with john kerry. >> there are some seernl officials quoted in various accounts saying that their strikes of off the table. that the u.s. is no longer considering that. is that true? >> nothing is off the table. all options are still available to the president. the president has not made the decision on those options. we are very intensely vetting each of the possibilities. good day. i'm andrea mitchel in washington. as iraq continues to unravel, president obama will be making a statement shortly after meet with his national security advisers. secretary of state john kerry defended the administration's handling of events in an exclusive interview on "today" with nbc's savannah guthrie. >> did you act too slowly? maliki was asking for help with air strikes in the last few weeks as this was coming.

why didn't we act then? >> for a lot of different reasons. not the least of which is we didn't have operational theater capacity at that point in time. partly because prime minister maliki denied the kind of permissions necessary. >> that raises the question, why come to maliki's rescue now? isn't he a big -- >> this is not about maliki. >> and savannah joins us now from new york. back in new york, great interview. first of all, he said all options are on the table. bloomberg news posted the white house is likely to announce sending 100 special forces units into iraq. this is in addition to the 275 people, personnel already sent under the act he said he was sending to secure the embassy. so what do you think this means that he is thinking about sending in forces in order to potentially gather intelligence for air strikes down the road?

>> that's the sense i get. you've been hearing the same things i've been hearing. the notions of these large scale air strikes are problematic because they don't have the intelligence on the ground to get good targeting information. it sounds, and we'll hear from the president during your show today. it sounds like what they want to do is send some folks in who can help with intelligence to try to get that better targeting information. and to do -- if you're not going to do large-scale air strikes, maybe drone strikes to get a better fix. one thing the administration makes really clear is this isn't a situation where you have an organized military necessarily in convoys where there's some low hanging fruit for them to get to. this is now a terrorist group that's embedded in communities with civilian populations and that's the fear and the concern. >> and one of the other things that came through loud and clear in your interview with john kerry is the frustration with the maliki government but i'm not sure they know what to do about this. the president and his advisers saying they can't take certain military steps with maliki still

there. but how you replace him? >> and we went around and around about this in the interview because i thought maybe he would go a little further in saying that, you know it would be better if maliki weren't the leader of iraq. he wouldn't quite go there but it's palpable the frustration they have with maliki. i don't think there's any doubt maliki is a key factor in the dynamic that led to this group isis being able to come into northern iraq and find a friendly audience in some sunnis there. and it speaks to how bad things got under maliki's rule for sunnis that they'd rather cast their lot with this vicious terrorist organization than fight for the central iraqi government. but -- so there's frustration, and i think they are kind of done with maliki but they'll not come right out and say it. >> and nbc news, by the way, has just confirmed the reports that among the options are sending in 100 advisers, special forces. unclear what their mission would be. one of the fascinating exchanges

you had with john kerry was about iran in the category of the friend of my friend or the friend -- the -- >> i know that one. >> talking about here. this is what you were talking to him. let's play a little bit of your exchange. >> the u.s. is open to possibly working with iran as you deal with this situation with isis in northern iraq. >> first of all, i don't know where this comes from that we've suggested working with iran in that regard. we have heard -- >> you said it in an interview the other day. >> what i said is we are interested in communicating with iran to make clear that the iranians know what we're thinking and we know what they're thinking. and that there's a sharing of information so people aren't making mistakes. >> i do love that, savannah. >> i don't know who said that. well, you said it, sir. we don't know how we're working with iran. there was apparently only one brief meeting that took place in vienna supposedly between bill

burns and zareef, the foreign minister. they claim they are not having follow-up meetings but there have been secret back channels. >> i would lean on you to read between the lines but it felt like to me in the moment in that exchange they were very much walking -- the secretary was walking back and dialing down on this notion there's going to be this hand holding with iran, vis-a-vis iraq. he made it sound like, maybe we should talk. what's your perspective on it. here's our perspective on it so that there's an open line of communication. but when i asked him, are you saying you are not looking at having the u.s. work hand in hand with iraq? he said, no. that is not on the table and certainly no military cooperation under any circumstances. >> i think, savannah, he was speaking to the israelis and the saudis who are so upset and angry and pushing back against any talk of cooperation with their adversardversary, iran in. so that was partly the message

