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tv   Politics Nation  MSNBC  August 8, 2014 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT

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congratulations on your leadership. all the best to you at kentucky state university. thanks for changing the lives of people on your watch. you're a leader. good to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. >> that's the ed show. "politics nation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. >> thanks to you for tuning in. we start with breaking news out of iraq. the u.s. launching additional air strikes against the islamic militant group isis. striking a mortar position and a convoy of seven vehicles. the pentagon just released this video of the fighter jets involved in those missions. this video from on the ground in iraq reportedly shows the first airstrikes earlier today. the images aren't confirmed by nbc news. the strikes aimed at isis targets outside the northern city of erbil.
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where there is a u.s. consulate. at the same time the u.s. military moving to address the urgent humanitarian crisis. this is the latest video we are getting of the refugees said to be fleeing the militants in a disturbing turn the u.s. has confirmed that militants kidnapped hundreds of refugee women so they can be sold or married off to extremists. meantime, tens of thousands of other civilians remained under siege, surrounded by isis on a mountaintop in northwest iraq. native american a -- american air drops delivered meals and fresh water so far. president obama told the nation last night that the u.s. can't turn a blind eye to this crisis. >> we have a mandate to help in this case a request from the
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iraqi government. when we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, i believe the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. we can act, carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide. >> nbc's chris jansing is live at the white house. what's the latest from there? >> senior white house officials tell me this remains a fluid situation. you can expect to see potentially more air strikes, more air drops. now the white house has laid out a very clear plan for the military. the president talked about it last night. they would have to determine that it is absolutely necessary to go in, particularly with the air strikes. there are very specific parameters senior white house officials are emphasizing. when would they consider it to be absolutely necessary? let's look at the humanitarian side first. they would have to determine that it was a grave situation for the folks who are up there
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on the mountain who we know have been without food, without water. have essentially been starving to death. yes, they can do air drops of food, medicine, water. eventually they have to get folks off the mountain. so that's the first thing. if there is a movement by isis toward the folks who are stranded up there. that would be number one. number two, a threat to erbil. you said there is a u.s. consulate. there are also military personnel stationed there. we are talking hundreds of americans. finally, there was a dam seized by isis that there is a serious concern that there could be a breach there. there could be flooding to impact baghdad where there are many americans stationed. now this is not something that the president is doing on an hour-by-hour basis. the parameters are laid out. the decisions are being made by the military within those parameters based on the intelligence on the ground. having said that, the president has been in and out of meetings all day. he's been briefed on the
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situation on the ground. officials pointed out that right now the plan is still for him to go to martha's vineyard tomorrow. they have said all throughout that the president can get information, be in touch with advisers, wherever he is. many of his advisers will be traveling with him. right now, no change in plans for the president. no particular plans for him to talk to the american people although it's always a possibility for him to update the situation. >> there are no particular plans now. there is a consulate and many americans in erbil. thank you. >> sure. >> joining me on the phone is tracy shelton, a reporter for global post in erbil right now. give us a sense of the scene
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now. >> people are scared. a week ago there was a lot of confidence in forces. people thought between the kurds and the islamic state. all of the sudden they have been pushing forward at incredible rates. yeah. people were really afraid of what's going to happen next. the city is inundated by families. >> you have talked to refugees who fled the terrorists. what did they go through? what's their reaction to the u.s. airstrikes? >> well, a lot of them are angry that it didn't come sooner. they have already lost their homes. some of them are saying we don't care about iraq. we just want to get out. we want our families safe. we want asylum. others are hopeful. they want to get back home. they haven't given up yet.
