charles stinson of the heritage foundation. the michigan state university president on home education and the role of the big ten conference.

00 good morning and welcome to the "washington journal." full >> mark landler reports two dates after ordering air tryings, mr. own issued a fervent call to arms. the once reluctant owner now resolved to waging a at twilight struggle. the remainder of his presidency. here's what president obama had to say about his strategy. are president obama president obama there can be no reasoning with this brand of evil. the only language understood by killers like this is the language. force so the united states of america will work with a

broad coalition to dismantle this network of death. in this effort, we do not act alone nor do we intend to send u.s. troops to occupy the foreign lands. instead, we will support iraqis and syrians fighting to reclaim their communities. we will use our military might in a campaign of air strikes to roll back isil. we will train and equip forces fighting against them on the ground and work to cut off financing and stop the flow of fighters into and out of the region and already over 40 nations have offered to join this coalition. today i ask the world to join in this effort. those who have joined isil should leave the battlefield while they can. those who continue to phis for a hateful cause will

find they are increasingly alone. for we will not succumb to threats and we will demonstrate that the future belongs to those who build, not those who destroy. >> host: president obama at the united nations yesterday outlining his strategy against isis and that is our topic for you this morning. your take. what is your confidence level that this strategy will work. "washington post" reports that in a 40 minute address that served as the centerpiece of at three day visit here, obama delivered a forceful and at times searing critique to the threats to international order that he said requires action from the more than 150 countries' assembled. tone contrasted sharply with address here last year when he said the world is more stable than it was five years ago. appearance on stage wednesday was a bid to recruit more nations to

actively support the coalition. >> david, independent caller, you're first. what is your confidence level? >> caller: i would say probably a little more than 50%. i think it's good that he's working with the coalition and i think that is key for success but i wish that there were more countries behind the effort even though you know 40 is good. i don't know how me with had in the gulf war that president bush assembled a coalition. that's what made it so successful. >> host: okay. all right, david. you think we need more countries involved. >> caller: definitely, more countries involved. yes. and you know, i think that the speech was very moving, very good.

i don't know i think also that maybe it should have been given earlier maybe, you know, like -- i don't know. sometimes the timing of these things, they play out better when they're, you know, presented at a certain time. i don't know. that's up nor debate. >> all right. david. on the country that's have joined this coalition and what they're doing, the wall street journal put together this graphic. here's a partial look at the landscape. bahrain conduct the air strikes. france has done the air street strikes in iraq. jordan is going to participate in air strikes in syria and did so on monday. netherlands decided to join iraqi air strikes, ruled out strikes in syria. qatar doing surveillance flights in car car and uae.

uk done recon sons flights over iraq. australia is arming curds and will send military investors to iraq. france is also going to be arming the curds and germany says it will arm the curds and offered them training in germany as well. italy will offer training and weapons to the kurdish military. jordan will allow training of moderate syrian rebels. netherlands will be training iraqi and kurdish forces. saudi arabia agreed to host training and then you have britain that says they will ship arms to curds in iraq. that gives you an idea of the countries participating. harold in new jersey, good morning. republican. >> caller: good morning. i'm sorry. i feel a duty to call. i'm a veteran of world war ii and my confidence level in the president is very

low, or any postpartum depression -- any president is wrong, dangerously wrong when they live in the land of make believe. our president said there that people should have fair and free elections. nevertheless in this country in the last presidential election, he used the full force of the government to, the full force of the irs. he use -- the only thing he didn't use, he didn't use any of the soldiers and thank god for that. but this president even like on health care, he promises you can keep your doctor. this is a horrible thing. he says you can keep your plan. you're going to save $2,500 a year. >> host: so president, you so harold, you don't trust the president.

