martha: president obama posts the worst approval numbers a president has seen right before the mid-terms as democrats are worried about what will happen to their party come november. i'm martha maccallum. eric: i'm shaker sean in for bill hemmer. a nbc news poll find only 40% of

americans approve of the job president obama is doing. that's lower than george w. bush's numbers in 2006 and bill clinton's. martha: if you work in the white house you cannot be very happy. these are stunning numbers are. >> reporter: these are appalling numbers for a sitting president. i'm sure the white house has seen numbers like this in their relentless polling. it becomes apparent, though, to us, that the president badly misjudged his initial response to the beheading of one american until and then the second. the round of golf, the detached attitude, the some of the language. what you are seeing tonight as

americans are peopling intense awareness of those two murders that the president is going to try to respond in a more forceful tone. martha: one of the things we learned is the story of the beheading of these two journalists grabbed america's attention like no other. the decision to go golfing afterwards was a continue ear the likes of which we have not seen in a long time. >> it was an ate stop i shaling choice. the depth of the misunderstanding and his own residents. as that poll points out, we have not seen a story penetrate the thinking of the american people in a very long time. maybe even since 2001.

but the president didn't treat it with the kind of seriousness he should and he and his party are paying a serious price. martha: the president has to understand where the american people are on things and it's the job of the people around him to make sure he does. another number that's stunning is this one. 26% think we are safer now than before september 11. this after a trillion dollars has been spent in homeland security. we are doing a story on this later in the show. but you talk about the deep insecurity of the american people. i think it crosses a number of platforms. do you agree. >> deep insecurity about our economic well being and whether or not the government the government president obama lead and congress doesn't is up to the job of protecting the nation, insuring our liberty, making sure opportunity exists.

there is a deep brokenness that is reflected in this poll. that means if people want change, and that's not good if you are the majority party. there was a moment in the news conference' yesterday where major garrett suggested that the president wasn't going to break any new ground in this speech. that he wasn't going to be specific about the strategy and josh earnest stumbled on that. given the numbers we are talking about, the president need to change his tone dramatically to line up with where the american people appear to be on these issues. he has hah tall order, does he not? >> he likes to do the goldilocks, not too hot, not too cold. his goal tonight will be to get congress on the hook for a

long-range plan as opposed to what the plurality of americans will want to hear that the engines will roar and a heavy bombing campaign will take these folks out. martha: they are ready to go from what we are hearing from a number of them. we'll see if the cart is before the horse. chris, thank you very much. we'll see you later. eric: one of those key members of clong be joining us to talk about the speech. the president addressing the nation in his vow to destroy isis. the speech, complete coverage on the fox news channel and the fox broadcast network. martha: secretary of state john kerry in a surprise trip to baghdad meeting with the newly formed iraqi government there awaiting help to fight isis. you can see them making efforts

to set up the shot. it will get underway in any minute. it's the first high-level meeting between the secretary of state and the new iraqi prime minister. u.s. officials hope that will keep them, the other sunniss from joining isis. so a lot on the plate today. eric: the nfl pushing back against those claims that the league turned a blind eye to that shocking video we have all seen this week. of course it shows former ravens running-back ray rice punching his then fiancee janay on that elevator. >> weed not seen any video of what mapped in the elevator. we asked forked video and anything that was pertinent but

we weren't granted that opportunity. eric: the commissioner answered some questions but raised some others. >> reporter: most of the questions in this interview centered on that video from inside the elevator. and why the nfl didn't do more to get hold of it giften they must have -- to get hold of it given they must have known that it did exist. >> we are particularly relying on law enforcement. that's the most reliable and the most credible. we don't seek to get that information from sources that are not credible. >> reporter: do you wish you had seen this videotape before it was released at tmz? >> absolutely. >> reporter: the idea that the nfl wanted it from a credible source does not sit well with harvey levin, the man who runs

tmz. listen to harvey levin on "gretta." >> when goodell is saying what he wanted to get it from a credible source. why does he not think the casino video which is the basis for what the police have in the first place. why does he suggest the casino isn't as credible as the police? the police got it from the casino. >> reporter: in the next few days and weeks he may be forced to answer that question himself. why did they not do more, why did they not go directly to the casino, why did they not demand to see that video? eric: we know janay, so far stand big her husband but not have many others this morning. >> reporter: janay rice about the only person publicly backing ray rice. nike announcing they were

dropping him as what they called a nike athlete. and the owner of the baltimore ravens making it clear in a letter to fans that there is no way back it seems for ray rice. part of the letter from the ravens owner says quote, seeing that video changed everything. we should have seen it earlier. we should have pursued our own investigation more vigorously, what he didn't and weep were wrong. -- and we were wrong. there is another alleged domestic violence case brewing. ray mcdonald was arrested on suspicious of domestic violence. the 49ers are now being criticized for letting him play. they say he has not been charged. but this is more gris t more gre

mill saying the nfl has tolerance for domestic violence unless it's caught on video. martha: we'll talk to the source from tmz. lots more coming up on ray rice this morning. fox news is america's election headquarters. five states held elections. scott brown beating a crowded field in the new hampshire gop senate primary against incumbent democrat' jean shah mean. seth molten defeated john tierney. tierney is the first sitting massachusetts congressman to lose a primary since 1992.

eric: we have new information about the u.s. air marshal who was stabbed with a syringe at an airport. martha: a virus spreading across the u.s. eric: as the president gets ready to lay out his plans for fighting isis 12 hours from now, the white house says he does have the authority to take action. so why hasn't he done more? bob mckuhn joins us with what he thinks of the president's plan. >> you have to instill fear and respect as president. i think he has lost both fear and respect from our enemies. i'm m-a-r-y and i have copd.

