and are now trapped by the islamic state of iraq and syria militants. a small religious kurdish sect fled after isis threatened to execute anyone who didn't convert. to islam. isis blocked the roads. as many as 25,000 children now have no access to food or water. at least 40 have died so far from dehydration. and the extreme heat. president obama met with his national security team in the situation room earlier today and spoke just moments ago. >> today i authorized two operations in iraq. targeted air strikes to protect our american personnel, and a humanitarian effort to save thousands of iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food and water and facing almost certain death. let me explain the actions we're taking and why. first, i said in june, as the terrorist group isis began

an advance across iraq that the united states would be prepared to take targeted military action in iraq if and when we determined that the situation required it. in recent days, these terrorists have continued to move across iraq and have neared the city of erbil, where american diplomats around civilians serve. at our consulate, and american military personnel advise iraqi forces. to stop the advance on erbil, i've directed our military to take targeted strikes against isil terrorist convoys should they move toward the city at the request of the iraqi government, we've begun operations to help save iraqi civilians strandeding on the mountain. as isil has marched across iraq, it has waged a ruthless campaign against ethnic iraqis. they have been especially

ruthless against christians and a small and ancient religious sect. countless iraqis have been displaced. reports describe isil militants conducting mass executions, and enslaving women. in recent days yazidi women, men and children have fled from the area of sinjar have fled for their lives, perhaps tense of thousands hiding up to the mountain with little but the clothes on their backs. they're without food, without water, and people are starving and children are dying of thirst. meanwhile, isil forces below have called for the systematic destruction of the entire yazidi people, which would cute genocide. i've said before, the united states cannot and should not intervene every time there is a crisis in the world. so let me be clear about why we must act and act now. when we face a situation like we do on that mountain, when we innocent people facing the prospect of violence on a horrific scale, when we have a

mandate to help, in this case a request from the iraqi government, and when we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then i believe the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. >> joining me now, live from the white house is nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker. what is your understanding of the way this decision unfolded today at the white house? >> the meeting started here very early, lawrence, president obama meeting with his national security team. of course, as you just heard, the president mentioned they were discussing the request and the calls for the u.s. to intervene, not only from the iraqi government but also from lawmakers on capitol hill, from other countries urging the united states to do something, to deal with this humanitarian crisis. i think what is key in what the president said, lawrence, you heard him use the term "genocide." that really framed much of the thinking here behind the scenes at the white house, this idea

that it was incumbent upon this president, upon this administration to do something to try to prevent what could be a genocide, to prevent another rwanda. what is also key, lawrence, and these meetings, by the way, continued throughout the day at the white house, was a determination about how this could be carried in a targeted way. so that if in fact the united states does decide to move forward with those air strikes that president obama said are right now contingent upon the actions of the extremist forces, that any military action would be target and would be limited. of course, you heard the president reiterate the fact that there will be no u.s. boots on the ground. but as we have been discussing here all night long on msnbc, it is difficult once you engage militarily to guarantee that it is in fact targeted and limited. so i think that's why you're hearing the caution from the president, but also strong words of warnings to the extremists. i can also tell you, i just learned that the chief of staff here did reach out to house speaker john boehner to brief

him on the decision made here tonight and the decision to make those air drops to drop food and water to help those 40,000 people who are stranded on top of that mountain in northern iraq. lawrence? >> kristen, please stay with us, if you can, as we're joined by former u.s. ambassador to iraq christopher hill and reuters investigative reporter david rhode. ambassador hill, what do you think is within the reasonable realm of the possible for the u.s. on this mission? >> well, certainly i think the humanitarian mission will certainly help. unclear how much it can help, but it will help those people that are currently trapped up there. secondly, i think they can, with this threat of air strikes, dissuade any isil formation from attacking kurdish lands in erbil.