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they see the air strikes as a sign of hope. one that they are still skeptical about. not ready to put much hope in it yet. it is a start. they want more. >> all right, tracy shelton. thank you for your time. be safe. >> let's bring in jim mcdermott and former democratic congressman patrick murphy, the first iraq war vet elected to congress. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> congressman mcdermott, do you support the president's actions so far? >> yes, i do, al. i watched the seahawks last night and they lost. everybody on monday morning, there are quarterbacks who know what should have happened. the president has been sitting there and keeping us out of war
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in all kinds of different situations. when he finally decided to do something, i think he made a decision that's limited and can be executed with success. i'm sure what was in his mind is i stood back to bill clinton when he have he was apologizing to people in rwanda because we didn't do anything then. we had genocide then. i know it's got to be in the president's mind as he was making these decisions. >> i went to rwanda. i was part of those trying to force clinton to deal with the issue. these reports, congressman, of women being abducted from the yazidi sect and sold as slaves, does it show what we are facing
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with isis, congressman murphy? >> yes. isis is the most horrible terrorist organization in the world, worse than al qaeda. it's not just 40,000 refugees. we have 40 deaths, mostly children but the women are being kidnapped. to the east, they are making in-roads to the kurdish government, the county seat, the city government there. that's when the artillery -- i'm sorry, f.a. 18 fighter jets knocked out isis artillery which is a positive thing. we need to make sure they reach out to the sunnis. not in isis but to make sure they come together. i don't have a lot of faith unfortunately, reverend. most iraqis don't have faith. but we need to make sure it's
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not american boots on the ground. it is iraqi boots on the ground. >> congressman mcdermott. we are air dropping relief supplies to those refugees on the mountain. should the u.s. be committed to helping them get to safer ground? >> putting our troops on the ground puts us back in the war. i don't think we should be getting ourselves into that situation. we can by forcing the isis away from those folks on the top of the mountain, protect them. i don't think it's our job to get them. >> saying that, congressman murphy, last night president obama talked about the limits he's placed on the mission. listen. >> i will not allow the united
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states to be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. as iraqis take the fight to terrorists, american combat troops will not return to fight in iraq. 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. >> congressman murphy, in your view -- to avoid mission creep? >> the strategy has not changed. we have no strategy to get bogged down. president obama, again some of the military advisers got us out of the war. it's up to the iraqi people to do what's necessary and the second part of that's that president obama is determined not just to provide humanitarian aide, but to make sure they were
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firing on the kurdish forces in range of our men and women over there. we need to make sure that we either extradite them out of erbil or take out isis with the air strikes. we need to make sure there is a political solution. we need to world to come together to do what's necessary to get this isis radical extreme terrorist organization stopped in its tracks. >> congressman mcdermott, we have reports so far of three rounds of air strikes. do you anticipate anymore in the days ahead? >> i really don't know, al.
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i trust the president has limited what he's going to do. i trust him to be a man of his word. i think that he -- again. you've got to remember. this president is all about what happened in benghazi, in libya. he's thinking about the americans on the ground there. he does have a reason to be very protective of people in the consulate and other people on the ground for the american government. i think he'll do what's necessary to take them up. i don't think he's going to go in there and get enmeshed to get in a war. what patrick murphy says is correct. malaki has to go. there has to be a new government created that takes everybody into account. he's been too divisive to be the one to put it back together. i think the president is committed to helping that political happen as well as protecting the americans.
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>> today the white house press secretary said there is no time limit for the mission. listen. >> there is no specific end date. we are going to take this approach in which those kinds of decisions are evaluated regularly. they are driven by security situation on the ground. >> will americans, congressman murphy, support the president on this operation despite the lack of an end date? >> absolutely, reverend. they understand that we don't leave our men and women in harm's way when they are threatened by a terrorist organization like isis in far away places like erbil, iraq. they also understand that america is a country that we have 40,000 refugees. there are 40 children killed. 100 women kidnapped. if we can provide humanitarian
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aid which is water, meals, we can do that. i served in bosnia under general petraeus after 9/11. we stopped the worst ethnic cleansing in europe since world war ii when muslims were being killed. i was first brought by president clinton. there are folks in washington there are playing politics saying barack obama should be doing more. but i have full faith and confidence that just like when president obama became commander in chief and military generals said don't pull out of the city in iraq. he said, i told the american people i'm ending the war and that's what i'm doing. he's not getting us back into an iraq war. >> thank you both for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> coming up, what do the american people want to do in iraq and how are the president's political opponents responding to this crisis? also, a deeper look at the terrorist group isis.
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where did they come from? how can they be stopped? and iran on a promise to end the iraq war. and now he's fighting to keep the peace. how president obama's history on iraq is shaping this new crisis. all that plus more on the desperate race to help the refugees including hundreds of kidnapped women. stay with us. [ male announcer ] nexium®, the purple pill, is now available without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. because the best moments in life aren't experienced from the sidelines. now there's nothing holding you back. this is nexium level protection™. the #1 prescribed acid-blocking brand now without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protection™, now available at walgreens.