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eric: we have more details about that weird syringe attack on an air meshaal in lagos. it turns out a group of men walked up to the air marshal and stabbed him to the ground. after the attack he board a flight to houston and was taken to a hospital where he was under observation. no arrests so far. martha: president obama just hours away from his speech on

fighting isis. the white house is make it clear they will not ask for a congressional vote. the president says he has the authority he needs to take action. republican critics say he hasn't done enough and that the stakes are high. >> he's been weak and indecisive in the face of threats from putin and terrorists. he's been untrust war new -- he has been untrustworthy in telling us what's happened. i'm pulling for him because if he doesn't get it right, they are coming here. martha: buck mckeen is chairman of the house committee. in terms of congress' role in all this how do you see it? >> we have a responsibility to make sure our nation is sure.

we have the responsibility to make sure our armed services committee to make sure our armed services have all that they need to return home safely. martha: where do you think the democrats are on the use of force in syria? do you think they are ahead of the president or not convinced at this point? >> we just got back from a month-long break from washington. and everybody is kind of familiarizing themselves again and they are all over the table on different issues. a lot of the democrats are concerned with the president's position that he took that he's not going to break the law on i

am dpraition until after the election. but i think when it comes to the defense our nation, everyone was upset with the beheading of those two journalists. when you see something happen it brings it home. it's been going on for a long time but it brought it to focus and everybody is paying attention. i just got back from a trip to the middle east and i visited with political military leaders there. and they understand the seriousness of this issue. martha: in terms of syria word is the president may ask for more support for the rebels in syria. there are people who have asked for that support to be forthcoming over the last year. so now it appears the president is going ask for more support

for the rebels and that may be a precursor to airstrikes. what do you think about that? >> i don't know what the president is going say tonight. but when i hear he's not going to ask for any new additional authority, that it's going to be just more of the same old, same sold, the stuff we have been doing that hasn't proved effective, that's my concern. we did airstrikes in libya. and the people over in the area were not impressed by that. libya is in chaos. we went in and did some very effective airstrikes. our military can carry out the missions, it's just up to somebody else to decide what the missions should be. the commander-in-chief has been derelict in this situation. those people over there are all in. they are going to do everything they can to win. they are an army of about 18,000

people. they are very well funded. they are taking in about a billion dollars a year. they control the oil field in syria and they are reaping great harvest out of blackmail sale of oil. they took over money in the bang in mosul. they have lots of money and they have lots of support. the people over there, one of the things they are concerned about is the foreign fighters coming from all around the world to join this effort. they are training them and putting them into school. when those people return to their nations, it's going to be chaos and havoc around the world. and they understand each there and we need to understand how serious the threat is, and then have the resolve to take it on and finish it. martha: congressman buck mckeon, thank you, sir. eric: did the department of justice actually conspire with

democrats to spin media coverage of the irs conservative targeting scandal. a republican lawmaker accusing the administration of doing just that.

martha: a respiratory virus is leaving children gasping for air. 12 states are reporting an outbreak. one hospital in cincinnati. another in shoes ruling out a mobile triage unit to handle the extra patients they are getting. eric: minutes from now we hear the house oversight committee is

set to hold a hearing. this after darrell issa accused the justice department of attempting to collaborate with the democrats to spin the media coverage on the irs conservative targeting scandal. doug, the claim is doj's in cahoots with the democrats to spin this thing? report rrp it was sparked from a phone calm to the staff of the oversight committee darrell issa. the committee believes fallon accident alley called the ma cae majority staff when he meant to call the minority staff. after he realized his call was to issa's staff he put the call on hold for three minutes, came

back and was audibly shaken, according to staffers. the doj put out a benign statement that read, quote, there is nothing inappropriate about department staff having conversations with both the majority and minority staff as they prepare responses to formal formal -- formal inquiries. is a sayinquiries. the apparent mistaken call casts serious doubt on doj impartiality as it conducts an investigation of the irs targeting. eric: isn't it curious it happens to come out exactly when that committee is investigating the government refusion or stone wall and delaying the requests

to tern over pieces of information. reporter:. at a judiciary commission meeting he applauded the i.g.s for coming forward. >> i commend you for your courage. i have no doubt the administration will come after all of you. that's their pattern. >> reporter: breitbart announced it's being audited by the irs, striking a defiant tone. the executive chairman called the timing of the audit exquisite and said it will only embolden breitbart. martha: roger goodell firing back, defending the nfl's handling of the ray rice incidents. is the commissioner in trouble?

eric: was vice president dick cheney right? the "wall street journal" going back to his words as the president trials to shift his strategy. >> i hope what he won't do is what he has been accustomed to doing with which is detailing all the things he won't do. which unnecessarily tells the enemy too much about your plans and also diminishes the sense of commitment he may be wanting to communicate.

martha: the president's address on his strategy to fight isis ... the "wall street journal" publishing a stinging op-ed. he says one way to undo the damage is to admit cheney was right all along.

president bush warned leaving iraq in a weak way do could be perilous to the united states. >> to begin with drawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would be dangerous for iraq, for the region and for the united states. it would mean surrendering the future of iraq to al qaeda. it would mean we would be risking mass killing on a horrific scale. it would mean we would allow the terrorists to establish a safe highen in iraq to replace the one they lost in afghanistan. it would be increasing the probability american troops would have to return at later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous. >> martha: it's unbelievable to listen to those words and how press yenlt the -- and howpresc.

