age? who cares. this morning the aftermath of those twin tornados that cut a deadly path through nebraska. we will go live to a town where 3/4 of all the buildings there have been destroyed. we'll take a look at what a new storm system could have in store for later today. good tuesday morning to you. i'm craig. we start, though, with iraq. there's been more deadly violence as president obama nears a decision on how to help iraq deal with the rolling threat from the al qaeda offshoot isis. president obama authorized 75 troops to deploy. they are support and protect embassy personnel in the baghdad. 170 of those military members in place. security personnel are being dispatched to provide air field

management and security and logistic support. last night president obama met with the full roster of his national security team including secretaries kerry and hagel along with susan rice and joint chief chairman general martin dempsey. the high-level immediating come as a roadside bomb explosion in central baghdad this morning killed at least three people and wounded nine others. and this, this new video obtained by nbc news appears to show isis militants executing truck drivers at the check point. meanwhile overnight sunni insurgent took control of the population northeast of baghdad and battled progovernment shiite that left at least 44 detainees dead. nbc aman is live once again in the northern iraqi town. what more can you tell us about the violence in baghdad?

>> reporter: well, we know that there's been an increasing round of violence just north of baghdad. northeast of baghdad in the city of baku have a. it's an important town. it's 40 miles northeast of the capital. why it's important because it's on the major highway that stakes you straight into the heart of the capital. if isis fighters manage to overrun the town. if they are able to consolidate the power around the town, they'll have a base very close to being able to launch attacks into the iraqi capital. right now according to several sources, they have not taken the town. the iraqi military has repelled the attack. we understand there was an intense few hours of fighting along the border in some of the areas outside of the town. as you mentioned, there was the roadside bomb that took place inside the capital of baghdad. many people are afraid it's the type of violence isis could be behind in the coming days. they may not have the manpower to overrun the capital to bring the capital under their control. nobody is expecting that.

there is the concern they can launch these asymmetrical attacks that can wreak havoc on the capital and dissent it even more into the kind of sectarian civil war we saw at the peak of the country's fighting in 2006 and 2007. so still june going squirmishes between eye cyst fighters and the iraqi government in several areas in and around the capital area of baghdad. >> let's talk about the disturbing videos. let's show the video obtained by nbc news that shows what appears to be these sunni insurgents executing truck drivers at the check point. >> reporter: yeah, these videos have become increasingly common. what they really show is the underlying ideology behind isis. isis definitely believes they are a direct war with shia muslims. particularly those of nouri al-maliki's government and the alawite that is controlling in syr syria. over the course of the last

several years as they become more prominent, we've seen these types of, if you will, sectarian motivated killings that have been horrific and troubling. in this particular case, three individual drivers believed to be shy yietds are pulled off to the side of the road. they are asked to recite prayers that are more particular to sunni muslims. when they don't they are ultimately executed. it gives a sense of the violence being exacted by isis. they have been accused of publicly crucifying individuals in public. there are a lot of disturbing image including those over the weekend including mass executions of iraqi soldier. >> you used a phase i want to follow up. asymmetrical and asymmetrical attack. what is that for viewers and listeners who may not understand? >> reporter: well, these are the type of low-level attacks that can be carried out by a single

individual against, perhaps, a much larger installation. if you look at the numbers, the iraqi government has a lot of reinforcements in baghdad. they have the iraqi army and the police. they have large numbers in control of baghdad. but the asubmit call part you have one individuals with a suicide vest can walk among the crowd go to a business market and kill a lots of people. isis is very good at carrying those out. >> thank you. i'm joined by msnbc retired army colonel jack cay cobbs. let's start with the cities that have been seized by isis so far. walk us through the cities. what is the strategic importance of the city. >> you can see them up here. among the more important one is mosul and they have taken over the northern part of the country

in the large populations centers and moving south back to baghdad. you've heard there's violence in baghdad response to isis' success up in the north. a lot of these folks originally came from syria. and were people who were fighting a sad. in counter to that, you've got people in iran who want to get in there and get in the fight against isis. it's a rapidly increasing war violence situation as time goes on. very dangerous. and now they're close to baghdad, you already see some terror acts inside bag dad. those will increase because isis is not strong enough to get into baghdad as a military force. they will increasingly use terror inside the city. >>let take a look, colonel, at our warships. where do we know our warships are going to be. do we know where the warships are going to be? what role will they play?