he was trying to deliver through you. >> we also had an exchange about why would it ever be in iran's interest to have this pluralistic inclusive society that the united states government says is a predicate step before we get involved. that's another point of contention. >> maliki has been tehran's client all along, which is one of the arguments against maliki. and then importantly, you talked to john kerry, vietnam veteran and also someone who led a good part of the vietnam veterans against the war in, you know, very so memorable in 1974. and you asked him about how iraq war veterans would feel about what is happening now. let's play that. >> what do you say to iraq veterans, those who lost so much or families of those who lost everything in iraq who are looking now and saying, what was that for? no sooner have we left than everything goes back to just the way it was. >> that remains to be seen. and the test is in really these

next few days and weeks. and we are going to do everything in our power to follow through and try to get the job done through diplomacy if we can, in order to honor their sacrifice. >> he was very passionate about that, andrea, and saying the verdict is out and this is unfinished business. and really sent that message to veterans to say what you did in your sacrifice does have meaning and it was not a waste. >> savannah, you spent a lot of time with him. you'll see more on "today" tomorrow. tell me what we'll see tomorrow. >> this is the real reason we were there is to kind dove a day in the life of secretary kerry. we do follow him. a busy day. back and forth to the white house twice. we also talk about some of the larger foreign policy questions. how much is he part of an inner circle in the west wing in the white house. does he feel he has the president's ear. and also talked about the president's foreign policy. a lot of people criticized the president for doing too little, whereas the bush administration

arguably did too much. i asked him that question directly. we'll have his response tomorrow morning on "today." >> that's great. thank you very much. i know you saw ben the dog. >> we did. tweets under the handl handle @diplomut. >> thank you, savannah. now for the latest developments in iraq, we oar there has been a fierce battle for control of the oil refinery. i am joined by nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel in baghdad. richard? >> reporter: well, a lot of people here, i must say, are very curious to see what happens over the next hour or so. want to hear what president obama has to say. iraqis know this is a difficult situation. that their army is fighting a militant group, that the militant group is not just a bunch of al qaeda radicals. that it has some support from sunni tribal elders, a lot of support from former baath party members, supporters of saddam

hussein. that this country is risk -- is at risk of collapse. i was just out walking around talking to some people in this area and they were very hopeful that there is u.s. military intervention. they want to see air strikes. they don't want to see u.s. troops come back here, but they would like to see targeted strikes with the iraqi government against militants in mosul and tikrit and around baiji and a half dozen other cities in this country. because they fear if that doesn't happen, this war will develop on its own. already you see militias on the streets. shiite militias. they were called out in great numbers by their religious leaders. and they are still on the streets. so if this war continues and without western help or outside help, iraqis fear it will continue. you'll see a more military mobilization here in baghdad. a more militant shiite character taking over. and then this aggressive movement of al qaeda-style

radicals and baath party members and tribal elders taking over large parts of the country and crippling it. so a lot of people watching very closely what could happen in the next, was it 30 minutes or so? >> indeed. and they are meeting right now apparently. they are going to discuss and perhaps announce 100 special forces, troops going in as, quote, advisers. its intelligence gathering. it's perhaps preparation for targeting down the road. but what about what i'm being told is that the u.s. has pretty much decided and the french certainly said that today and i'm hearing it from other diplomatic sources that they don't think this can be resolved with maliki. what are the other options if there is some push to get maliki out of there? >> that's the interesting thing. there are meetings that we've been told about going on in najaf, and it's quite revealing these meetings are happening in the holy shiite capital to the

south of here. and many different political parties have gathered there. and they are holding closed door discussions right now on this very subject. will they keep maliki? there are increasing calls in this country to get rid of maliki saying that he's become too personally associated with the problem. that he failed. that effectively over the last eight years, he's led this country to the situation where it is right now. when you have an army that refuses to fight for you, many iraqis think your time in office is over. they also believe because of the leaks, perhaps they've been told that the u.s. won't do this action which they want, unless maliki goes. the question is, who do you replace him with? there's a matter of names. the hope that many iraqis have is they get rid of maliki in the next 48 hours or so. they get u.s. air support, maybe not b-52s, but some targeted strikes to reverse the momentum of the isis mill tabitants and