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we're going public! [cheering] the fastest in-home wifi for your entire family. the x-1 entertainment operating system. only from xfinity. i know many of you are concerned about strikes like these. we can and should have forces to bring stability to iraq. >> president obama last night explaining that he's taking action to protect americans and innocent civilians in iraq. but he's not getting us involved in another war. the american people don't want that. there's a real split on more limited strikes, too. a recent washington post poll shows 45% of americans would support air strikes against sunni insurgents in iraq. but 46% would oppose them.
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in an nbc news poll found that just 43% of americans believe the u.s. has the responsibility to assist the iraqi government against insurgent groups. the majority, 50% disagree. these are complicated issues not just for the president but for the american people. >> he's doing what's best for the u.s. citizens and for the iraq government, i guess. they are our allies now. i guess just to stabilize the situation there. >> i'm against it. on the one hand, i approve and applaud the humanitarian. the bush administration started a nightmare from which we cannot extricate ourselves. so i feel bad for president obama. what he's doing is wrong. >> to an extent. very limited.
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i don't want to spend billions of dollars we could use on infrastructure, schools, education. but keep it light. >> the president wants to do the right thing. he wants the american people on board. but some republicans are still eager to criticize. speaker boehner said he support it is air strikes. but his, "dismayed by the ongoing absence of a strategy." he says the white house has remained disengaged. that while senator john mccain claimed the operation was, "almost worse than nothing, the weakest possible response and almost meaningless." these measures aren't meaningless. president obama also isn't going to let the american people be dragged back into another war. joining me now are ryan grimm and clarence page. thank you for being here. >> thank you, reverend. >> the american people don't want another war. the president feels he needs to
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act. are these air strikes -- is this how he can reach the balance? >> let's say the air strikes are a limited response and they are necessary for a humanitarian mission. the president has used the g-word here, genocide. >> right. >> he see it is possibility of another massacre, something akin to the rwanda scenario or what we were afraid might happen in libya. he feels justified here. he's got the advisers. he has a tradition of having advisers around him like susan rice, hillary clinton, samantha power who believe that our military power ought to be used in rescue missions like this. beyond that, what to do? he doesn't want boots on the ground. we don't want to get involved again. the american people on the whole
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don't want to get dragged into another war. a lot of voices say no mission creep. on the republican side he hears we need a more robust response. he has to go out and build a coalition that will combine diplomacy and military power so we can be forthright, have a strategy without getting dragged into a full-fledged war. >> i mentioned speaker boehner's claim the white house was disengaged. but afterward a democratic aid told the hill that the speaker has skipped a white house meeting last week with congressional leader where is a range of foreign policy issued were discussed including iraq. how did he call the white house disengaged if he's missing briefings? >> it's one example of a broader republican problem. john mccain wants to go to war. that's his answer for every
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problem. not only does he not go to the white house but he doesn't have a plan he's put out. there is a good reason for that. there are really no good options in iraq now. he doesn't want to put down an option that will be the least bad one. the problem for republicans here is that the president has been very clear in saying there is no military solution here. that seems obvious at this point. we were there for a decade. the problem was not solved. another decade. there is no reason to believe that would help. what's john boehner saying? that he wants boots on the ground which upwards of 80 to 90% of americans would oppose, or what? boehner can criticize the president. he doesn't have an answer to the follow up question. he knows that. i think that's why you are not going to see a lot of vociferous opposition here. just the small bore stuff he put out today. >> the tone got a little ugly.
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this morning, for example, it was ugly from one congressman. listen to this. >> you can never imagine the president coming on television saying he will crush isis. he doesn't have the courage to do that. it might be the beginning of a small move. the president is a cautious person, to a fault. i think he's toe in the water a little bit here. >> i'm confused. the president doesn't have courage? when, clarence, is being cautious to a fault a flaw? >> well, the congressman has been cautious himself there. the folks back in illinois and the district aren't eager to get involved in another war in the middle east either. however, we are dealing with a dangerous entity here -- isis. they have gotten a lot farther than we expected. they can take control of half of iraq. they are threatening kurdistan.