jean in colorado, independent, your confidence level? >> caller: zorro. this is going to work about as well as it has for the last 22 to 23 years our involve bement in the middle east. we spent somewhere between two and four trillion dollars being involved in the middle east for no valid reason. thousands of war dead, more thoses with ttsd, mangled bodies all over the place. and everybody seems oblivious to the simple fact that none of these muslim countries can hurt the united states unless you allow them to come into the united states. it's just ludicrous. it's insane that you'd take all of our time and effort and blood and sweat and tears and go over there and try to haphazardly stop them

when you can simply say no, you cannot come into our country and hurt us here with your terrorism. >> host: you'd rather see them boost up border security, visa regulations? >> caller: the idea that we went through the 9/11 catastrophe and we have open borders? you know, i live here in arizona and i don't believe most people in the united states know what is, what it is like in the border states. we have chinese coming across the border. we don't even know how many people and from what origins they come from that enter our borders. >> host: okay. elija in columbus, ohio. democratic caller. you're on the air. your confidence level? >> caller: my confidence level is about 75%. >> okay. >> caller: i was just

listening to some of the rhetoric coming from two our three of you people speaking. it's a good thing that they aren't in a position to have their programs acling knowledged from any place. i just heard a bit of racism, a bit of why we got to keep people out of the borders. how do they think they got here? they were ousted from england themselves. as pilgrims. that's what pilgrims were. give this president a chance. >> host: okay. may i ask how old you are? >> caller: yes. >> host: how old are you, elija? inches i lived through a lot. i'm 84 years of age and i don't have a wrinkle. >> host: okay. we move on to marion in

pittsburgh, pennsylvania. republican caller. marion, what are your thoughts on the president's strategy and your confidence level? >> caller: i think it's a terrible strategy that he has. i think he's an embarrassment to the united states of america. our allies. why do you think we have no allies? because of him. it isn't just in 2012 he went to the eun and said about the video and now he stats with this stupid climate change and all that. he's a national disgrace. >> host: okay. let's hear what the allies had to say about the president's speech. joining us on the phonies colin lynch, the united nations correspondent for foreign policy. mr. lynch, what was the reaction in the room and outside the room after president obama gave that speech yesterday? >> caller: it was overwhelmingly positive. i mean, you had the

europeans from the europeans to the chinese, the chinese were extremely enthusiasm about the american-led initiative to adopt a resolution that would try to sort of impede the ability of these foreign fighters from crossing borders, from getting to the war field to returning home to the battlefield. there was, you know, support even from russia who has been very critical of america's decision to intervene in syria. they have very close relationship with the syrian government and they didn't want that to happen. their foreign minister and the security council when they were talking about this issue was relatively muted and then supported the american initiative. they have been saying publicly that they don't think the americans have a legal basis for conducting air strikes in ear ya but you know, this is kind of

one of the issues the el whole international fight against international terrorism that unites the eun in a way that so many other issues line the conflict in ukraine, the war, civil war in syria and the various other efforts in the region. that doesn't have that, that have divided the u.s. and the western allies. you know, from russia and china. >> host: the president later in the day yesterday led a eun security council meeting, proposed a u.s.-written resolution. what did it say and was he able to sway the others to vote for it? >> yes, unanimous vote. 15 members of the security council, russia, china, voted in support, a show. eun if i and what it does is it sort of follows on

previous eun resolutions that try to con strain the financing and travel in the previous cases of activities by militants linked to al qaeda or the taliban and this one extends the category of individuals targed by these measures to french fighters. individual that's governments suspect are going to fight in foreign wars either in somalia or syria, or iraq. and it also kind of calls on countries to strengthen their national laws to enable them to better monitor these individuals, to you know, find out ways to counter act the radicalization of groups within their countries and to generally impede the

activities of foreign fighters. i think one of the issues that the governments didn't take up and most of the governments were very keen. they like to extend the power of law enforcement to address these kinds of issues but a number of human rights groups and civil liberties groups ha been alarmed the degree to which some of these measures will overtake, you know, laws and you know, policies that have, you know, essentially supported, endorsed the notion that say there's a right to travel, that, you know, you can't be arrested or detained if you haven't committed a crime or you're not suspected of committing a crime. these laws you would be able to detain a suspected foreign fighter, even if you had no evidence they had engaged in terrorist activity but you suspected they many might travel abroad and engage in such activities. also the notion that a