they get out of this crisis. here's an interesting thing that i've been thinking about, walking around iraq. u.s. if it does send these 100 special forces advisers to show the iraqis how to use all the machines that the americans left behind, all the tanks and the planes and all of the things we haven't been using very effectively. so if you have one set of hands, the american hands back on the driver's seat here. but you also have the iranians who are already here doing the same thing in larger numbers. and much larger than 100. this country could become like one of those driver's ed cars with two steering wheels. iran on one set of controls and the u.s. on the other. we'll see how this plays out. >> i'd like to imagine suleimani, tehran's bad guy from the american and certainly israeli perspective and saudi perspective and now you'll have

some american special forces, we believe, if the president will be announcing. >> are they going to be in the same room? are they going to say just do me a favor. don't bomb there because that's us. we're going to be going to the left. you go to the right. they may -- the u.s. and iran right now have a converged interest. we both -- the u.s. and iran, both want to get rid of this terrible force. this militant group isis, which in some cases is more extreme than al qaeda if you can believe that. but long term, the u.s. and iran have very different outcomes they want to see in this country. and i think that's why iran and israel and other countries are -- excuse me, saudi arabia and israel are so concerned. >> well, as we know, the u.s. can manage to sort of talk their way around a lot of things. but if they do pull the plug on maliki or support those who want to, you're going to be basically taking an elected official who was elected with a big

mandate -- why sunnis didn't go to the polls -- but you are basically going against the very democratic principles we've been arguing for there and elsewhere around the world. such is the crisis in iraq. richard engel, you know it better than anyone. >> i don't know if the u.s. would necessarily -- what we'd probably see here is a reformation of the government. because he's prime minister but also has a variety of portfolios. the government was supposed to be reformed anyway. so there could be a legal framework. isn't like we'd be moving in and toppling gadhafi. the government needs to be resorted anyway. you'd resort the government. remove maliki. put somebody else from his same coalition in his place. that would probably be the legal justification. like i said, there are meetings about this very subject happening in this country right now. >> and it's so timely because they were in the process of kraefting a government, a process that usually takes forever and a day in iraq -- in the iraqi electoral context. thank you, richard. i know you'll be standing by and

watching the president as well. and that's the briefing room as reporters, camera crews all get ready. you are looking at the live pictures where president obama is expected to come out this hour to announce what he has decided or how close he is to decisions after meet with the national security team today. we'll have the latest live, including all of the advisers and the officials right here when the president comes out. stay with us. [ male announcer ] it's one of the most amazing things we build and it doesn't even fly. we build it in classrooms and exhibit halls, mentoring tomorrow's innovators. we build it raising roofs, preserving habitats and serving america's veterans. every day, thousands of boeing volunteers help make their communities the best they can be. building something better for all of us. ♪

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seeing the world in reverse, and i loved every minute of it. but then you grow up and there's no going back. but it's okay, it's just a new kind of adventure. and really, who wants to look backwards when you can look forward?

some republicans are pushing for air strikes against the iraqi insurgents but that's opening a new debate, a renewed debate over the bush administration's decision to invade iraq in the first place. senator barbara boxer is a

member of the foreign relations committee and joins me from capitol hill. senator, first have you been briefed by the white house as to what the president is going to announce. >> i have not been briefed by them today. i did talk to them yesterday. i don't know exactly what the president will say, but i have to tell you, if you listen to some of the hot heads around here, we would have been not only back in iraq with boots on the ground and all the rest of it, but in six, seven other countries. so i'm really glad the president is looking at this in a calm way. we cannot get back into a civil war. you know, i voted against going to war. it was based on false pretense. and that whole neocon crass back on tv. i woke up and it's nine years ago. and we cannot go back into a civil war. we have to make sure our country is protected against groups like isis, absolutely. that's a counterterrorism mission. but we can't get back in there. we gave them their chance. blood was spilled.