the kurds have a lightly armed but well-trained and well disciplined force known as the peshmerga. so air strikes could in fact deter isil from attacking kurdish lands. beyond that, hard to say. i think you always have to ask the question, and then what when you've used military force? because it appears that nobody is prepared to go into ninewa, into the center of ninewa and push the isil out of that province or out of anbar. so we have a serious regional problem, which goes well beyond the issue of governance in baghdad. to be sure, the u.s. has tried to make clear that we would like to hear about a new government and a prime minister not named malaki. but that may still be a long way off. we're going to have to be facing some decisions while people in baghdad have not yet made their decision. >> i have a footnote here from the audience hearing many in the news media saying isis.

we heard the president and just now the ambassador say isil. isil is the islamic state of iraq and levant, which is their chosen name. in the media it's referred to the islamic state of iraq and syria, the more modern country name now for that area. david, we have these people on top of a hill who are surrounded by people who want to murder them if they come down. the president is trying to solve that problem, but they have to come down some time presumably. >> excellent question. that's the problem. so he's framed this to me very interestingly in terms of genocide. he's not talking about going to war against the islamic state because they're a terrorist threat to the united states. he's saying we're going to save these people. how do you save them with no boots on the ground? clearly the iraqi forces aren't strong enough to go in and get them out. he's being very careful and he's restricting this effort, and that's smart. but i think -- i'm not sure most americans can understand the end

goal here and how we get there. because he's framed it this way. people are tired of the war on terror. but they kind of -- is this genocide argument going to work for the american public? >> ambassador hill, we did see isil deterred from moving on baghdad. so we've seen them kind of detour once before. this seems like a harder place to get them to move out of. now we're actually trying to get them to move away from a position they're already in. >> well, again, i think we can deter them from the kurdish areas of iraq. right now they're about 30 minutes from erbil. i think they can be pushed back from there. right now they're very well established in western iraq and these provinces of anbar and ninawa and other provinces. there the question is how are they going to be pushed back?

i think the obama administration has put a lot of faith in the idea that a new government in baghdad will kind of rally everybody and put people together. but when you see some of the names emerging, nothing really is inspiring. so i suspect that's going to go on for quite a while. meanwhile, this group, this caliphate if you will, is going to be more and more established. i think it has a regional dimension to it. i think it could bring on more regional tensions, including the sunni-shia tension. i think it's something that we probably, along with some other allies, including the french perhaps, maybe the brits and the turks, we're going to have to be making some decisions. >> david, as much as the president is obviously moved and disturbed by what's going on with the yazidi people, their being trapped and all that, he has americans right there in erbil, right there nearby, like

40 miles away from where this is happening. he has state department personnel. he has military personnel there. they require his absolute top priority for protection. it seems to me, although there was a lot of emotional weight in the statements about genocide and that section of his speech, the part where he was talking about protecting the american assets there is at least as important and probably more important. >> it is. the american embassy in baghdad is the largest in the world. there's american apache helicopters in baghdad airport specifically there to be used if baghdad itself comes under attack and you have hundreds of americans potentially. there is a talk of the islamic state forces trying to encircle baghdad. so this is it. there's pressure growing for him to act. if he had not acted now, there would be huge criticism from republicans, which is to be expected. but i talked to ambassador hill and other former ambassadors there is four former ambassadors

to iraq all calling for this kind of action, air strikes to stop this force and to do something at this point. i think the president didn't want to do this. he was undergoing pressure. it's unclear where this those now, where this ends. >> kristen welker, any word from the white house how speaker boehner reacted when he was informed about this? >> well, we're still waiting to get the specific details of that phone call, lawrence. we just learned about the phone call, but you heard president obama say members of congress were briefed. as you know, when he was trying to make a determination how to move forward with syria, that was a big part of the discussion, should congress be able to have approval and decide whether or not he could move forward with taking some type of measured military action in syria. i think that was a key part of the way that this day unfolded. again, we're learning that house speaker john boehner was briefed. i anticipate other congressional leaders were briefed before president obama came out tonight. we're still waiting to get reaction. we do know there has been strong

calls from the hill for some type of intervention. some type of help for those people, those 40,000 people who are stuck on that mountain, stranded there and suffering, who don't have access to food and water. lawrence? >> ambassador hill, how would a political change of leadership in iraq stiffen the spinal of even a single iraqi soldier in uniform there? >> good question. i think essentially the hope is that the sunni community, which would include anbar sheikhs, that is tribal leaders in western iraq would be -- their morale, their spirit would be greatly heightened by the departure of maliki. they could perhaps get a greater sense that they live in the political lifeblood of the country.