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we have a problem with the baghdad government. malaki needs to go. there is a consensus everywhere. iraqis can't agree on what to replace him with. we have an unstable situation that could pose a threat to us. it's too far for americans to get that excited about it right now except to be very upset by the footage we see on the evening news. i think president obama is making a lot of phone calls. i hope he's getting together an international coalition. other countries, even turkey is entertaining the idea of kurds having more autonomy. and not as worried as they were before about the kurds coming, taking part of turkey for their kurdistan. things are in a different kind of situation in that region. >> you know. some of the biggest cheerleaders of the iraq war are those calling for more action. gop pundit bill crystal said, quote, if you are going to get in big get in decisively now.
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if you go in incrementally in this way you don't have the effect you want to have on isis. in 2014, why should we listen to the same people who were wrong about iraq in 2003? >> it's apparently impossible to get fired as a pro war pundit in washington. how many times can you be wrong in a row. he's wrong this time, too. here is the major problem. isis captured a lot of heavy weapons from the iraqi army. the u.s. supplied weapons that the kurds can't defend against. the kurds have been prevented from getting heavier weapons. there's been reluctant to allow them to make moves that could be seen asset getting close to independence. they have tanks and humvees. with armored tanks you don't
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stand a chance. isis doesn't lack commitment either. they are people willing to die. tanks against m-16s isn't a fair fight. by taking over the air, the president does allow the kurds to regroup. this weekend he's arming the kurds with weapons they can use against the isis tanks and against the armored humvees. this actually does allow the kurds a chance to save themselves. for mccain to say it's meaningless and kristol to say it's nothing isn't true. there are several million people up there who now have a chance to survive a little longer. >> ryan grimm and clarence page, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you, re rend. coming up, more u.s. air strikes in iraq today. we'll go to the pentagon. just who is the radical isis group? they are known for beheadings
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i believe the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. we can act, carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide. >> what group might be behind a potential act of genocide? a rebel group of islamic militants known as isis, they are known for horrifying mass killings and executions. a reporter from vice news was embedded with the group. vice has no affiliation with nbc news. we have not verified the interviews or video in this documentary. >> the state has been established by a hard line jihadist group that emerged out of the mayhem of the syrian civil war. until recently they were known as isis.
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now they call themselves the islamic state or i.s. the speed and efficiency which they advanced from syria to iraq caught the world and those reporting on it by surprise. >> what can be done against isis? is the group a threat to the united states? that's next. to the pacific northwest. the rain, the mud -- babam! it's there. the outside comes in. it's kinda nasty so you start the towel-mop shuffle. where are you sun?! [ doorbell rings ] oh, wow, it's a swiffer wetjet. this puts my towel mopping to shame. whoa! ewww. sunshine is overrated, now we can get messy. [ laughs ] now we can get messy. where the reward was that what if tnew car smelledit card and the freedom of the open road? a card that gave you that "i'm 16 and just got my first car" feeling. presenting the buypower card from capital one.
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every time you take advil you're taking the medicine doctors recommend most for joint pain. more than the medicine in aleve or tylenol. the medicine in advil is the number one doctor recommendation for joint pain. relief doesn't get any better than this. advil we are following breaking news tonight. the u.s. launching against militants in iraq today. 40,000 people are trapped on a mountaintop, ordered by isis to convert to islam or face execution. so who is this extremist group known as the islamic state of iraq and syria or isis. to give you an idea of how radical they are, al qaeda recently cut ties with them. their goal is to form a single islamic state based on sharia law. they target shiite muslims,
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christians and other ethnic norths with gruesome tactics like beheadings, executions and public crucifixions. the group is known for mass killings. recently a reporter from vice news was embedded with the group for three weeks. nbc news has no affiliation with vice news and we have not verified the interviews or videos in the documentary. the message of the militants in the video is alarming.