4,000-plus americans dead. 30,000 wounded. so i'm glad the president is taking his time and i have confidence in him. >> he may be announcing one option which is to send 100 special forces troops in as advisers, possibly helping with intelligence that could be used down the road for air strikes. would that concern you because that is boots on the ground in a sense? it's not combat troops but it is special forces advisers. >> i have to hear what the president says. andrea, we've got tens of thousands of our military all over the middle east. and counterterrorism is a big part of what they do. so i have to hear what the president says. there's no doubt that we have the mission and have had it since 9/11 to prevent another one. so, you know, yes, we have to go after isis, but we cannot get back into a civil war. and maliki never reached out to the sunnis. it left an opening for these extremists. it's a tragedy for, you know, the people over there.

i feel for them. but we have spilled too much blood, spent too much treasure. andrea, there are some who say it's going to cost between $2 trillion and $4 trillion this war. and i can't get another billion dollars to take care of a million kids who want after school care. enough. enough. >> i want to show you a little of what john mccain said on the floor today because you've been talking about some of the people who advocated for the war. this is part of the speech today. >> what has the united states of america done? today we see on the front page of "the washington post," usc's risk in iraqi air strikes. the president of the united states goes for fund-raising and golfing. and now is fiddling while iraq burns. we need to act, mr. president. but we also need to understand why we are where we are today.

>> is there any blame for this administration in letting maliki dither and not include the sunnis and, in fact, actually actively exclude people who should have been in his government? >> i'm happy to -- listen. i'm happy to listen to john mccain because i like him as a person, but if anyone, anyone is to tell us what to do, it's not him. he told me when i was very worried after i voted no on the iraq war that was going on and on, he said to me, barbara, he was so sweet about it. he said this thing is going to be over in three to six months. and that's what rumsfeld said. that's what they all said. they were wrong. andrea if you took your car into a mechanic and he destroyed the whole car and you couldn't even turn it on, you wouldn't go back to that same mechanic when there's a problem. so i say, with all due respect to my friends who got us into this mess. remember there wasn't an isis until we went in there.

that's when they all got started. please, let's follow the president's lead. he captured bin laden. he got us out two of wars. and he now captured the benghazi terrorist. so i think barack obama, our commander in chief, ought to be respected. and instead of going to the floor to make speeches and saying this is burning and that's burning, who caused the burning? and so let's move forward. let's hear what the president says. let's make sure that we have a good counterterrorism operation. and not get in the middle of a civil war. >> senator, thank you very much. senator barbara boxer. thank you. and former congresswoman gabby giffords was back in washington throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at last night's congressional women's softball team against their rivals, the washington press corps. our annual matchup to raise money for the young survivors league. a breast cancer support coalition. giffords played in the inaugural congressional women's softball

game in 2009. before taking the field this time, giffords tweeted a joke to 50 cent saying, bet you my first pitch will be better than yours. it sure was. and there was no doubt about that with giffords leading off, the members then went on to beat the bad news babes, unfortunately. featuring casey hunt and coached by nbc hill producer frank thorp. other heavy hitters, house speaker john boehner, nancy pelosi and supreme court justice sonia sotomayor. the politicians won, 10-5. i was part of the team announcing the game with amy klobuchar and dana bash. a great night at the ballpark. and that's epic, bro, we've forgotten just how good good is. good is setting a personal best before going for a world record. good is swinging to get on base before swinging for a home run. [ crowd cheering ] good is choosing not to overshoot the moon, but to land right on it and do some experiments.

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so as we await momentarily, the president coming in to announce what he has decided about iraq, let's talk about the politics and the politics of getting public support for whatever he ends up doing. the president's statement with

our political panel. we've got chris cillizza, managing editor of post politics.com. bloomberg news political reporter jean cummings. nbc capitol hill correspondent luke russert. and nbc national correspondent peter alexander at the white house. peter, what are we expecting from the president? i gather no decision on air strikes but we're talking about the possibility of hundred special forces going in? >> we are told by two senior defense officials that dozens, as they describe it, fewer than 100 as it's said to nbc news, special forces could be -- at least right now one of the options being seriously considered by this administration. in that meeting taking place with the president and his national security council right now. one of the press aides came out and told reporters a matter of moments ago the president is still meeting with those advisers which may delay that announcement at 12:30 today. we're also hearing from kelly o'donnell what senior congressional sources are telling her, that the president is expected to announce today.