how that will translate into a recruit in the iraqi army and more specifically how that will translate to iraqi army officers who need to lead recruits is another matter. the problem has been the iraqi army has not performed well at all. i think we have a serious problem, which probably is not going to be solved just by the iraqi army or by a political deal in baghdad. i think we have a problem that's more regional in nature. i think isis is not particularly interested in concession maliki might make and whether maliki will give the sunnis another ministry or something. i think isis has a much more regional game in mind. that's where the united states has to think more broadly how to solve this. >> david, isis is very clear about their goals, and they're very ambitious. >> and they're very effective. one of the amazing things with what they're doing militarily,

they're able to move at least 1,000 fighters and they have tens of millions worth of american military equipment that they've captured. the peshmerga, they're the better fighters in iraq and they rolled right through them. they talk about getting and controlling the holy cities in saudi arabia. saudi arabia has activated troops. one former ambassador said to me today the only thing separating isis from mecca and medina and saudi arabia is desert. that's a long way away. there is talk about baghdad. they can clearly destabilize the region with what they're doing, and no country right now, particularly the iraqi state, has the military strength to stop them. >> kristen welker, ambassador christopher hill, and dave rode, thank you all very much for joining me tonight. thank you. coming up, more on the breaking news. we will tell you more about isis and their history. ounds]

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>> translator: we had sounds of mortars and in the morning they entered sinjar. so we fled to the mountain. and those who stayed there are now suffering from thirst. they have no water. they would take the girls and rape them. they said yazidis have to be converted to islam. this cannot happen. where are the officials? no one has looked after us. and no one asks about the face of the yazidis. >> we're continuing our breaking news coverage of the situation in iraq. here is a look at isis from vice news.

>> joining me now is mark ginsburg, former ambassador to morocco, and the associate editor of "the washington post" and author of "the imperial life in the emerald city: inside baghdad's green zone." these people are trapped on top of a mountain. the president has successfully gotten them food and water we hope some survival supplies in an area we know where the temperature today is probably going to go to 106 degrees where they are on that mountain. but at some point, they are going to have to come down. what happens then? >> well, where do they come down to? isis forces are pretty well consolidated in sinjar where most of these individuals up on the mountain live. and who is going to fight for them?

that becomes the real big question here. you can continue these humanitarian aid drops but for how long? when it comes to other instances other elements of the iraq fight trying to keep these isis forces from erbil, you can see how the kurdish forces in that city can regroup and potentially defend it. but these yazidis up there on the mountain, they don't really have a militia. and the iraqi army is far, far away from them. so this doesn't seem to be a clear path to getting them off the mountain. you can feed them. you can hydrate them. but what then? >> ambassador ginsburg, isis has been growing for years now, but this is their year. this is the time when they have come to dominate all of the troubles that are going on in this region. >> absolutely. and i think it's important for our viewers, lawrence, to understand this is the ebola virus of terrorism that is now striking the middle east. i hate to bring that analogy in, but let's understand. not only has isis been able to

consolidate control in northern syria, not only in northern iraq, but it has now started a conflict with the lebanese military. the jordanians are particularly worried about their own border. and at this point in time, the kurds, the peshmerga force doesn't have the military capability, the armored personnel carrier, the tanks that isis has already captured and which forced the peshmerga, the kurdish forces to retreat. so in effect what you have is no military option. and when the president gets on tv and says tonight no boots on the ground, and those people are stuck on the mountain, and we know that erbil may be in danger because the kurdish forces don't have the military assistance they need, why is he taking all of this off the table before he knows exactly what he is getting into? >> and rajiv, talk about isis and how they have compared to their predecessors and the american notion of who we're fighting over there, al qaeda.