obviously it's a big night for the president as he carves out our next strategy to win what has turned out to be an ongoing battle in iraq and syria. the president. his strategy and theory, he came into office, that the united states in essence provoked, had poked the bull in the middle east and now we were leaving the tide of war. we were rolling back the tide of war, coming home, bringing our people home and that would leave us in a safer position. was that entire theory incorrect? >> no, i think he was right when he said that. i have to point out the clip you just played of george w. bush was long before he signed the status of forces agreement. it was george' w. bush who signed the agreement that got us out of iraq in twin and all of the troops out by the end of 2011. that was george w. bush's time line. to go to dick cheney for advice about what to do about a war

that he helped start in the first place is insane. these these are the people responsible for getting us into something. but we got out of there and bush's time line, not obama's. >> that's patently false. obama had to renegotiates the status of forces agreement in 2011 because he at the time was the sitting president of the united states. george bush gave him that flexibility. george bush also gave him a very stabilized iraq after the surge. you have the anbar awakening under the petraeus plan. the sunnis or moderate to defeat or fight al qaeda in iraq. you had the infrastructure that kept a stable awareness of what was going on on the ground in iraq. and you had maliki in check. if you want to say the status of forces agreement was part of it. we needed more troops and obama didn't want to send them.

the biggest mistake the president made is when we did leave we stopped diplomatically and political lima niewferring maliki. we allowed them top make him a puppet and that's when the fuel to the fire was created was obama's military and diplomatic fire. >> the fuel to the fire was we got into iraq in the first place. it was never a threat to the united states. he never brought the opposition in. he never formed an inclusive government. that was never going to happen. we created this mess by going into iraq in the first place. we can't ignore that's what was going on here. martha: david cameron said you cannot blind yourself to this. this was not created by the iraq war, this is a threat that has existed against the western world since way before the iraq warp. let's talk about syria.

this editorial in the "wall street journal" goes through almost every single aspect of the president's foreign policy work that he has undertaken and syria is one of those elements. the president said assad must go. at that time his ambassador, robert ford, petraeus and hillary clinton are urging a forceful backing of the free syrian army. he says this is when these people must be backed. we don't do it now other forces will take over that role, precisely what happened. >> it would have been a terrible miss take go into syria. weep would have been siding with the opposition forces. martha: the president made two different speeches saying he wants to back these rebels. >> if we would have sided with the group it would have been a disaster. martha: as opposed to what it is now? >> we had at the time identified

the free syrian army as the good guys, the moderate who could adequately take on assad. hillary clinton supported this and general petraeus indicated support for this. president obama got called out on the world stage as bluffing. that's the first time the united states of america and our presidency and sprenlt was exposed to be so weak was in that syrian conflict. now the president wants to say we can train sunni moderate in training cams in the jordan and other moderate sunni states. that's great, we should have been doing that three years ago and wev would have a more cohesive strategy. you guys are talk on both side. the president a month ago said helping moderate sunniss is a fantasy. this was not going to be a solution. martha: alan, last thought.

>> he said we didn't have an opposition force we could work with because they weren't a true army that could have done the job. martha: they were desperately asking for us to be that good partner in peace. now we'll see what the president says tonight. this "wall street journal" editorial lays out a dark picture and the president has his work cut out for him. good to receive you both. -- good to see you both. eric: shocking accusations about your tax dollars at work. it's legal to buy pot with welfare benefits. nothing the tant statute or regulations preclude states from taking measures to prevent recipients from using their benefit cards that marijuana

shops. stu varney is here. you can use your card to buy booze and get drunk. i can't use it to get 20s but you can get high. >> reporter: regardless of how you feel about the legalization of marijuana, very few people want to see marijuana given as a benefit, taxpayer funded. you can't buy liquor with it. but you can walk into a pot shop and plop down your ebt card and walk out with marijuana paid for by the taxpayer because there is no rule against it. there is no rule that says yes you can. but there is no rule against it. so you can. this is wildly unpopular especially pause you have already got 46 million people on food stamps five years into a recovery. senator jeff sessions has a bill which says you can't do this.

it's to stop what he calls welfare for weed, the loophole. it will be stopped. >> what about those who would say in fairness if you have a desperate need for medical marijuana it's only fair if you can afford it you should have access to it. >> reporter: in comes berkeley, california where local pot shops would be forced to give marijuana to poor people. that would take care of the needy. eric: poor people with cancer or everybody? >> reporter: everybody. it would be at medical marijuana stores. if you are poor you could get your prescription filled on the taxpayer. eric: i have the feeling it's not over yet. martha: a spotlight on roger goodell and the nfl after allegations the league turned a blind eye to the ray rice

situation. will the league face a backlash? eric: how' would you be willing to pay for a primo parking spot in your city. we have a story coming up that will make you think twice about public transportation. ♪ they paved paradise to put up a parking lot ♪

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martha: one developer in the city thinks parking spots are so valuable they are worth $1 million. he's offering 10 spots in lower manhattan for $1 million. they are under a still being developed condominium. they cost $500,000 per swear foot. there will be some people probably who have a lot of money who will consider that additional cost to the home they are buying and that's their

garage. eric: you don't need quarters anymore. this is a controversy with nfl commissioner roger goodell. he's defending himself against critics who accuse the commissioner and the league of not doing enough. >> i think it's a fact because the criminal justice system and law enforcement were following the laws and doing what they needed to do to make sure that they followed the criminal activity. this is an ongoing criminal investigation and i think they were doing what they do. we are cooperative and supportive. we'll ask for any pertinent information we can have access to but we can't force them top provide any information.

eric: jim gray fox news sportscaster joins us. he looks like a cave man drags his fiancee out of that elevator. has the commissioner done enough? >> well, in hindsight he has done enough. he suspended him indefinite lit. how he got to this point. he changed the policy. he said when he saw it he was sickened by it. the team terminated his contract and the league said ray rice is suspended indefinitely. ultimately he got it right. it took a while to get in and there have been several mistakes along the way. eric: a lot of people say they should have taken stronger action. now they will suspend him for 6 games? >> how much more can you do than

what he has done. he apologized. he said he got it wrong. he miscalculated. it was a bad judgment at the time. he changed it. ray rice didn't get on the field today. they should have gotten the tape. i don't see how an organization that deals with the derks a, the department of justice, the homeland security. he said he requested it, tried several times and they didn't get it. now it is where we are at. where we are at is the right result. eric: they said they didn't get the tape because the hotel wouldn't turn it over. now the hotel is out of business and that may be how tmz got it. what does this say about the behavior in the league by some of these football players and the allegations dealing with this? where does the league go from here? you know there will be demonstrations and protests against this type of thing.