basically, a preview of the choices that are under consideration right now that he will once again reaffirm it would be a limited commitment. that would mean so u.s. ground forces. as for the question of air strikes, that remains on the table right now. beyond that we're told by administration officials here, including the president secretary that as of 30 minutes ago, the president had not yet made his mind up on what would be the right or next course of action. it's like lily, we are told, th president will announce he'll be dispatching his secretary of state john kerry to that region. one thing we do know right now is that this administration right now, these leaders here, are discussing exactly how to use one of their biggest levers, which is how much pressure they need to put on nuri al maliki. they don't want to put too much pressure on him. that will stiffen the reziffance they get. but they recognize the need to put significant pressure on him to show credence for the sunni

militants, the sunnis within that country specifically who oppose the leadership right now. it's the very reason this idea of inclusiveities of, that vice president biden yesterday spoke with maliki, also spoke with the sunni parliamentary leader and spoke with the president of the kurds in that country as well. >> if a new coalition government is going to be put together as richard engel and i were discussing, all of those leaders have to have buy in. and it can't have too much of an american footprint on this up on capitol hill, luke russert who has spoken to john boehner and opposition leaders as well in terms of what the republicans want. they want more action than we just played. john mccain calling for air strikes. it's going to be less than that. they are going to be critical. >> they are. and house speaker john boehner today emphasized he wants to hear more of a plan from the white house. interestingly enough, when he

was asked specifically about comments that general petraeus said, that we should not be the air force for the shiite government against the sunni resistance, he sort of went away from that and said i want to hear what the president is doing but he needs to do more to lead. john boehner accused the president of taking a nap while this all occurred. interestingly enough, boehner is also making this play where he's roping in libya, syria and egypt as an overall failure of president obama. saying under president obama there's been a spread of terrorism which is some really harsh rhetoric from boehner. he's usually been one of the gop leaders that's exercised caution in terms of going after the president when it comes to foreign policy. interestingly enough on the other side of the aisle there is a little bit of hesitancy from democrats about this move of having 100 special forces troops. i asked nancy pelosi if she was supportive of this. she wanted to hear more details but then looked me dead in the eye and said i'm always very cautious about a number of special forces troops because

they always seem to increase as time goes on. and there is some consternation within that caucus about as you had barbara boxer on earlier today, making a move to be too far into iraq and being involved in it. a lot of these folks supported president obama as he wanted to get out. they don't want to see him go back in. nancy pelosi said she believes the president has congressional authority to move and does not need to seek it from them. that will probably come up with house republicans if he does decide to go more than just a few special forces troops on the ground. >> and jean cummings, the president does not need congressional authority. he had that meeting with them. he was face to face with the leaders yesterday. he does not acknowledge, as his predecessors all have as well tat under the war powers act he does not believe he needs their approval. >> that's correct. and when the members of congress came back to the hill after the meeting yesterday at the white house, they essentially agreed with that. that under the laws that -- and

the authority that they had given before the president still maintains the ability to take certain actions without their approval. it is interesting, though, lots of consultation this time. you know, the white house kind of was harshly criticized for the prisoner exchange. we've seen a whole different approach this time where there had been many consultations with congress so that they know each step of the way what's happening. so that's a different playbook that the white house is working with. not that it will get their support necessarily, but it is -- he's not being criticized for that. >> from bloomberg's reporting, what is your sebs of what these special forces would be doing? >> they would be doing some training and some strategic planning with the iraqi troops and doing training on equipment that we left behind. and so it is a very small number. however it is true that members of congress are going to have some concerns that you start at 100 and then it grows.