>> you know, this view that these are a bunch of rag tag fighters who just barrelled through and the iraqi army has collapsed. well, yes, the iraqi army has done poor job of trying to hold ground. but these isis forces are actually fairly well organized. they have a degree of command and control. and in the areas that they seize, they actually engage in a degree of civil administration. it may not be pretty. it may not comport with our notions of how you should govern and administer people. but they are flying their flags over courthouses and schools. in some parts of syria that they've taken over, they've established a food inspection authority. they're trying to reach out to the people. they're trying to especially win the allegiances of the disaffected sunni communities throughout western and northern iraq, folks who have been very disenchanted by the mismanagement and outright neglect and persecution in some cases by the maliki government.

so these isis forces, which started out really as an al al qaeda offshoot in iraq, the islamic state of iraq, forces who then went into syria to participate in the civil war there, got enmeshed into conflict with other syrian rebel groups, other extremist groups and to some extent were pushed out of syria have found much more fruitful terrain in sweeping through iraq. they've been strategic about it. about even though they have come close to baghdad, they haven't engaged at what would be a suicide mission at present to go into baghdad. but instead they're finding the soft underbellies in iraq throughout the west and the north and have determined that the kurdish forces really are not as strong as previously thought. and now putting the very awkward position of having the iraqi

government, the central government in baghdad which has had a very tense relationship with the kurds, now actually trying to find ways to bolster those kurdish forces so cities like erbil don't fall. >> ambassador ginsburg, to rajiv's point, we have seen isis swerve once before in terms of marching on baghdad. this must be what's in the discussion in the white house situation room. what does it take to knock them off their path? >> the most important thing right now is that they're posing a direct threat to one of the major kurdish cities of erbil. >> where the american assets are. >> where the american assets are. when the president announced several weeks ago that he was going to send american advisers, there is a significant -- i think something like 30 to 40 of them are stationed in erbil. so there is a present danger. >> and a large state department presence there. >> and a large state department presence there. number two, one of the things that's been clear from our

counterterrorism advisers and fbi director is that isis agents isis terrorist fighters who are american pose a direct threat to the united states. the more they gain a foothold in that region, the more they can not only fight, but in effect to train terrorists to return to the united states and to europe. so what is happening in erbil and on the front line, not only does the peshmerga, the kurdish forces need to be reinforced, but frankly, i think the president is going to have to be more strategic. it's not merely getting these poor souls off the mountain. it's not only defending erbil. isis pose as direct military threat to our allies as well as to the homeland. so we have to begin look agent this as a threat. so all of us that have watched lawrence, for weeks on end. we have understood the threat that is going to continue to grow. >> we're going to take a break and be back with more of our breaking coverage of the situation in iraq tonight and the president's announcement of these two missions.

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in his address to the nation tonight, president obama talked about problems the united states can help solve in iraq and the problems iraq must fix for itself. here's more of what the president had to say. >> we can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide. that's what we're doing on that mountain. therefore, i have authorized targeted air strikes, if necessary, to help forces in iraq as they fight to break the siege on mt. sinjar and protect the civilians trapped there.

already american aircraft have begun conducting humanitarian air drops of food and water to help these desperate men, women and children survive. earlier this week one iraqi in the world cried to the world, "this is no one coming to help." today america is coming to help. we're consulting with other countries and the united nations who have called for action to address this humanitarian crisis. i know that many of you are rightly concerned about any american military action in iraq. even limited strikes like these. i understand that. i ran for this office in part to end our war in iraq and welcome our troops home. and that's what we've done. as commander in chief, i will not allow the united states be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. and so even as we support iraqis as they take the fight to these terrorists, american combat troops will not be returning to fight in iraq. because there is no american

military solution to the larger crisis in iraq. the only lasting solution is reconciliation among iraqi communities. and stronger iraqi security forces. however, we can and should support moderate forces who can bring stability to iraq. so even as we carry out these two missions, we will continue to pursue a broader strategy that empowers iraqis to confront this crisis. iraqi leaders need to forge a new government that represent the legitimate interests of all iraqis. and they can fight back against the threats like isil. iraqis have named a new president, a new speaker of parliament and are seeking consensus on a new prime minister. this is the progress that needs to continue in order to reverse the momentum of the terrorists who prey on iraq's divisions. >> this is one of those days, where in the situation room, ambassador ginsburg, they're trying to deal with an emergency situation, but they have to keep