what are those capabilities aboard the ships? >> it's interesting. we have the george h.w. bush which is the newest class of aircraft carrier plus a bunch of support ships. it's the bush strike force. they're located in the gulf. now everybody assumes that the principle reason for their being there is so that if the president authorizes strikes of aircraft, because it's got fa-18 aboard, or a sea launch to air launch cruise missiles on concentrations of isis, that's why they're there. but they're also there -- they're also there in the event that we need to evacuate americans. we've got about 5,000 americans plus or minus, inside iraq. many of them are inside baghdad. >> we're talking contractors? >> mostly contractors but not exclusively contractors. we have marines in baghdad. i'm convinced that pretty soon we're going to have some advisers with iraqi military

units so they can control any air strikes that are put on isis' formations. at the end of the day, those people are liable to have to be evacuated. we have also have american contractors in places that we already pointed out. in places like mosul taken over by isis and some in the kurdish areas. at some point they have to be evacuated. that's one of the principle reasons you have an american carrier task force in the gulf to evacuate americans if it comes necessary. >> colonel, thank you for that. i appreciate it. i want to bring in warriors investigative reporter and former u.s. ambassador. david, any decision from president obama appear to be tied to iraqi president nouri al-maliki making some strides to form a more inclusive government. are there any signs that maliki is going to do that?

>> not based on what i've read. ambassador ginsburg may know more. m ma shore up the weak military forces and he isn't making the gestures to sunnis. everyone, the obama administration, even president are han any is urging maliki to reach out to sunnis. he's ignoring the u.s. and iran as far as i know. >> why is that? >> his power base is shiites, i think, you know, it's an unwise decision. maliki has been a disappointment. mr. ginsburg will know more than me. he's deciding essentially to fight it out in an sectarian form. it will lead to the decision of the country. can control baghdad in the south but not the areas he lost. if he's going fight. it. >> ambassador hillary clinton,

former secretary of state talked about the situation in iraq yesterday and talked about her concern specifically with president maliki. this is what she said. >> i talked to a lot of sunni leaders. they were crazy about living a shiite-dominated regime. they were willing to work with maliki if he met them half way. he never did. >> how much is president maliki to blame for the current instability in iraq? >> you're going to apportion blame, i would say he gets lion's share. given what's going on there's enough blame to go around among everybody. let's be clear here, the problem has to be parcelled out in bite-sized pieces. maliki is a real problem, but the first problem for the united states right now is to get rid of isis, its leader, and bomb to smither reens all the military equipment, unfortunately, they captured. i'm not convinced maliki is

going to change the stripes. he's proven to be an a shiite dictator. he has done more damage to that country than anyone could have done in the last two years. >> ambassador, so it sounds like you're saying that inevitable bombing -- bombing campaign at this time is inevitable, correct? >> let's understand it's not so much about protecting maliki. when you realize the niew york police commissioner and the fbi head of homeland security is calling what happened in iraq a direct threat to new york and the united states. we have to focus on the real immediate task which is to take isis out of commission as a terrorist force that can consolidate, control, and create another afghanistan and northern iraq and northern syria. >> how do we do that? >> we have drones that have taken out al qaeda military equipment and leaders.

we know they have the pickup truck with the machine guns. we don't have to bomb civilian centers as long as we have actual air control capacity. we'll know where the targets are. they can't hide them if they're trying to move down the roads. if they're moving from town to town, we know in effect, they have equipment that can be spotted from air. >> let's talk about iran. of course, that complicated diplomatic dance that is going on. how could the engagement with iran -- how could that help the situation in iraq or is that potentially just going to make things worst? >> well, it's a big gamble. the new president of iran is moderate and that obama and he together can work against the hardliners in their own country. the revolutionary guard will want a sectarian war and send in hard line maliciouses from iran. can they pressure maliki to change or get a new leader in baghdad. it's interesting both obama are

trying to push back challenges from the right. >> ambassador ginsburg, david, thanks. we'll talk more about the situation in iraq and the politics surrounding what to do next. we'll have the conversation with ron johnson later in the hour. coming up we'll go live to nebraska where not one, but -- check this out. two tornados slam into a tiny dead. one child is dead and 3/4 of the buildings in that town have been flattened. we'll take a look at president obama's next move in regards to the lgbt community. what he's doing that could fire up the democratic base. that's next. what they do actually is rocket science. but at ge capital we also bring expertise from across ge, like lean process engineers we asked who does what, when, where, and why that step first? ideas for improvement started pouring out. with a little help from us,