>> chriscillizza, we've seen this movie before. >> the american public has seen it before and they didn't like it much. the hardest thing, i think jeanne makes a really good point that i hadn't thought of in terms of the consultation with congress. the problem there is, consultation doesn't equal support in congress as jeanne notes and it also doesn't indicate change in public opinion. i keep coming back to the nb nbc/"washington journal" poll. 54% of people don't think president obama is a good leader and can do the job he's been elected to do. i know that politicians don't govern solely by polls. i think they govern more by polls than they say. but those numbers make it difficult for president obama to do almost anything other than a very narrow cast maneuver here. >> but this may allow the president to do what he may

really want to do. and that is -- the president instinctively doesn't want to send in troops. he has said that. he doesn't want to get back into a war. he does want to change the government in iraq. and this presents that opportunity for some diplomacy. negotiations and perhaps some changes in the maliki government. and that, i think, would be the real goal of this administration. >> if that's the real goal, let me bring in chris hill, our former ambassador to iraq from denver. ambassador, thank you so much. i think you've seen this movie before also. getting maliki to deliver has been a fruitless exercise for american diplomats. vice president biden has sort of had the account. now we're told that secretary kerry will be going to the region. they've been holding his hand all along pressuring him. how much can -- how much influence can we exert here? richard engel reported earlier that the shiite leaders were

meeting in the south and maybe talking about a new coalition. >> well, i think the first thing to understand is they just have an election in iraq and maliki's coalition did pretty well. so the issue here is whether maliki can be convinced not to try to lead the government for a third term. you know, third terms in the middle east are rarely a charm. so i think the idea is to see whether someone else could emerge there and that's probably what they are talking about among the shia leaders. but i think it's important to understand that this whole issue of sunni outreach that the obama administration has talked about quite a lot, you need two sides to do this kind of reconciliation. and the iraqi sunnis, in fact, sunnis all over the middle east have never been happy with the flipping of iraq to being a shia-led government. i mean, they've never been happy with this, with the result of the '03 invasion. and so this is -- should not

just be laid at maliki's doorstep. to be sure, he has not been a willing participant in these outreach issues, but when he has done things, has given sunnis ministerial portfolios, et cetera, he has never been greeted with any sort of response or positive response on the part of the sunnis. i think it's very important to understand that this problem is not just a maliki problem. >> but, ambassador, didn't something happen? something happened to drive those sunni tribal leaders whom you worked with, that david petraeus wooed and worked with and we spent a lot of money on. something happened to drive them into the arms of the insurgents. the most militant sunni group, the isis. and that really does have to be laid at the feet of maliki and locking up the supreme court justice, excludeing -- not naming a defense minister. the army turned tail and ran. >> yeah, i think a number of

things happened, to be sure, during my watch it was a constant effort to make sure the central government was paying for these sons of iraq. that is the sunni militia groups who turned away from al qaeda. so it was always an effort to make sure the finance ministry was cutting the checks to pay for these people. that was a kind of daily thing. and that, too, i would say, i put that at maliki's doorstep. however, a lot of what is going on in anbar and elsewhere is these isis people have really intimidated the sunni community there. if you don't play ball with isir isis, you get your head cut off. this is not just maliki. now as for the issue of the defense minister, i agree with you. he indicated he'd name a defense minister. the defense minister is supposed to be someone the sunnis would be happy with. he never did name a defense minister. he kept the portfolio himself. so no question. there's a lot of maliki's

culpability here. i'm just saying this issue is far more complex. moreover, the entire arab world has opposed a shia arab state. and so the problem for the administration is, while they want to see the iraqi state hold, they know they've got problems with the rest of the arab world and they know they have problems with the more they oppose maliki, the more they invite a bigger role for iran. so not an easy issue to -- not an easy needle to thread here. >> and in threading that needle with iran, how treacherous is it for us to try to coordinate with iran and some really bad actors from the qods force there in baghdad now or -- >> no question. >> and, quote, cooperate with them. >> no question it's a tough deal. there's two sides to iran. there's the bad side and an even worse side. and what iraq has gotten from iran is that worst side where the iranians have supported various shia militia groups.

by the way, opposed to the shia government in baghdad. so iran has been a difficult actor to deal with, but i do believe that we should be in some kind of political dialogue with them on this issue. as we had been for several months deal with iranians on issues like hezbollah. but as for coordinating military moves of this sort of thing, i think that's really a bridge too far. >> let's all stand by. the president still meet with his national security team. ambassador hill if you could stay with us, as well as peter alexander, luke russert, jeanne cummings and chris cillizza. we'll be back in a moment. the briefing room getting ready for president obama. subaru has developed our most revolutionary feature yet. a car that can see trouble... ...and stop itself to avoid it. when the insurance institute for highway safety tested front crash prevention nobody beat subaru models with eyesight.