>> reporter: the behave yoirs atrocious and it -- the behavior is atrocious. the national football league is just part of the society. there always spotlight and microscope. there has been tremendous failure of judgment along the way. as far as the fans. the fans in baltimore were starnlding up cheering for ray rice when he came back on the field for training camp. those people obviously felt they wanted see ray rice play on the football field. eric: what does that say about the sense of morals of some people in this country. now they are turning stuff back to the stores. >> now they have seen the videotape. that tape as the commissioner described it is sickening and disgusting. now we can see it, and people it and we can injust ourselves and this is the result.

it will be he at some point will probably get a second chance. but you get over that with the fans and his teammates will be very hard. league do and what do they have to do as the season starts? >> i think they have to be vigilant in their pursuit when these guys are making these times of mistakes and doing these illegal despicable behavior that they are on top much it. roger goodell says we listened and we learned. i'll take him at his word. i think they have. eric: thank you. martha: we are going to talk to harvey levin at tmz who raised a lot of questions. tmz broke this video originally. they have broken and lot of stories like this. roger goodell questioned the sources.

so harvey levin will be here to answer those questions. eric: they got the tape. martha: there is new hope today for an american marine jailed in mexico. tahmooressi's lawyer says he's happy after yesterday's hearing. plus this ... eric: have you seen these storms in the midwest? they turned some streets into rivers. while every business is unique,

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minutes turning streets into the mighty mississippi. almost. just in time for rush hour. firefighters had to rescue two people after their cars were swamped by the floodwaters. damaging winds, large hail and reported tornadoes in the area. martha: the lawyer for and u.s. marine sitting in a mexican jail says he is happy after yesterday's hearing and is certain surveillance videos will support sergeant tam reelsy's story about what mapped after he krolsd into mexico with guns. >> reporter: the surveillance video is going to be one piece of the puzzle the judge uses to determine tam reelsy's fate. the prosecutor, judge and defense spent 8 hours going over

that tape, ending after midnight. it's a lot of wide angle and no audio, but his lawyer says it establishes certain facts that contradict or under mine the government's case. there were five customs agents and five soldiers involved in the stop. tam reelsy's truck was searched five times. only after did they present him the order for permission to search the truck. >> you can see my client's demeanor from the begin can is calm. he's cooperative. he is seen -- we have no audio, but he's clearly motioning and trying to explain that he wants to go back and motions the guns are hidden in a certain place. and he cooperates with his captors.

>> reporter: the problem is we did not see the video. so we are depend dent on tam reelsy's lawyer for this interpretation. the government is not playing ball with the press at all. they said it doesn't matter. tam reelsy had three guns pan am anything in his car. it doesn't matter if he missed the turn the or not, he's in violation of the law. >> reporter: the president is set to lay out its strategy to take apart and kill isis. but what will he say tonight and will it be enough to defeat radical islamic terrorism? coming up we'll show you new pops that show how many of us back a mission against the isis threat. martha: tomorrow marks 13 years since the 9/11 attacks. just how safe are we we now. inside the ts marks the next hour. things.

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martha: president obama making his case directly to the american people tonight. he will outline his strategy to bring the fight to isis in iraq and syria on the eve of 9/11. [gunfire] expanding the mission against isis could help to turn the tide in iraq where the national army and local militias are losing ground by the day and there is growing support for military action targeting isis across the border in syria as well according to polls we're seeing this morning. brand new hour of "america's newsroom" starts right now. i'm martha maccallum. eric: good morning, every one i'm eric in for bill hemmer this morning. the president prepares to address the nation just under 11 hours from now but it appears he already has broad backing with a sharp shift in public opinion on this issue. 61% of voters in the latest "wall street journal" poll saying action against isis in iraq and syria is in our

national interest. just 13% disagree. we've white house correspondent ed henry on the north lawn with the very latest. ed, you're hearing that the president is potentially closer to ordering the anticipated airstrikes in syria? >> reporter: that's right, eric. i think we can expect tonight a lot more from the president how he is edging closer to thirds requiring airstrikes in syria. not likely to say he will be move forward tonight. after the meeting with congressional leaders today, pour public consumption the white house put out a read out look he told leaders bluntly he doesn't need authorization a new law to authorize airstrikes in syria. i'm told privately by officials here he did have an ask, which he wants them to pass a separate law, that would build up support to the syrian reb barnes the opposition. why is the president doing that? what does it mean? it means that he wants the syrian rebels on the ground to be the ground troops instead of u.s. ground troops to support us air strikes inside syria.

he used same model in iraq where you've seen us air strikes but not u.s. combat troops, ground troops. instead you see iraqi military forces after the u.s. military might in the air coming in, trying to support the gains on the ground. what is also fascinating, this is a bit of a flop flop for the president. he has been under pressure pour years to army syrian rebels and help them and largely resist ad couple weeks ago, mocked them, laughed it off they're just doctors and dentists. it is fantasy he should have armed them much sooner. now he needs, them eric. eric: as you said in 2011 was urged by hillary clinton and others to do that and he turned them. we heard this would be a day time speech. now they changed their mind. what is behind changing course to one of those prime time presidential speeches that we've had in the past? >> reporter: certainly raises the pressure. interesting intelligence behind the scenes what moved the president to do this. first of all i'm told that after