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president obama will make his way here to the big apple later today for the democratic

national convention lgbt gala. he will not be arriving empty handed. the white house announced monday that president obama will be signing an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against gays, lesbians, and others based on sexual orientation. fulfilling a campaign promise. by one estimate, it will protect a total of 28 million workers. that's one in five lgbt employees across this country. that is also one in five lgbt potential voters, which might explain this piece from the huffington post, congressional republicans go silent. brian is the washington bureau chief and former dnc communications director. why now, karen? and what does it mean to his base? >> well, why now?

obviously there's the political angle. this is something, i think, in fairness to the lgbt community they have working on the president on for some time. particularly remember when he made the announcement about federal contractors and minimum wage workers. i think the lgbt community and the latino community and a lot of people are looking to him to use executive order and his powers to move some of these issues forward. obviously in a political context, it hopefully, i think there is a hope, that it will help energize lgbt voters or people who care about the issues like young voters to head to the polls this fall in order to protect these kinds of measures. because, you know, one of the other arguments that we're currently having in congress is over enda. >> quick to call the president lawless when it comes to his actions. on this issue, what can be made of the gop silence? >> right. it shows there's very little political upside in them attacking him over this. it shows how far the lgbt movement has come.

if you look back several months ago, when he put out an executive order raising the minimum wage for workers who work for federal contractors. there was outrage. it shows you, for example, that the lgbt community has much more pull politically now than low-wage workers do. that's a remarkable shift from 2004, you know, when one of the republican tactics to win the white house that year was to put as many gay marriage bans on the ballots across the states as they could to draw out even gel call voters. it's gone from something they saw as a weapon on offense to something they don't want to talk about after the president issues a executive order. >> on the congressional order, there appears to be silence. not from rick perry who doubled down and then some on comments last week comparing homosexuality to alcoholism. this is part of his exchange

with. >> you would think someone that is heterosexual you couldn't change them into a homosexual. you don't think there should be therapy to try to change them into a hit heterosexual. >> the fact is i don't know. we'll leave it to the psychologist. i don't condemn the lifestyle. i don't condemn it either. we're children of god. >> so what is happening here? what is that? >> oh, rick perry. that's rick perry probably getting caught a little off guard and trying to answer a question in a way that won't upset the conservative supporters and at the same time recognizing that in 2016, this is going to be a big issue for the republican nominee and he better be a little bit careful what he says. but still comparing it to alcoholism, that's offensive.

>> 2006 hillary clinton continuing her book tour. the rnc is out with a couple of new ads the stop hillary ads featuring someone dressed up as a squirrel and taking aim at the comment she made. it's a view to the ad. pretty clever ad, actually. what impact, if any, brian grim, do you think might have in the process? >> it will have an impact on the rnc's ability to raise money. they know and have known for 20 years all they have to do is mention one of the clintons in a ad and they're going raise money from people who absolutely despise the clintons. it shows that, you know, they're looking forward to, you know, another couple of years of raising money off hillary clinton. and, you know, she's a little bit rusty now. she would love to take back that comment, which is technically

true. she would love to take it back. but every slip they're going to pile on. and the cash is going to come pouring in. >> karen, let's say you did that. how do you think the book tour has gone in general. do you think the dead broke comment was the worst headline so far? >> i think so. you know, when she answered the question initially and said, you know, dead broke and the next day when she put it in context when they left the white house they were $12 million in debt it put it in a different context. still it was not my favorite comment. i think she would probably agree with that. but in general i think the book tour has gone very well. i mean, to some degree it was overshadows in the national sphere by what happened with erik cantor last week. remember her goal is to focus on the local level and these visits she's doing in different parts of the country. i think it's gone very well there. >> karen finny, brian grim,

thanks to you. the town model of pilger, nebraska. too tough to die. it could not be more appropriate. the tiny community is reeling and grieving but determined to rebuild. rare twin tornados ripped through neighboring community. killing at least one person. 16 others were hurt. and take a look at what the monster storms left behind. virtually nothing. those tornados destroyed nearly 75% of pilger. >> we seen them coming and we watched and it was moving awful slow. we went down to the basement and took about 2 1/2 minutes. >> it's unbelievable. you're kind of in a state of shock because it's -- you can't believe it can be gone so fast. >> the weather channel mike