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school at the university of denver. ambassador hill, what about the saudis and kuwaitis and qataris who helped create isis when they were the rebels against bashar al assad in syria? how much responsibility -- how much blowback is there against the very people now really concerned about these militants? >> well, i think we do need a broader strategy. obviously, we're doing some of it, but i think it has to be far more comprehensive to deal with these countries on precisely this issue. i think the real problem in syria, which is, obviously, spilling over into iraq today, has to do with the fact that there's no political way forward. even if bashar al assad were hit by a bus today. they wouldn't know how to rule the place after that. there has to be some type of contact group plan of what syria looks like in the future. there's a lot of thought in the u.s. to arming the moderates but that's a project easier said

than done. i mean, to go on to the battlefield in syria and get your way through all these checkpoints and give weapons to people you like and not give weapons to people you don't like, that's the kind of difficult proposition. it really needs to start with a much clearer political understanding of what should happen in syria in the future. is it going to be a federated state? what is the place going to look like? i think that is really what keeps kurds and christians and others fighting on the side of bashar al assad regime when clearly they have no interest in his staying. we have to do a lot more politically, and i think to do that, we need to be working also with the sunni arab states who are so worried about the increasing, or the growing number of shia in the region in iraq but also lebanon and syria itself. >> chris cillizza, it strikes me as you read the polls that the president is in sync with the

american people on the policies so far. people are war weary and they really, for the most part, do not want to get involved. yet the time that he is taking, which he's being praised for by many of his supporters, is also leading people to think there's a weakness, a lack of leadership if you will. it's kind of a terrible bind he's in. >> he's in a really difficult spot. and i would say if there was a republican or democrat in the house. if there was a solution that lined up his long -- near-term and long-term policy goals with public opinion, he would have already taken it. in fact, he took it when he said we're ending these two wars. the problem now is that all of the -- all of the time that was spent in iraq, the danger of losing that, he says from a policy perspective as, really, really negative and bad. but the american public has not changed, andrea.

the american public still does not, did not like this war, did not believe it was worth fighting and certainly does not want to go back in to relitigate or they did not like and did not think it was worth fighting. that is so difficult. ambassador hill used the threading the needle point. >> a quick round robin here. luke russert, on the hill, there's no good choice here either except that we've heard strongly democrats don't want him doing anything more aggressive. >> no, there's no easy choice. but we've heard a variety of options being thrown out. chairman ed royce of the house foreign affairs committee called for drone strikes against isis. you heard john boehner say, well, i want to hear a plan but the president should do more. nancy pelosi saying he has the authority to move forward. you get things all across the spectrum here, andrea, but when you press for a specifics, i think what chris said is very true. the american public is so war weary and so while it's easy to say president obama should show

more leadership or he's taking a nap, when you try to figure out a policy that could be supported here, there's not one that gets a lot of support because no one wants a prolonged conflict on the ground in iraq, republican or democrat. they hear that from their constituents. >> jeanne cummingi in-- >> to be sure, the president needs to think these things through and needs to get some sense of the situation on the ground. but i think the problem is how he fills that time. and telling the american people that he's thinking about it just doesn't quite work. i think he needs to think of other sort of trade craft issues. like usually in such a crisis you'd say, i have sent so and so to the region and i'll be awaiting his assessment of the situation. so he needs to use the old man in motion play to use a football metaphor here and try to buy some time while he does think about this. instead you have all this dead air where people wonder, what is