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thank you, first of all, for being here tonight. >> thank you very much. >> is this the most violent terror organization in the world today. >> it's extreme beyond extreme. that's what's interesting. even al qaeda has rejected this group because it's so hard line. they recently changed their name from isis to simply the islamic state. anyone in the mosul area who calls them by their old name, isis, is subject to 70 lashings. the group, it's beyond comprehension some of the ideas and logic they have. the hope is that they are so radical they turn off even their own sunni/muslim allies and we can engineer what we did with the surge in 2007, 2008 again here. >> how did they take control of such a large area of iraq? >> that's the sad part. >> and so fast. >> when the u.s. left iraq we
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had done a pretty good job in corralling folks. this was al qaeda in iraq. initially. we had done a lot of damage to them. we killed their leadership. we basically pushed them into a corner of iraq. unfortunately what happened is syria. this the interim, two things really happened. first of all, a conflict in syria. second of all the political deadlock in iraq. with the instability on the syrian iraqi border with the deadlock led by malaki in iraq where you see, unfortunately a shiite-led government imposing sanctions basically on the sunni community. you had two elements come together. what you had is sunnis in northern iraq start to say, look, the isis guys seem crazy. we still prefer them to the malaki government of baghdad. that's how it happened. >> today, senate intelligence committee chairman dianne feinstein said isis is, "not a typical terrorist organization. it is a terrorist army, operating with military expertise, advancing across iraq
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and rapidly consolidating its position." how have these militants been trained? >> they have been trained by the fire. they have been fighting against the regime of bashar al assad for years. because of the front line experience and all the american weaponry they seized from the iraqi government, these guys are an effective fighting force with a lot of experience, a lot of firepower. what's more disturbing is they are successfully recruiting americans to travel from the united states over to iraq and syria to join them. >> americans. >> just within the past week -- a young guy, a 20-year-old from los angeles was stopped by the fbi at los angeles airport. he admitted freely he was on his way to join isis. look. there are not a lot of them. it takes only a few to cause problems. if they get this level of training and learn to build bombs and they come back --
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>> he was an american in los angeles. >> yeah. he's not the first. >> okay. that's the problem. there are people traveling from all sorts of places in the u.s. now trying to join this group. tampa, los angeles, the interior of the country, the coastline and places you would never imagine and people you would never imagine. some of whom don't speak a word of arabic. >> we mentioned vice news was embedded with isis. nbc has no affiliation with vice. we have not verified this video. but listen to this militant describe what they are doing in iraq. >> what's your reaction? >> one of the groups there. they are foreign fighters, not
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iraqis or syrians. for them this is a safari. they go from conflict to conflict. syria, iraq, afghanistan, somalia. wherever they can find fighting and for them that's glory. that's fun. that's the kind of people we are dealing with. that's why it's so dangerous and why these people aren't just a threat to iraqi security or syrian security or saudi security. they are a threat to us. they view us as the enemy. >> they are a threat to us, you feel. >> they are training people right now to come and carry out acts of violence in various different european countries and the united states. that's not a question. it's a fact. the norwegians were on a state of high alert. they believed an attack was imminent in norway. >> wow. >> due to militants trained in these tactics. >> is part of their strategy fear? system yeah. >> that's how they are gaining ground so quickly? >> they believe they can
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terrorize enemies into submission. they believe they can frighten their enemies to either leave iraq or be wiped out. unfortunately if you look at what's happened, the people who presented the greatest threat to them in iraq to them taking over iraq, the kurds and shiites, it's been a month and a half. they haven't done a lot to try to stem the tide of isis. we have seen the isis wave continues. that's what's disturbing. that leads us to believe if the u.s. doesn't take some form of action here, this is not going to improve. it's going to get worse steadily. thousands of people will lose their lives. that's the problem. >> fascinating. evan coleman, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you very much. still ahead, president obama's commander in chief. he campaigned on ending the war in iraq. now he's fighting to keep the peace. stay with us. elps people find better ways to
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president obama, iraq and his legacy. milissa harris perry, the professor, joins me on it next. and startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. thanks to startup ny, businesses can operate tax free for 10 years. no property tax. no business tax. and no sales tax. which means more growth for your business, and more jobs.
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i ran for this office in part to end the war in iraq and welcome our troops home. that's what we have done. as commander in chief i will not allow the united states to be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. as we support rauiraqis as they take the fight to the terrorists, american troops will not return to fight in iraq. >> president obama telling the public last night he's not are interested in starting a new war in iraq. but this new authorization for air strike is a policy reversal for president obama. as he mentioned he campaigned on ending u.s. involvement in iraq. >> i will promise you this. if we have not gotten our troops out by the time i am president, it is the first thing i will do.