sidel is live for us. any word on when the folks will be allowed to return to what is left of their homes and assess the damage? >> reporter: they're in here now. they were allowed to go back in this morning. that said, they can walk in and carry out they want so long as they're out by 5:00 p.m. there's no heavy equipment allowed in today. we don't see the power company on the highway putting poles up. this was one home wiped off the foundation. we're an hour and a half or so north and west of the town of oklaho omaha, nebraska. there's the pile debris from that house. this is a one square mile town. we're on the squouthwest corner. it went across the town. you're looking from one end of town to another. you don't see much standing. a few houses in the distance. telephone poles leaning. we have the one fatality a

5-year-old girl lost her life in the hospital last night. we don't have a survey from the national weather service. we'll find out if it was ef-3 or ef 4. we have the residents today and the heavy equipment and cleanup tomorrow. one of the facts of the twister. the first time we've had a tornado fatality in the state of nebraska in about ten years since you're. the next governor will be here in the next hour to survey the damage. there are a lot of residents to try to pick through what is left of their belongings here. craig, as far as severe weather goes today more expected. the stationary front from montana all the way to ohio and pennsylvania. we should be fine here but north of here will have some severe weather. and there could be a few more tornados. i don't think it's going to be as ripe and juicy for twisters as yesterday. today it's a howling wind. the gusty wind in here in pilger.

>> weather channel. mike, thank you. storm did not leave just pilger in bad shape. they tore through much of the midwest. this is new video obtained by nbc news showing flooding in sioux falls, south dakota. flooding i 20 leaving drivers stranded. sioux falls shattered the rain totals for june already. they have gotten nearly 5 inches over the last 17 days. coming up, a church is offering sanction ware to this family of three living in fear their husband and father will be deported. . >> i ask you to please close any dad's case so he can stay. >> first, though, remembering of one of baseball's greats. we'll be right back. i made this belt with traditional, bold, and peanut butter chocolate chex mix.

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usa, that is the story this morning after that late game goal off the hat of john brooks broke a 1-1 time and gave the u.s. the three points they needed so badly to survive the so-called group of death. what a game! what a match. the goal lead to the explosion on social media across the country. check that out! first goal for team usa came off the foot of the captain 30 seconds into the match. dempsey took a flying kick to the face. you can see in the photo stuffed into the nose. it's vice president joe biden, america's happy warrior in the house in brazil to cheer on the home team. likely hive fived and gave one heck of a post match. talk before posing with players in the locker room after wards. as for team usa back to business

sunday against portugal. from football to baseball. players and fans pay tribute to to to toni gwynn. known as mr. padre. died as a result of cancer contributed to years of using chewing tobacco. a joy for the game, the laugh, the trademark smile. so contagious. this is how vince skully put it. >> we lost a great player. a heart and soul of the san diego padres but the jolliest player who ever played the game. we need people who are jolly and hold on to their smile. that was tony. without a doubt. >> baseball card maker tweeted out the classic gwynn card and put it simply, "rest in peace to

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you want to spread the word. [ all ] we love chex! american troops are on the way to iraq. many are will already there. president obama has another major foreign policy decisions to make. how to handle the escalading situation in the middle east. friday president obama vowed to keep the american forces out of the combat in iraq. forces there and those will provide support and security for u.s. personnel and the u.s. embassy in baghdad. they sent a war powers act to congress yesterday. i want to bring in senator ron johnson from wyoming. senator, first of all, what are your concerns now. are we headed for another war, in the simplist of terms. >> i have many concerns.

over 5,000 americans are in iraq. we need to be concerned about that. but, you know, craig, this is a tragedy. this is really snatching the feet out the jaws of victory. we need to understand our roles and goals. from my standpoint, if you take a step back. the role of america is to convey our values, freedom, and democracy and provide stability to those areas of the world that are stable. and the tragedy is whether you agree with going into iraq or not. president obama came to office and iraq was largely stable. his job should have been to maintain the stability and the strategic wonder was not agreeing to a status force. >> senator -- >> we could have provided that stability. now we see the tragedy of that. >> senator, no point in the exemploy indication did you mention nouri al-maliki. at no point did you mention president al-maliki or his responsibility. >> give me time. i think maliki has made a disaster for iraq.