person, an individual can't participate, that it is illegal to parodies paint in an armed conflict. this goes against the tradition of international law where there has not been those kind of prohibbingses on these activities. we're entering into an area where i think you are likely to see a great deal of tension between civil liberties and the law enforcement side of this effort to go after the foreign fighters but this is something that will be fought out in courts. and, you know, governments, traditionally a little more, you know, receptive to, you know, moves that, you know enhance their own power. >> host: okay. so, the president was successful in getting this resolution approved unanimously as you said. was he effective in public or behind the scenes in getting these others to not

only join this coalition but give up resources for it as well, whether it is air strikes or training? >> caller: it's a lot of the elements of the coalition building are still unclear and differs from place to place. a lot of countries are participating in a variety of ways, either as you mentioned some of the gulf countries engaging in air strikes in syria. the french conducting air strikes in iraq but not in syria. so, what is also not clear is you know, say for instance you mentioned a couple of cases where countries will provide training and equipping the syrian opposition. the saudis in particular are offered resources to do that according to the americans, but not precisely clear what it is they're going to do yet so there hasn't been a lot of transparency over

what exactly countries will do and how serious therapy commitment is. for instance the americans and the gulf states have been engaged in air strikes in syria. not clear how long they will continue with this operation. was it just sort of an initial kind of show of solidarity to kind of project the impression that this is not just a western american war but that it has by and from the arab countries in the region. i think a lot of this is still developing, coming together. british are now considering deepening their involvement there. has been considerably reluctance by the british to jump into this. i think in the past one would have expected the british to be right alongside the americans as they started the air strikes in iraq but there has been more kind of parliamentary and public opposition to military intervention and so

you know, britain has been kind of less keen to be out there in front along with the americans as one would have expected in the past. interesting that you see the french playing that role. but you know, within sort of french politics, the french presidency has enormous power and the parliament doesn't have that much sway over decisions of war and peace. i think that is -- i think it's a little bit unclear but i think the speech we want over quite well. >> david cameron tweeting i have requested that parliament be recalled to debate the uk response to the iraqi government request for support against isil. what is the president's schedule today? still in new york? >> still in morning. i don't have a copy of the schedule in front of me. not sure exactly what it is today but he's still building on the effort to meet with world leaders to try to he can tend support for the coalition.

one issue we didn't talk about which is iran and how it fits into this whole picture and you know, the americans have been reluctant along with gulf states to allow iran into the coalition, both the united states and iran have annette degrading and destroying the islamic state or isil or isis as the americans call them. tanned there is i think broad consensus including among close american allies that they will be unable to defeat this group without support from the iranian government. and the americans have been reluctant to sort of openly embrace the iranians as a military partner but last night you had prime minister cameron saying that success of the effort really depended on cooperation from iran and that we should give iran a chance to show that

it's committed to acting, providing, helping provide a solution to this problem. so that is going to be interesting how that plays out. >> host: all right. colun lynch, thank you for your time. back to your calls. erin, independent caller, what is your confidence level? in the president's strategies again isis? >> caller: well, i'd have to say 70%. maybe 80%. but just some quick comments i want to make. you know, being a true i want, i try to look at both sides. you look at recent events in u.s. involvement in that area, the bush invasion in 2003. i think maybe that did kind

of beginning confidence in the united states. took a little bing. >> i agree with the caller from pittsburgh that, you know, obama's red line comment more ream was very damaging. you could also say that you our actions, you know, israel palestinian conflict in that area has damaged the world's view of the u.s. has been a little tarnished but overall, i think the great things that this country has done over really since world war ii overrides that and that's why thee countries still look to us for leadership. and i think it's a wonderful thing. >> host: all right. robert, you're up. democratic caller. >> caller: thank you. good morning. my name is genius robert.

