an extremist organization, and their goal is the destruction, of shia of islam. it's tit for tat. for now, they're just interested in killing other muslims and, i mean, not to be callous about it, but i say let them have it. this is -- when we overthrew

saddam hussein, we took the lid off their jar. host: thank you very much for the call. this is the headline from the union leader in manchester new hampshire. a memorial service held yesterday for james foley with the headline he is free now. fox news, among -- released by the foley family sent by james family. it says he was being held with 17 other hostages. in the letter, he says, quote, i have regained most of my weight lost last year. i've had weak and strong days wrote james foley to his family. we are so grateful when anyone is free, but, of course, yearn for our own freedom and we try to encourage each other.

and he also said grandmother, please take walks and medicine and keep strong so i can have you to help me regain my life. caller: my question is all this stuff, i was in iraq ten years ago today almost. and that was 2004/2005. now, every time i left over there, we heard so much about blackwater. and i'm sure in this coming year we're going to hear so much more because of hillary running. blackwater is still over there today. i haven't heard john boehner or anyone else address this situation.

we went through libya and all this crap. what is blackwater still doing in iraq. that's my comment. host: thank you for the call. the story militants seize syria air base. the extremist group, islamic state capturing a major air base in syria driving out forces and gaining full control of an entire province for the first time since syria's civil war. the takeover of the base on sunday led to set backs. the full story available online at wsj.com. from florida, donald is on the phone. good morning. caller: i had a comment in general about the negative feedback we get from congress

and senators mccaine and lindsey graham, whatever the president does. you know, he's aware of the, you know, the intelligence coming out of that area probably more than those two senators. what frustrates me is like a few weeks ago when the president was rescuing the yazidis from the mountain and hitting isis, they came out and said, well, you shouldn't reveal your strategy, how foolish. and now they turn it around this weekend and are demanding that he lay out his policy for them, you know. . it's just kind of silly how the politics are in this. now is the time as a cup tremendous we need to stand together and not attack our own president. especially after he's been threatened directly by the enemy. it seems that these guys are acti acting treasonist to me.

i just wish we had more solidarity. next is a viewer from texas. good morning. as the president weighs options against isis, what should he do? caller, you're on the air. caller: thank you. thank you for taking my call. it's amazing -- for those american people so you cannot kill the human being like that. so i'm calling on behalf of the democrats and republicans who come together.

people need to act. thank you. host: thank you for the call from texas. two headlines from the concord mond monitor in new hampshire. from here in washington d.c., mike is on the phone. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wonder what people think in the country that if you continue to oppress people, you're going to create your own al quaeda here. secondly, with the politics we have, they love the money more than their country.

host: kevin has this point, fighting our wonderful al lie al lie -- ally -- caller: thanks for taking my call. two other callers, one said that it was bush's fault. we rocketed the susdan, afghanistan, and reduced saddam huhs huhs's army. another caller said this is just a sunni shiite battle.

isis kills anyone that doesn't think their way and i think that we need to gear up and lend aid to syria, lend aid to the kurds, and do everything they can right now without putting boots on the ground that we can to abolish these guys. let me tell you, they're here. they're going to set up cells the same way that al quaeda did. thank you for taking

longer can walk the streets of iowa city at night. it's for $50 million to shut down section eight housing and the people coming in here from chicago destroying the quality of life in iowa city. my apartment was broken into way back when and the guy stabbed me in the face and he was from chicago. he's an ex-football player. weighed twice as much as i did and is half my age.

i'm 75 right now. host: jerry from iowa. thank you for your call. this is from one of our viewers saying that if isis is so dangerous, why are we funding and arming them in syria? our question this morning, what options should be on the table for the president as he meets with his defense secretary today back at the white house and weighs the possibility of additional military operations against isis. breaking news in fort lee, ve

virginia, an active shooter has been reported in the fort lee army base in virginia. the base has been placed on lock do you know down down. no other details available at the moment. again, breaking news from fort lee, virginia. and some comments by louisiana's governor from a piece that he put on the fox news website and reprinted at the weekly standard critical of the president's foreign policies operations. he is publicly criticizing the public's response to the beheading of james foley by isis explaining the crux of the matter is there's a president who is disturbingly naive and holds a ewe tutopiaen view of t world. these people will only fail if we cause them to fail. it is not inevitable. that marys them to be defeated and destroyed. in world war ii, we did not win the future by building.

we won it by sdrie destroying. uncomfortable enough, that is the truth. the question we're focusing on, the options for the president against isis. nancy is on the phone from texas. caller: my question is this: we are funding isis in syria, mccaine even took his picture with them. people can google that. then when we they cross the border in iraq, we decide to attack them. they behead christians in iraq and we're surprised when they do the same thing in iraq. this makes no sense to me. host: what do you think the options are for the president? caller: we need to get out of there. host: okay. let's go to uma from new york in west chester county. good morning. caller: i have been watching this issue on isis for a long time and my personal view of what is happening is these people are butchers, mufrderers

a civilized nation shouldn't be present there. let them go after each other. that is the only answer because countries like saudi arabia are hand in glove with them and nobody is talking with them. everybody is talking about what we should do about isis not what the regional countries are doing. host: can you stay on the line? caller: yes. host: there's a piece in the wall street journal pointing out that only the u.s. has the clout to convene a summit and turn the political tide in the middle east. how do you respond to that? caller: my response is the u.s.

leads but the countries in europe are economically so badly off, they are struggling with their economies. how do you expect anything. what is happening in ukraine? what has the european countries done exception sanctions. this is not going to work. if we have to get in their military, we're going to have these people in our backyard and mexico and all that. this is a terrible situation. my husband is with the united nations. we've lived abroad in these countries. these people are hard to assess in the middle east. we have truly not assessed who they are, enemy or friend. people who we call friends are basically down to it our enemies. people have to get together with those countries in the region. let them fight it out. we should get out of there. close our embassies in those

countries. it is not effective at all. one other point other point from this piece, an american-led coalition can defeat isis. the u.s. central command has a list of targets in syria and iraq including staging bases, supply bases, training bases, front line troop positions. the full story is available on wsj.com. we'll go to virginia nest. next. caller: good morning. host: what option should be on the table for president? caller: we need to come out of there. i don't think we need to go into that and do this fight. the people over in the middle east should take care of their own. and mccaine and them are -- this

fight just in order to make money off of weapons that they got investments in, in this country. i think that's wrong because we're getting our kids killed just because of the big politicians who have shares in the weapons and things in this country are progressing off the people of this country and it's wrong. host: okay. thank you for your call and to all of you for your calls and comments on this issue and all the topics this morning on the washington journal. we're back tomorrow morning and will continue looking at campaigning 101 as we focus on campaigning, messaging, and polling. thank you for joining us on this monday. hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

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