that nbc "meet the press" interview the president and aids were surprised after largely positive reaction he gotten beaten up for days he didn't have strategy. he finally articulated what he wants to do moving forward. they thought that is interesting. then another thing happened n iraq you had the unity government against all odds come together. i'm told president and his aides in some meetings said, look, this is big moment than we expected. we need to seize it. jump on momentum of new iraqi government. there is lot of skepticism that the iraqi government to call afarther. they want to move on that and push for syrian rebels with a two-pronged policy. there might be another factor when they went prime time. you mentioned pols. they're supportive of us air strikes in syria. the president's leadership is under fire in a whole bunch of polls. they might need prime time to sell bigger audience with pressure. eric: democrats and republicans have been critical. ed henry, thank you very much as

always. martha. martha: murders of american journalists focus our attention on the growing threat of isis and shining a spotlight on the president's leadership. charles krauthamer says he believes it took that for the president to take action. >> this is a classic example of leading from behind. where he waits for public opinion and now it is the public who is demanding he does something. americans don't like to see other americans killed on television by a prideful enemy like that and our president doing nothing. martha: joined now by retired u.s. army lieutenant colonel ralph peters, fox news strategic analyst. ralph, good to have you with us. good morning. >> hi, martha. >> see numbers that come out today, that show the american people are very much behind more forceful action against isis, in iraq and in syria, as well according to these numbers. what do you expect from the president tonight. >> well it is really a matter of

what i hope to hear, what we need to hear and i'm looking for a number of things but two key ones. first of all, syria. syria's the issue. will he expand and intensify the air campaign to reach across that no longer existing border between what used to be iraq and syria to hit the, heart of the caliphate in eastern syria, to hit isis where it matters in their heart of darkness, in their bastion, their refuge? without doing that, without doing it on a large, powerful and punishing scale, none of the rest of it falls into place. the second thing i need the president to do, we need the president to do is stop telling the world he will not do. i heard again and again. no boots on the ground. no goose on the ground. -- boots on the ground. got it, mr. president. no artificial timelines, please. don't tell the enemy what our limitations are. he needs to be positive. but you know, i want.

he is our president. i want him to do good. i want the country to be safe. i want him to defeat isis but i worry, martha, this is president who always tries to get off cheap. when you try to get off cheap in war it wind up being very, very expensive. martha: colonel peter, hang on one minute. we want to go to john kerry secretary of state speaking about baghdad and talking about additional $40 million to be spent. let's listen in to details. >> -- the urgent humanitarian relief effort required because of their barbarity. we have an interest in supporting the new government of iraq at this particular critical juncture. the coalition at the heart of our global strategy i assure you will continue to grow and deepen in the days ahead. including at the u.n. general assembly in new york later this month and that is because the united states and the world will

simply not stand by and watch as isil's evil spread. we all know, i think we come to this with great confidence, that ultimately our global coalition will succeed in eliminating the threat from iraq, from the region, and from the world. and in the doing so, we have an opportunity to build a broader coalition, that can focus on lots of othern this region and to prove the ability of nations to come together for common cause and to make a difference in strengthening the long-term security of all of those nations in the region and elsewhere. so this is a moment for international cooperation to prove its value. this is a moment for multilateralism, to prove its value and have its effect. this is a moment for all decent countries to come together and stand up and say to the world that we've had enough of these

individual groups where their violent brand of distortion who seek to dominate people and coerce them, at risk of losing their life or him to their way of thinking. that is not what the global order or the norms of behavior have happily stood for many, many years now and they're not going to start to now. so that's our challenge and i'm very, very pleased with the constructive meetings that i had here in iraq to begin this effort to grow this coalition as rapidly as possible and put us in a position to move forward. >> first question will become -- martha: all right. john kerry will take questions. we'll monitor that. we'll bring you any news that breaks out of that situation as it continues to go on in baghdad. obviously he is there to give support and strength to this

new, this new prime minister and this new legislation and leadership in iraq as we look at the focus on eliminating isis which he talked about as well. so let me go back to colonel ralph peters here. it is interesting language when we talk about the enemy, colonel peters. we heard him discuss extremism and individuals and individual groups and i'm constantly reminded of the words that david cameron use two fridays ago when he spoke about the root cause of this threat against our security is quite clear. it's a poison just ideology, islamic extremism, condemned by all faiths and all faith leaders. i wonder how the president will phase exactly who the enemy is when he talks about it tonight? >> he will not call them islamic terrorists, i have to say, prime minister david cameron, is intelligent, articulate, clear-sighted man. when i listened to secretary kerry he was all over the place. he is inarticulate.

he should ask his money back from the swiss prep school. i asked a question from an insider source of mine who basically served in the middle east since the book much genesis and he was really, really upset that the president dispatched kerry to build a military alliance because his feeling is, kerry is distrusted and disliked by all of our allies and clients in the middle east. he really felt that secretary of defense hagel or preferably general dempsey should have gone. well that's over. here, martha, i will tell you the danger here. martha: quickly if you can. >> yes, indeed. the obama administration chases unicorns. the idea there will be unified iraq and stamp out a couple months a new unified iraqi army that can take on isis is a dream illusion and nonsense. you look what men fight for and people what used to be iraq are not going to fight for the baghdad government. they will fight for their homes, their turf, their tribes. they will not fight for the

baghdad government. martha: thank you very much. good to see you, sir. >> thank you. eric: nfl commissioner roger goodell coming under fire for not doing enough to investigate the ray rice case. so the question today, how can that website "tmz" get a video the league said they could not? coming up we'll ask the man in charge, harvey levin. >> why didn't goodell go to the casino or his people and say, hey, we would like to see the video? we are told by people who worked at casino they never did that. he is doing some irassaults to explain why he didn't go to the casino. work with equity experts who work with regional experts who work with portfolio management experts that's when expertise happens.