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i will get our troops home. we will bring an end to this war. you can take that to the bank. >> and he did bring troops home, declaring an end to the iraq war in october of 2011. one of the most important and popular decisions of his presidency. >> as promised, the rest of our troops in iraq will come home by the end of the year. after nearly nine years, america's war in iraq will be over. today, i can say that our troops in iraq will definitely be home for the holidays. >> but with this new action the president has decided to reengage in iraq. >> the united states cannot and should not intervene every time there is a crisis in the world. when we have a mandate to help, in this case a request from the iraqi government. and when we have the unique
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capabilities to help avert a massacre, i believe the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. >> it's a complicated issue. the president has been very cautious in his actions. american involvement in iraq will always be part of his presidency and his legacy. joining me now is melissa harris perry. thanks for being here. >> absolutely. >> now on what this would mean for the president's legacy really. "the aggressive insurgency threatens to undermine obama's legacy as the commander in chief who ended a long and unpopular war in which nearly 4500 american troops died. what do you make of that? how might this affect his legacy either way? >> the important thing is we not think about legacy in this moment. it's interesting to hear candidate obama standing there
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making declarative statements about foreign policy. it's one of the things that happens with former presidents, no matter what the party. they are part of kind of a club that recognizes that the complexity of foreign policy and specifically of american military engagement is something that truly no person can fully comprehend or understand until they have the responsibility of the oval office. while i believe that candidate obama fully believed everything he was saying, i believe that second term president obama recognizes that whatever his legacy is, in some history-book sense that the far more important question is whether or not american interests are protected in iraq and that he's taking actions he believes protects those interests. >> the president is framing this as a humanitarian effort. watch. >> as isil marched across iraq it's waged a ruthless campaign against iraqis.
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there are chilling reports of rounding up families, conducting mass executions and enslaving the women. i believe the united states of america cannot turn a blind eye. we can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide. >> he made a similar argument for ordering air strikes in libya in 2011. to save thousands of innocent lives. how targeted was that word "genocide" last night. >> what's happening to these people is appalling. the images we are seeing are horrifying. i think we have to recognize that it's not quite the full story of the decision here. we have not been able to stop the humanitarian horrors there.
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there are crises across the globe. some of them disease-related. some war-related. we are intervening here because we have a particular footprint related to the relationship that's occurred over the course of the past decade because of our military involvement. this is not a time for casting blame. it is a moment we might recognize that we continue to pay the costs for a decision made to lead this nation into an ill-advised war that this president as a candidate called dumb for a reason. you can't just turn around, pull out and walk away. once you are in it, it becomes a thing that you own and you must remain engaged in. our interests in the region changed dramatically as a result are of a decade of american bloodshed on that soil. >> is the president -- let me put it this way. is the president's caution and his deliberate action and the uh way he's moving here reflecting
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the american public's ambivalence about another engagement in iraq? >> it's reflected in the american public. it reflects president obama. it is a key nature of who this president is on everything from domestic policy to foreign affairs. he's deliberative. he is a thinker, someone willing to learn from past mistakes. generally, i see it as a great strength in leadership. there are moments you want someone to act. given that we find ourselves still embroiled in iraq all this time later, we ought to value deliberation and caution because it was a failure of our nation to be sufficiently deliberative and cautious after the 9/11 moment. it was acting with the kind of emotional angst that brought both parties on the side of supporting that intervention in the face of evidence that turned out to be not true about saddam hussein and weapons of mass destruction that we continue to
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now pay the cost for. >> melissa harris-perry. thank you for your time. watch weekends at 10:00 a.m. right here on msnbc. ahead, my take on the action in iraq and the tens of thousands of innocent people including children who are suffering. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. so i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. the summer of this.mmer. everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. the summer that summers from here on will be compared to. where memories will be forged into the sand. and then hung on a wall for years to come.
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[ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. america is coming to help. president obama decided to act because tens of thousands of innocent people, including children were dying, threatened by are terrorists who promised
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to slaughter them all. they were marching to a city. military option should be the last resort. i opposed the war in iraq in 2003 along with millions of other americans. it was a war of choice. but sometimes an action can be an injustice. during the 1990s america stood by and did nothing about the horrific genocide in rwanda. i traveled there to highlight the crisis, to cry out for action. $800,000 people were allowed to die. president clinton later said it was the greatest regret of his presidency. that's why america is acting now. president obama acted because in his judgment these limited military options was enough to make and stop an unthinkable act of genocide. i think we must always be slow
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to use the military, but we must always be fast if we even think genocide is a possibility. we should be fast with prudence. thanks for watching tonight. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. genocide. this is "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. genocide. if there is one word in the language that should cut off partisan dribble this should be it. once you see a religious or other group of human beings is in the process of being exterminated we need the to stop it. is there another view of this, a