an eye on a long-term strategy. what long-term strategy were they clinging to in the white house today? >> i think the long-term strategy was not only how do you deal with the immediate issue, but what do you do to protect the kurdish allies that the united states has, number one. number two, if isis is stopped in erbil, it will turn its attention to jordan. it will turn its attention to lebanon. as i said earlier, the fact that the lebanese forces, lebanese military regular forces are battling isis forces on the lebanese-syrian border should be a clear indication that the administration needs to look at this as a broader strategy, requiring broader support. why? because isis, after all, poses not only a threat to iraq, the president should be framing this as a broader threat to the united states. because isis is threatening the united states. the leader of isis is a manuel known to american military in

iraq. abu baqir al baghdadi was held in prison. when he was released, lawrence, he declared to the american commander who released him, i will see you in new york. >> wow. rajiv, the president knew when he took office that he was going to have an iraq strategy. he knew when he got re-elected he was going to have to have an iraq strategy. he now appears to have to have an iraq strategy and an isis strategy. >> yes. and this is a very challenging task for the president. he's right that the long-term solution in iraq is political compromise. you need a new and inclusive government in baghdad. but it doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon. everybody is hopeful that the result of these most recent elections will lead to a new prime minister. maliki goes. but at present it doesn't seem that like you're going get the big tent government that washington is hoping for. even if you do, lawrence, trying to win back over the allegiances

of the sunnis, trying to reempower the iraqi army, that's a long-term strategy. what we have to expect here, what the president's strategy here is going to be months and months of isis control, of large swaths of iraq as the political track moves forward, as the iraqi army seeks to bolster itself. all the while, a lot of trepidation from iraq's neighbors. as ambassador ginsburg has noted, the lebanese, the jordanians, the saudis, everybody looking at this very anxiously. even the iranians are very concerned. but at present, it's hard to see how if we're ruling out boots on the ground, that -- and air strikes only in defense of u.s. interests there, and potentially to avert this genocide up in the north, how that is going to expeditiously evict isis from iraq and change the overall political dynamics on the ground.

>> david, there are situations that defy strategy and leave you in day-to-day crisis and emergency management. is that where we are now? >> it is, as long as the president is not declaring the islamic state a direct threat to the united states. and that's what he's done here. it's very important. he's not doing that. george w. bush would have -- >> he's specifically withholding that statement? >> yes. and ambassador ginsburg is saying maybe he should make that the issue. i'm not sure americans are going to buy it. this president doesn't hesitate to carry out drone strikes in yemen and pakistan and what he sees is a clear threat to the united states. but he is not doing that here. and there is a little bit of political cover. fbi experts and other people have said the islamic state will be a threat to the united states, but he is not going there yet. again, he is sort of in a political box here. i don't know how he's going to rally the public without frankly making americans fear the islamic statement.

>> that statement about new york seems to indicate that isis has all the ambition that al qaeda did. >> well, let's remember now, and this is not something that we're creating from whole cloth, lawrence, there are people who have gone from the united states. >> yes. >> who have gone to be trained by isis, who have gone in and become suicide bombers for isis, who have gone on camera to declare that they're going to return to the united states. there was one that returned to the united states from syria and went back again. and then the head of the fbi declared before congress that isis proposes the greatest threat to homeland security of the united states. so where i may bit disagree with david is the president can't have it both ways. if this organization poses a threat that the fbi and head of counterterrorism claims that it does pose, then president should come out and say to the american people -- after all, his polling in the united states on foreign

policy is about as low as it can get. what is he worried about? what he should be doing is mobilizing american support trying to protect the united states and protect against isis. >> thank you all very much for joining me tonight. >> good to talk to you. coming up, there is more breaking news tonight. this time in hawaii where the first hurricane in 22 years is hitting at this hour. and kansas governor sam brownback is back in the show tonight. [ male announcer ] meet mary.