the president doing? >> in fact, as we're told, it's been reported now that john kerry is going to be sent to the region. so you are exactly right that that is the next move. and just to wrap it up for now, jeanne cummings. the economic impacts because people are watching the markets, oil prices. iraq only has about 3.3 million barrels a day exports. so it's not a major player. it's a big player but not the biggest player. >> but it is -- the north and the south are where the big refineries are and that's kurdish and shia. it's not where the fighting is taking place except for baiji, but it could unsettle markets just by the traders looking ahead and thinking they've got to push prices up. >> absolutely. and we haven't seen dramatic change. we've seen a little bit of that change. but it is true that the -- right now those regions where the oil is are stable but they may not

be for long and that's part of the problem. now when we talk about the president having time, every time -- every day that maliki and his allies can hold ground, keep the set stalemate. keep the oil safe, that gives the president time to keep trying to work a different solution out of this. it's when baghdad is over run or the oil refineries are in danger that the game changes. jeanne cummings, chris cillizza, peter alexander and luke russert and ambassador chris hill. thank you all so much. you're looking at live pictures from the white house briefing room where we're waiting for president obama to deliver his statement on iraq. ming names. the fact is, it comes standard with an engine that's been called the benchmark of its class. really, guys, i thought... it also has more rear legroom than other midsize sedans. and the volkswagen passat has a lower starting price than... much better.

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as the president continues to meet with his foreign policy team, nbc chief white house correspondent chuck todd joins me live from the briefing room hade of the president's statement. what we know so far is he's going to send kerry to the region. he's going to send perhaps as many as 100 special forces to be

advisers, to do intelligence. he's not going to do air strikes now. and it seems like a holding action as they try to figure out what to do with nuri al maliki. >> that's what this is all about. i think that's what you'll hear from the president. this is about maliki, maliki, maliki. last night -- the person with the best personal relationship with maliki in the u.s. government is the vice president. vice president is right now traveling in central and south america, which, by the way is his own problem right now. it's a foreign policy problem that's also a domestic problem with the issue on the border. but maliki is just being stubborn. everything i understand about the various phone conversations that u.s. officials have had with maliki is that they are telling him you've got to reform your government. you've got to try to come up with a new way of organizing. a little more unity government. and that he spouts some paranoia, conspiracy theorys. now you understand the next step. now you understand why. let's send john kerry face to face with maliki and see if they

can make progress there. that should just tell us alone we can have an idea where the president -- saying basically i'm not making a major military commitment until they know a political commitment can happen. if maliki can be that guy. politically, andrea, there may not be a more important voice that was uttered today, if you are the white house, than what dai david petraeus said, backing up the president's position which is i'm not doing anything here until that political process, until maliki sort of straightens out this political process. >> and that should certainly at least give some pause to the republican critics and many of the people on the hill and elsewhere. dick cheney, who embraced david petraeus and believed he has a great deal of wisdom here. but have been very eager to see the president make some other choices on air strikes. >> it makes him look like they are just trying to be against the president because, oh, he's for something. we have to be against it. i think petraeus really did buy some political time and space

for the president. >> very interesting play there. as people are lining up on all sides of this. it seems we're reliving it iraq debate. chuck todd, thank you. i know you'll be standing by as the president comes out and makes his announcements. we, of course, will be carrying all of that live right here on msnbc. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online on facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports. ronan farrow daily is up next. i'm meteorologist bill karins. we're going to watch severe storms once again today. watch out around washington, d.c., baltimore, down to virginia beach. damaging wind and hail possible with those storms. and once again, the threat of heavy rain, flash flooding and some wind damage with storms from iowa to nebraska into the kansas city area. we're going to watch that area for river flooding in the days ahead also.

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"r.f. daily." the president at any minute is going to address the nation on the escalating crisis. we're expecting to hear the options he's considering to in that country. those options could include sending up to 100 special forces there. that seems to be what current reports are indicating. it's important to note not for combat roles is the information we have now. these new comments from the president are coming one day after he met with congressional leaders at the white house. as this is happening, isis sunni insurgents continue to advance virtually unchecked towards baghdad. joining me to look ahead at the president's remarks, nbc's chief white house correspondent chuck todd. also host of "the daily rundown here" and david gregory, host of nbc's "meet the press." chuck, what are you hearing there at the white house about the co