he would have been less a disaster had we maintained a status of force and forced him to include the sunnis, include the kurds. we had an opportunity here to show the rest of the middle east that sunni, shiite, kurd can get together. we had that but president obama squandered that opportunity by not leaving a stabilized force in iraq. you have to to take a look. it's a disaster. what are we going to establish now? are we going totally break it up? this is just a tragedy. it's a snatching defeat from the jaws of victory never had to happen. >> in 2010, you were asked if you supported the troop withdraw plan in iraq. this is what you said. >> i think there was actually a draw plan that was proposed by president bush before president obama actually came into office, and i'm hoping it'll work. i think the iraqi forces are

being stood up, and hopefully that will provide the security that iraq needs as a nation to continue as a functioning democracy >> were you wrong in your assessment? >> strategic wonder not leaving a stablizing force behind there. 15,000 troops. i've been in support of that. that's what we should have done. i never thought we should leave 150,000 troops in iraq but stablizing force. that's what we did in germany. that's what we did in japan. that's what we did in korea. that worked for world peace and economic security. president obama chose not to do that. he bugged out. >> essentially is our fault? >> it didn't have to happen. >> are you saying that -- are you saying that it's the fault of the obama administration and the -- are you saying it's our fault? >> listen, there are many people

that are involved in the tragedy that is iraq. nouri al-maliki has a big share of the blame here. again, america's role in the world is provide the kind of security that only america can provide. we, you know, i feel sorry for any american that sacrifice their life or being wounded or think about $850 billion of american's money we spent to try to set up a democracy for those folks in iraq. that is all been squanders because the strategic wonder of president obama not leaving a stablizing force there. >> one could argue that the original strategic blunder was going into iraq in the first place, no? >> president obama came into office and iraq was largely stable and there was an opportunity to set it up as an example how sunni, shiite, and kurds get together. >> you said that, senator. >> i understand that. it's an important point to me.

president obama came into -- so you to deal with reality. you find it when you are given the responsibility -- >> this is -- >> president obama had the responsibility to stablize situation. he did not now we are living with the consequences. >> this is one of your democratic counter part bob menend menendez. take a listen. >> i don't have advocate bringing boots on the ground in order to stop the march of isis. the challenge is, what is in our interest. what are the consequences to us. in that regard, we have to both think about whether or not there is targeted and limited in duration strikes. >> do you agree with senator menendez? >> first of all, our first action should be to reach out to the moderate sun eyes to see how disgisted with maliki.

we don't want to enflame that situation. it's complex. it's a tragedy that is degraded to this point. we have to deal with the situation as we find it. so here is what we should do. make sure we help the kurds and stablize that region. we need to make sure that southern iraq remains stable. from my point standpoint we reach out to the moderate sunnis who have cast their doubt with al qaeda and before they rejected that. they joined the coalition government and we didn't leave people behind to try to force. let's face it, we had to force maliki maintain an open government. it never would have happened, i believe. >> senator ron johnson from wyoming. thank you f -- wisconsin. the final countdown is on for what is scheduled to be the first execution in united states since the botched lethal

injection of clayton lockett nearly two months ago. as of now, convicted murderer marcus wellons will be put to death tonight. so far his appeal for clemency hasn't been granted. on monday they told me the legal team is working several angles. there are two more injections scheduled in pennsylvania and a fourth in missouri has already received a stay. after the break the story of one arizona family asking president obama for help. they're living in a tiny office in a church afraid to leave because their father could be deported. stay with us. when kevin knight left the army. he decided he want to help other veterans asemilate into civilian life.

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he would replace shaun donovan. just getting started on the hill. we'll keep an eye on that. we're keeping our eye on this. we're seeing unfold on our border right now. 47,000 unaccompanied, undocumented children coming across since october and being warehoused in shake shift shelters. it's primarily the result of a do-nothing congress. that's the sentiment from many americans. this morning the new york times editorial board agreed. writing, quote, it's infuriating to see the long-term reform that would ease the program by opening more rounds to legal immigration and restoring mobility to a population trapped on this side of the border being sent to the doom by the short-term political scheming of congress's hard-core anti-immigrant anti-obama caucus. this morning a look at what is being called a bona fide