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martha: nfl commissioner roger goodell firing back at critics and "tmz" who say he may have not gone far enough to investigate the ray rice case. harvey levin is founder and executive producer of "tmz" is with us this morning. >> hey, martha. martha: obviously you heard what roger goodell had to say. let's play it for the folks at home and get your reaction. >> i don't know how "tmz" or any other website gets their information. we are particularly relying on law enforcement. that is the most reliable, it is the most credible and we don't seek to get that information from sources that are not credible. >> what does that mean to you, harvey? >> well it means that he is just full of bs. i mean, you know, i was very slow in coming to that conclusion and generally don't say it but, here's why. there are multiple reasons but

the simple reason is this, martha. he never went to the casino and asked them for a copy of the videotape. he is, his position is, well, we went to the police and said we want a copy and they didn't give it to us. well they didn't give it to him because there was pending criminal investigation. he could have still gone to the casino. for him to suggest that the casino video is incredible is ridiculous because, where do you think the police got their video? they got it from the casino. the casino has the original video. and, if he really felt that video was not credible, why did he indefinitely suspend ray rice five hours after we posted the casino video? martha: yeah. >> he is simply not telling the truth. and if he really, we had somebody from the nfl source tell us, what he was really saying because they realized how ridiculous statement was, what he is really saying he didn't want to interfere with the police investigation. well, number one, he wouldn't be

by conducting his own. let's say that was really legitimate. the police investigation, the criminal case was over may 20th. he didn't impose the two-game suspension until july 25th, two months later. for those two months the case was closed, he still could have gone back to the casino and said let me see the video. he never did it. i think roger goodell had made his mind up about a two-game suspension and knew the video would get in the way of his decision so he just didn't want to see it. >> that is interesting. before all of this came out he went back out to the public and said that we didn't handle it correctly. there should have been a longer suspension. and also the wording in this next sound bite is also very interesting. i want to get your thoughts on this. let's play it. >> we had not seen any videotape of what had occurred in the elevator. we assumed there was a video. we asked for video. we asked for anything that was pertinent but we were never granted that opportunity. martha: he said they were never

granted that opportunity but they did ask for it. what does your reporting say about that, harvey? >> we were told for our nfl sources that they were asking for fall available evidence. they were not specific asking the police for video of the police position, and we know this, we contacted law enforcement in that jurisdiction, they don't give up pending evidence in a case. that is true but so what? nfl knew they had the video and they didn't go. rave rice's own lawyer had copy of the criminal because of video case. goodell could have gone to him. he had a lot of leverage at the time. he had ways getting video. he knew there was surveillance video in the casino. he knew ray rice knocked out his girlfriend. they said it was mutual combat. good gel is micromanager on all the other cases. on all the other cases he gets involved on specifics in other

cases, i know this. in this case he did nothing. he sat back and did nothing. and the question is, why didn't he go and get what was right in front of him? that is what is fishy about this investigation. martha: why do you think that is? why would he not want to know? why would he want this to happen? he wouldn't want this to happen. >> listen, i can't answer it. that is what i'm struggling, with martha. i don't know what it is. i think for whatever reason, whether he was convinced when ray rice and janay came into his office. i don't know what it was. but i believe made up his mind on two-game suspension. if he wanted to see the sell vator video. he could have seen the elevator video. the fact he is saying we want to go to credible source, you understand what a ridiculous argument is right? because the casino is the source, right? martha: i think everybody is scratching their heads, asking the same thing. no doubt about the credibility video and no other parties involved said the video is not

true or invalid or not credible. >> he himself, martha, he himself based this indefinite suspension monday on our video alone. that is the only thing that triggered it. martha: indeed. >> for him to say this he is digging a hole for himself. >> the team did the same thing. the team said the new video changed their entire thinking about their whole story. great, great work on all of this, harvey. and breaking a lot of news here. thank you very much. good to have you with us. see you soon. >> okay, martha. martha: you bet. eric: they have been driven out and bucherred. even more christians in the middle east face a deadly ultimatum. we reported on this before the demand to convert to islam, pay a tax or be killed. demands to protect christians. will the calls save lives? plus the frantic effort to free a child who is trapped between two walls. ♪

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martha: chinese firefighters rushing to the scene after a six-year-old boy fell out of a window. look at this little guy. and got stuck in a gap only six inches wide between his building. he was there more than two hours. here you can see the whole emergency crew -- holes emergency crew drilled into the ball and pulled the boy to safety. he was dehydrated and the good news he is doing just fine. eric: thankfully. martha: that is a tight spot to be in very least. his parent must have been terrified. that is good news. eric: that is true. glad he is okay. meanwhile christians in the middle east are under attack. we've been reporting on this for quite a while now. how they're being persecuted and

ordered to convert to islam or die by the radical islamic terrorists like isis. a summit is being held in washington to see about all this demanding action. molly henneberg is live in washington with the very latest. molly, the summit is going on today? >> reporter: yes, it is day two. the called the defense of christians summit. a gathering of religious leaders around the world concerned about the persecution of christians particularly in northern iraq and the broader middle east. the goal organizers say is to preserve and protect the christians of the middle east. here's more from the speakers this morning. >> our church, all the churches can not remain silent indifferent, rest nation, isolation, have no place in our vocabulary, in our life as churches. >> please, do not use our

brothers and sisters in the middle east as vote-getters or bargaining chips. >> reporter: some republican and democratic members of congress will do a question and answer session with attendees later today. tonight texas republican senator ted cruz will give the keynote address. eric? eric: what is the white house say about this, molly? >> reporter: president obama said couple weeks ago that isis is in iraq is targeting christians and other religious minorities particularly the yazidis in iraq, quote for no other reason they practice a different religion. the white house said this is the past reason the president ordered airstrikes. here is what the president's spokesman said last month. >> cold and calculated manner isis targeted defenseless iraqis like yazidis and christians solely because of their religious identity demonstrates a callous disregard for human rights and deeply disturbing. report as you said, eric, secretary of state john kerry

warned earlier this summer that isis in iraq said any remaining christians in the city of mosul would have to convert to islam and pay a tax or else, quote, be ex-cued on the spot. eric? eric: a shocking genocide actually that is ongoing. molly, thank you. >> well it has now been 13 years since terrorists hijacked planes and killed 3,000 people. even after we increased airport security are we doing enough now to keep americans safe? eric: and take a look at this, a group of grade schoolkids, made a huge flag, it is record size, actually, we will find out why they did it and the reason. >> we're coming here for the 200th anniversary of the song that francis scott key made representing the war of 1812. >> it is important to sing the song because it represents our country, and our american flag.