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call the number on your screen for 60 days of lifelock identity theft protection risk free and get a document shredder free. use promo code: notme. call the number on your screen now. the first hurricane in 22 years to hit hawaii is expected to make landfall at any moment now. hurricane iselle is expected to hit all of the hawaiian islands with wind and rain strong enough to flood roads and knock out power. and there is another storm following closely behind that one. joining me now the weather channel's chris warren. >> lawrence, this is a look at the storm right here. still 75-mile-an-hour maximum sustained winds. category 1 hurricane. the brighter colors, the bigger clouds, the most intense rain, the biggest storms getting closer and closer to the big island of hawaii.

with this to all of the main islands in hawaii there will be a threat of damaging winds. also some very heavy rain associated with this storm. so this is it right here. winds again 75 miles an hour. that's what we're dealing with, with this storm. i'm going to show you right now the track of this storm, as we look at that track right now, we are dealing with a strong storm at 75 miles an hour. we are looking at expecting this storm. we seem to have a graphics issue right now. but we are going to be dealing and tracking this storm on the weather channel. lawrence, back to you. >> chris warren, thank you very much. coming up, kansas governor sam brownback is in the rewrite. he has a very strange thought about who is to blame for his political troubles.

in the rewrite tonight, sam brownback rewrites his problem with republicans. sam brownback is a republican governor of kansas. he's struggling in his re-election campaign because he has a serious problem with kansas republicans. in kansas, there are almost twice as many registered republicans as registered democrats. so a problem with republicans could end the kansas republican governor's career. governor brownback suffered a major defection of republican voters in the primary. 37% of republican primary voters voted for a republican challenger they had barely heard of. >> hi, i'm jennifer winn. i'm running against sam brownback in the republican primary. the brownback experiment has failed. we should have a tax system that offered relief to small businesses and middle class families. ending corporate welfare will

save kansas taxpayers $1.1 billion. >> the brownback experiment that failed, according to jennifer winn and the republicans that voted for her was the radical tax cuts. yesterday, kansas city star reported that standard & poor's downgraded the kansas bond rating, quote, because of declining revenue following massive income tax cuts signed into law by governor sam brownback. the rating could lead to higher interest rates on state borrowing, ultimately costing taxpayers more money. winning 37% of the vote in a republican primary against an incumbent governor in kansas would not be a really impressive showing for an established republican politician with a well funded campaign. that was not jennifer winn. jennifer winn had, shall we say,

a few liabilities running for office. especially running for office as a republican in kansas. for example, he is in favor of legalizing marijuana, and she got 37% of the republican vote. and one of the reasons she's in favor of legalizing marijuana is that her 22-year-old son is currently facing first degree murder charges in kansas as the result of a marijuana deal that turned fatal. that's who got 37% of the vote in a republican primary against an incumbent republican governor. a salina journal editorial asks how does a political newcomer win with no name recognition or funding and who ran for office only because her son was charged with murder and who backs legalizing marijuana in kansas get 37% of the votes against a sitting governor? good question. sam brownback has an answer for that. and no, it's not his failed tax cut experiment. as kansas republicans were

casting their votes on tuesday, governor brownback was asked why polls indicated so many of them were going to vote against him. now, i would like to pause right here, just to give you all a chance to guess who sam brownback blamed for republicans voting against sam brownback. hint, the winner of this particular tweet race will be the person who can type the word obama the fastest. >> some percentage of republicans will vote for somebody for governor who is not you. what is going on within the republican party here in kansas? why is there at least some degree of dissatisfaction with the folks who have been representing them from the republican side? >> well, i think a big part of it is barack obama. a lot of people are so irritated at what the president is doing, they just are -- they want somebody to throw a brick and just they're irritated about what has happened to their country.

>> throw a brick. that's right. barack obama has irritated 37% of republicans in kansas city to the point that they threw a brick at the republican governor of kansas. thanks to president obama, presumably things are looking worse for the governor in november now that his democratic challenger paul davis has taken a slight lead in some of the polls. political scientist larry sabato says brownback has proven so controversial and alienated so many traditional moderate republicans that somewhat incredibly, the gop candidate in kansas, of all places, is struggling to retain his office. amazingly, the incumbent has trailed in most polls to state house many north leader paul davis, and reports coming out of the jayhawk state signal that brownback could actually lose. the incumbent has barely

outraised his challenger so far this year. and only did so by way of a $500,000 loan from his running mate. without that assistance, davis would have raised $370,000 more than brownback in that time. we are shifting this contest from lean's republican to toss-up. according to sam brownback, anyway, president obama has made the kansas governor's race a toss-up.