i try to call in because i'm very interested in what goes on around the world. i believe i would give mr. own 97.5% agreements and the reason i feel so strongly in support of mr. own is because he came in in turmoil and there is always turmoil but the turmoil was started in a great way by the capitalist situation that we have created over the years, especially since mr. reagan came in and did his globalization to a big extent. what i'm trying to say is we live in a more turmoil way and i'd like to have our leader always backed up because afterall, he elected and it wasn't very close. it would have been with a

bigger count if people would actually vote and vote in their interesting. >> host: all right. robert. the previous caller mentioned the coalition that president george w. bush put together. this is from the "washington times" yesterday. where they wrote that when mr. bush decided to invade iraq in 2003, he put together a coalition of 46 nations. mr. obama, instead of against the sovereign nations sad tuesday his coalition number more than 40 countries. he'll push for more to help in the effort like he did wednesday. by the way, if you missed that, go to the web site, wusatv9.com to watch it all. hi, author. go ahead. >> good morning.

i support president obama and his effort 90% and i support congress and the senate in therapy effort in supporting president obama 40%. i think they need to get behind him on this issue. though they have other issues they're working on but this one is particularly important to our nation and the world. >> host: arthur, you want to see public debate and a vote by congress? >> caller: quick as they can do it. >> host: steve, republican caller. hi, steve. >> caller: hello. i was really shocked. i gave president own a pass the bone a pass the first year. -- most of those that was democrat because of the

democrats up north left us. the conservative democrats we want to republicans. we still vote democrat a lot locally around here. i thought it was the best speech i've ever seen him give in six years. he talks real good. when he mentioned ferguson, that was started by a thug named robert brown. he broke the law several times. he'd still be alive if he never broke the law. >> host: we'll stick to your confidence level in the president's strategy. here's reaction from capitol hill. senator dianne feinstein, democrat from california tweetedi out by chairing the eun security council meeting, president obama highlights the real it there and marcia black burn, a republican from tennessee saying the only climate change poe tuesday should talk about is changing the climate that let's terrorism

flourish. >> another tweet. ... >> john cornyn, the senator from texas, a republican tweetsous, potus goes to un to make the case but won't come to congress. senator john cornyn. some reaction from capitol hill. the hill newspaper who covers capitol hill here in washington has this headline. the costs are wracking up in this isis fight. in the article, she reports that the u.n. launched nearly 50 tomahawk crews missiles in tuesday. each of which cost about $1.5 million to replace. military used f-22, f-16s to pound the islamic state in iraq and syria which want cost between $20,000 and

$65,000 per plying hour. high fiscal cost for the nation as the bills from iraq and afghanistan fade from memory. the fight against isis looks to be much less expensive than the other wars that sent hundreds of thousands to those countries. story goes on to say that still more than 1600 military investors authorize method go to iraq while 800 provide diplomatic security. more troops on the ground could be necessary. average cost of sending a single soldier to the region is about $1 million per year. that from the hill newspaper about the cost of fighting isis. david in maryland, democratic caller. what is your confidence level? >> caller: are you talking to me? >> host: i am. listen to me on your phone, turn the tv down. go ahead. >> caller: i support the

president in all he does. i wish congress would. turn the tv down? >> host: i'm going to move on. you have to listen through the phone. go to albert in delaware. hi, albert. >> caller: hi. good morning. i just wanted to say that i support the president because he's a very -- not only because he's the president but because he's very thoughtful. and a lot of problems that we face overseas is because certain people in the congress won't support the president on many things and that makes people think we're a divide nation. i also wanted to say that where is kuwait in this fight? are they in the tall grass or something? they got to come out and tell us where they stand. we saved them from saddam last time. thank you very much. >> host: okay. jerry in alexandria, independent caller.

>> good morning. yes, thanks for taking my call. i think that the people of the united states should support the president in this situation. the congress, the, they need to stand behind him. the people of the nation need to stand behind him. he's probably the more all forceful knowledgeable president in my memory, maybe going back to kennedy, but i think that congress needs to do their part incoming together and working as a unit to support him. >> host: okay. tack a look at roll call web site. their headline. congress in no rush to return for isis war authorization and they report that the ups has begun a bombing campaign in syria but don't bet on congress returning to vote on a new war authorization anme