humanitarian leader one church caring for one family in particular. amanda spent some time recently along the border. what did you find? >> well, actually, i'm happy to report that this story ends with a happy ending. there's a family that was living in sanctuary at south side presstarian church. we found out moments after we met with daniel and his family that i.c.e., immigrations enforcement granted him a one-yearlong stay. he's able to stay with the family and seek his old job. we met up shortly after they found the good news. >> not to cut you off. this is a snippet. this is daniel neyoy ruiz released living at the church in arizona. >> it was a small space, as you can see. it was a converted room that used to be the pastor's old office area. you can see the twin bed cots. he would have to lie on the cots at night where he and his wife

would sleep. he stayed there for 26 full guy days. >> let's take a listen. >> what does family mean to you. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> he was living in 12 x 15 foot room just to be in america. >> just to be in america. >> he's not the only one. >> he's not. this is a growings movement that is carrying on the legacy of the sanctuary efforts. in the '80s the same church offered save haven to central americans who were fleeing from their countries due to extreme violence. and so today we're seeing the movement take shape in many ways across the country. in chicago, for example, there's a woman who took sanctuary in a church for over a year so she could stay united with her 8-year-old son at the time.

>> this is south side press betarian church? tucson, arizona. not far off from the mexico-u.s. border. >> what has been law enforcement's position on the churches? >> law enforcement has taken an interesting stand on it, actually. i.c.e., essentially said they have a policy where they will not go into sensitive areas to deport people. they will not go into a church or a school in order to wrangle up people and whisk them away. so because i.c.e. is not doing that border patrol is not doing that. local law enforcement is throwing up the hands and saying, hey, if the federal guys aren't then we're not. there's no reason to get involved. >> amanda, it's a fascinating piece. it's up right now on msnbc.com. up next leo teaming up with secretary of state john kerry to save our oceans. what age you are. take them on the way you always have. live healthy and take one a day men's 50+.

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president obama there. there it is. there's air force one. president obama getting set to board air force one. he'll be heading to pittsburgh, a quick stop in pittsburgh and he'll be stopping here in new york city as we reported earlier in the broadcast. there will be a fundraising trip and after that fundraising trip, there will be, of course, the gala, the lgbt gala, as well. political notes on the tuesday. one week after the political stunner erik cantor dave brat has launched his general election campaign. he appeared at the mid loathe began rotary club at the somewhat subdued event. the clock is ticking to the gop leadership vote to replace cantor on thursday. representative kevin mccarthy may have the inside line dave brat and the race could be the idaho tea party favorite. he made his case monday in

letters to the caucus. a titanic star at the state department. reported from our -- reporter from the ocean summit on monday where secretary kerry is focussing on one of the key issues, protecting our ocean. g getting a celebrity shot in the arm in the form of leonardo dicaprio talking about his early love for the ocean. >> before i wanted to be an actor, i dreamt about becoming a marine biology. as a kid, i had a fascination with the ocean and the wildlife. the first philanthropy dollar i contributed was to "save the wild manatee" in florida. >> that's going wrap up the hour on msnbc. up next on "news nation." congressman elliot on iraq.

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good morning, everyone. i'm tamron hall. this is "news nation." more u.s. troops headed to iraq after president obama sent a war-power act letter to congress informing it of deployment of up to 275 u.s. forces to provide security and support for u.s.

embassy personnel in baghdad. those are the same reasons u.s. officials have given for also sending several u.s. warships to the persian gulf. nbc jim reports that 170 of the u.s. troops are already in place. 100 more have been moved to the region. all of this as heavy fighting between sunni insurgents and iraqi forces rages north of baghdad. we'll have a live report, hopefully, out of iraq. let me bring in former army captain who served two tours in iraq part of the team that captured are a mad key in 2006. and michael daily who has been closely monitoring the developments for his website. thank you for joining us. we've talked many times. you've been active in keeping the memory and the successes even though people don't talk about iraq in term of success that was accomplished.

did you believe when you left iraq that we would be back at this point? >>, i mean, the truth is, it's not as simple as that. war is complicated, and i think the phase one was for us establishing the government and now it's up to the government to take into the next phase and protect our people. it does surprise me it's happening. it has to happen for iraq to be -- for the government to be viewed as a sovereign legitimate government and on them to take it out next phase after that. >> one of the things you said was it's not as simple as that. we hear a lot of politicians speaking of simple terms. what are the options on the table the president needs to choose rightway away. i want to talk about semantics. we discussed numbers as many as 300 will be sent. does it count on boots on the ground? >> regards of how you look tat, i think, yes, it is in our best interest to have the iraqi government be skeflt and for