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tennessee held primary elections today and the tea party lost another one. in the republican senate race, incumbent lamar alexander faced tea party challenger joe carr. the associated press has called the race for lamar alexander. the count, as of now alexander with just over 50%. carr stands at nearly 40%. we'll be right back. 

after deliberating for almost ten hours, a jury in detroit found 55-year-old theodore wafer guilty of three charges, guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter, guilty of using a firearm in a felony. on november 2, 2013, he shot mcbride in the face with a 12-grade shotgun. renisha mcbride was intoxicated and went to his front porch after crashing her car.

while he argued he acted in self-defense, prosecutors argued that he shot and killed a young woman who was simply looking for some help after an accident. >> november 2nd, 2013, ms. mcbride injured, disoriented, just wanted to go home. yet she ended up in the morgue with bullets in her head and in her brain. because the defendant picked up this shotgun and released this safety, raised it, at her, pulled the trigger, and blew her face off. >> renisha mcbride's mother monica spoke with reporters after the verdict was announced. >> the prosecutor, they did a

wonderful job of proving their burden that they had. they had a heavy burden, but they made it through. it was overwhelming. i kept the faith, and i stayed positive. we know as parents how we raised her. she was not violent. she was a regular teenager. she was well raised and brought up with a loving family. her life mattered and we showed that. >> sentencing is set for august 25th. he could face life in prison. joining me now is msnbc contributor and managing editor for fault line, jps goldie taylor. goldie, it's a peculiar verdict in that he was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter. why is that? >> sure. you know, those are two very different charges. and second-degree murder happens to be a homicide in commission of another felony. that felony in michigan was manslaughter. and thus you have two charges. it's rare, but prosecutors sometimes take this strategy to

get as many charges on the bail b table to make sure that we're appeal proof and we're going to get the maximum sentence. >> when you watched that prosecutor delivering that final statement, he presented this as a very deliberate act. by theodore wafer. >> you don't pull the trigger on a 12 gauge shotgun by accident. it's a very deliberate act, the motions you have to take, the aim you have to take. we're not talking about a hair trigger. we're talking about something that takes the force of weight to pull that trigger. so as mr. wafer said the night -- the day that he was finally arrested, that this gun somehow went off on its own. just the evidence could not bear that out. then he changed his story and said that he was in fear of his life and this was self-defense. i think those conflicting statements are what the jury had to decide on and they decided they just weren't credible. >> what specifically did he say that she did to make him fear for his life? >> she banged on his door at 4:00 in the morning.

that was the equities stent of it. >> that's not enough. we all come to this with our own cultural biases. he saw a young black woman standing on his doorstep at four income the morning. you have to ask yourself, what if someone else were standing there? what if she were a boy, a young black male. would he have done the same thing and would the outcome of this child have been any different? those questions will never be answered. what we do know is that this prosecutor decided not to put those issues on the table. because at the end of the day, this was about the facts of this case and that her life had as much value as any other. >> it's another one of those tragic days today, goldie, where we see an african american mother standing there in a moment of what do we call it? triumph? because the killer of her child has been found guilty. what kind of moment is that? >> i think there was maybe a moment of satisfaction.

but i also heard that mother defending the life of her child, saying this child was not violent, that she was raised in a loving, stable home. so i think those are things that that mother had to say today. >> goldie taylor, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. golddie joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. right now on "first look." we begin with the president on iraq. >> to, i authorized two operations in iraq. targeted air strikes to protect our american personnel, and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of iraqi civilians. >> the united states military is taking on isis head on in a race against time the israeli 72-hour cease-fire is ending. and the planet is in the midst of the largest ebola outbreak ever reported. hawaii bng