>> welcome back.

>> fox news alert, former vice president dick cheney speaking in washington right now taking a president to task against isis as they face the threat of passports in united states and other western countries. it has become one of the biggest tests to america's trillion dollars investmenthmd in keepins safe. remember before 9/11 there was no homeland security department. there was no tsa, metal detectors run by private companies and in most cases you could run all the way to the gate if you wanted, but now all of that has changed because of september 11. isis is clear they want us at home, so what is the new directive that is being given to those who are on the frontliness of homeland security right now. i had an opportunity to ask that

to the head of the cia, if they are looking to increase security and be ready. >> here is a way to some intelligence, what are we doing here in the u.s. and overseas to try to make it more difficult to attack. >> isis leader was once you assess the loudest has been released "i will see you guys in new york." so how can we stop them? tsa said they have wrapped up screening with airports that have nonstop flights to the u.s. >> these airports in north africa in particular have requirements to power on electronics.

>> the challenges for the tsa to weed out the good guys from the bad. it is an enormous task. around 640 million passengers and 1.5 billion bags per year. >> trying to adopt security approach to move away from one-size-fits-all so it is like a needle in a haystack. it makes it more likely we will be able to identify. >> while tsa is evolving, some critics question the effectiveness and expense, they say tsa screeners have never stopped a terrorist. computer security specialist and author. >> tsa has been a colossal asian air. we spend billions of dollars on one particular threat. richard reid and the underwear bomber. alert passengers that saw something going on and stopped it.

>> tsa administrator pointed out those would-be bombers never went through our checkpoint. >> every plot since 9/11 has come from overseas, terrorist trying to get on a plane in the u.s., because they see the bad guys in the u.s. being one the most secure aviation system in the world. >> snyder calls it security theater. >> if we scan for bonds, they get box cutters. we screen for box cutters, they use shoes. we take away the shoes, they liquid. if we take will he could, they underwater. if we use full body scanners, they will use something else. this is a silly game and we should stop playing it. >> how much the danger the security of administration is putting us in. >> jonathan corbett said he put a body scanner to the test. >> if you have a metallic object

on your side it'll be the same color as the background and thus completely invisible to visual and automated inspection. you can watch as i walk through the security line with a metal object in my side pocket. >> the scanner that you use was an old scanner. >> they do have new software, but one of the scanners i tested was this new version that had the automated threat technology but it does not matter what software they put on it, this is a limitation with how the scanner physically works. >> his findings were backed up by a team of researchers from university of san diego, university of michigan and john hopkins who took a further step of putting a bomb like device across the stomach and they succeeded in passing through. it is believed the bomb maker behind the underwear bomb is working on a new way to get past our system. tom kane who cochaired the 9/11 commission is concerned. >> we do not yet have the

machinery to pick them up. we know that. scientists know that. we're working hard to find machines that can pick it up, but they are not there yet. >> the other way is to find the terrorists with u.s. and european passport. are they on our watch this? >> do we know the names of those carrying american passports that we are concerned about? >> they have received the secondary screenings additional screenings and others who have not come up on any radar, those are the ones concerned because they have to be out at reagan national be at there's not a lot of information, they are planned to do something bad today, how we protect that formed by intelligence on the front end. >> he believes we are ready and the layers of intelligence shared with his people combined with the best technology is a

strong defense. these techniques shown here by critics we showed you have been on the net and everywhere else, we have not shown not to anybody has not already seen. it has been out there for some time. cochair of the 9/11 commission and homeland security project at the bipartisan, welcome. very good to have you here. a disturbing poll that came out today, i want to put it out from the "wall street journal" that 26% only in this country believe we are now safer than we were before 9/11. what do you think of that number? >> we are not safe enough, things we have to do that are problems and recommendations that have not yet been implemented, we are not as safe as we ought to be, so it is a

continual fight. we have to stay ahead of them. martha: what you think of these critics who think the two things that really helped governor kane is the ball to the cockpit door and the awareness passengers have. they say those are two things that have really worked otherwise the scanners and all of that are worthless, do you agree with that? >> no, i don't agree with that. having said that, passenger security and passenger action still up as defense. if you are on a plane hijacked you are supposed to sit back and let you go in a couple of days, don't do anything. since 9/11, that is not good enough. passenger interest, if you see something suspicious, act on it, that is still our best defense. if you went and saw the stuff

with the guns, knives, everything else. martha: innocent, most of them. keep doing what they're doing. david cameron is playing plan ps from suspects. he has a temporary law put in place. we are not doing that here, what do you think about that? >> our watch list was to pull people matter where they're getting on in the world and not let them on the plane in the first place. i think that might be an emergency we are not ready for yet, but we might need it. that is part of the overall package, we will have to see if we need the kind of emergency action david cameron feels is necessary because they have more terrorists and more problems. >> there are those out there who say they are not concerned we are at an elevated risk here at home due to isis despite the fact they see clearly wants to kill westerners.

do you think our security problem is less at home than it is in europe from these people? >> that doesn't mean we should not be doing everything we can to keep our people as safe as possible. it should be an elevated layer of security. al qaeda is still out there. we have to do everything we can and every layer of security we can to keep people safe. that is governments first responsibility. >> you have dedicated all your time since 9/11 to do that, we thank you very much for being a part of this story and for joining us today, governor kean. thank you. >> thank you martha and thank you governor be at new accusations from the house oversight committee at a hearing that is now ongoing. they say the department of justice tries to stonewall critics and spin the media and the coverage of the irs scandal. the doj says they did nothing wrong but critics see a pattern.

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>> let's take a look at the house oversight committee ongoing right now. a pattern of obstruction by the government basically the inspector general's they are trying to information from the committee. new allegations of possible cooperation between the justice department and some democrats, that allegation comes as a top aide to attorney general eric called her. they accidentally called isis's office before thinking the ranking democratic committee office to get help from documents connected to the irs

scandal. turns out wrong number may be. joining us, and lawsuit pending against the irs did what does this mean if somebody calls what he thinks is the democratic office talking about allegedly leaking information to the media yet it turned out he: republicans? >> what you're doing without the department of justice but the department of injustice. a procedure under this administration, just a perversion of justice. i think the chairman said it best, we are spending millions of miles of dollars to get information out of the government that belongs to the people, it is an outrage. >> is this an outrage, or just a mistake? the doj says nothing was wrong. >> it seems the doj spokesperson is actually not familiar with either of the committees because

it would have known who they were calling and having worked with republicans and democrats in the majority and minority on the oversight committee, i know the staff are some of the most ethical, independent in terms of the staffers on the hill, so i know they are working on both sides to make this as independent and fact-finding as possible. i do think it is disturbing when you have a separation of your government because these agencies are there to be nonpartisan working for the people. that is what is lost in this. >> it is just outrageous the defense we are hearing government is clearly incompetent. they are idiots and can't do their job and is in separation, it is our government as if it is not our government, frankly in competence is not a very good defense.

>> the justice department says there is nothing inappropriate about the staff having conversations with both majority and minority with th former request. that doesn't respond directly to the situation allegation, and now we have allegations the news has been targeted. are they arguing the daily cost, why are they after him? >> i don't think anyone necessarily in the country trusts the irs, that is sort of a given. i think it is important to make sure we are looking at their policies are, over arch is a way to protect citizens, not the american citizens because they are conservative or liberal or a certain direction, the idea is this should be nonpartisan agency staffed by civil servants

who are there to implement the law. >> do you think they have been operating in a fair and honest manner? >> a long history that goes back for the history of the agency of situations where power has been used and abused, hopefully for the investigation given we are spending millions of dollars on it, we will get to the bottom of it but i don't think it is helpful a situation between the people and this government or that government, the main thing is what is the best interest of the american people, is the truth going to come out and will it be behavior not allowed in the future? bill: the tea party groups, lois lerner e-mails calling crazy, do you think they're going after her because of federal tax issues or political? >> i can't speak specifically but i find it fascinating as he said there is no major liberal organization targeted, we can't find a single one in the news.

this is no longer an agency that represents the american people, this is an agency line with the administration against political enemy, it has got to stop and somebody needs to go to jail. bill: at hearing is ongoing, we will see what they come up with. martha. martha: hi, john. jon: all eyes on the white house. but will some of mr. obama's pastor mark come back to haunt him as he tried to take more military action against the terror group? plus, two times pilot of the doomed unresponsive flight we told you about last friday requesting lower altitude before he blacked out and crashing near the island of jamaica.

what would have happened if his request for lower altitude had been answered immediately? would he and his wife so be here today? and oscar pistorius about to learn the verdict of his sensationalized murder trial. all coming up on "happening now."

>> the largest american flag made up from rea real-life peope into the history books. the record 6609 schoolchildren standing there dawning red, white, and blue ponchos, if they have these on, they are lining up to re-create the stars and stripes during the war of 1812.

measuring more than 50,000 square feet to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the writing of the national anthem. martha: it is beautiful. we saw them talking about the war of 1812 and what a great fun exercise for them. bill: it lasted for two years. martha: missour misery trying td farming to its bill of rights. live in missouri. some farmers are on board, and others are not. >> it really has split the farming community in missouri but one thing both sides agree on is this idea for years they have been under attack by outside groups looking to restrict the agriculture industry. the idea is to help protect

farmers down the road to protect regulations it might limit anything from the use of genetically modified crops to how livestock is raised. relations like these supporters say can be costly and put smaller farmers out of business. >> what i am concerned about is added regulations put on us for people who sit behind the desk in washington, d.c., or jefferson city. i want my animal nutritionist to be the ones to help me decide how to care for my animals. >> other farmers say this could hurt family farmers by empowering corporations to get around laws they don't like by citing their right to farm. >> this thing is so dangerous, but i like to put a match out to say we are ready for a corporate takeover in missouri.

>> with agriculture the leading industry in 97% of farmers been family owned and operated this is something all eyes in missouri are keeping a close eye on including other states looking at passing similar legislations as well. martha: is a right to farm a law in missouri? >> not quite yet. a pass a statewide vote last month by a very narrow margin, less than 2500 votes smell a recount is underway and those results are going to be announced a week from this coming monday actually. when that happens or not, it is expected to stand up opponents have said they're already exploring other legal options and challenge that if it goes through. >> 9:00 p.m. tonight president obama speaks the nation. what he will do about isis, will it be enough, canada feet the islamic terrorists?

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martha: busy day. important night ahead tonight for the president. we'll cover it throughout the day. eric, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. tomorrow a big day too, september 11th. martha: "happening now" starts right now. see you then. jon: president obama set to deliver a prime time address to the nation laying out his plans to take down the terrorists of isis. good morning to you, i'm jon scott. welcome to "happening now." shannon: i'm shannon bream in today for jenna lee. the president will make his case directly to the american people tonight at 9:00 eastern. the white house seizing the moment for prime time address after positive reaction to the president's remarks sunday on "meet the press." after the formation of a new government in iraq where secretary of state john kerry just met with the prime minister. there are reports that president obama's ready to order air on isis targets across the border