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achieving those goals. america is back in iraq. we have full coverage from erbil, washington, and martha's vineyard, where president obama has just started his vacation. also, new rocket fire between israel and hamas, this after talks to extend a three-day truce failed. so is israel prepares for another ground war, or another round of peace talks? also, an international public health emergency. that's what the world health organization calls the ebola especial epidemic. good afternoon to you all. i'm t.j. holmes in today for mr. craig melvin. the new mission in iraq is continuing today. earlier, american forces dropped more humanitarian aid to civilians who have been caught in constant crossfire. so far, the military has not engaged in more air strikes against my tilitant targets tod. we did hear from mr. obama.

he made clear that this engagement in iraq is going to be a long-term project. >> i don't think we're going to solve this problem in weeks, if that's what you mean. i think this is going to take some time. you know, the iraqi security forces in order to mount an offensive and be able to operate effectively with the support of populations in sunni areas are going to have to revamp, get resupplied, have a clear strategy. >> nbc national security producer courtney is live in washington for us. any indication of when we might see another air strike? >> we're not getting any indication here. right now, the military is targeting what they call targets of opportunity. so, for instance, if they see something like yesterday where they saw an artillery tube where they see a convoy of vehicles that could potentially be launching mo launching mortars into erbil. right now there's dozens of u.s. intelligence assets that are

flying over iraq, so presumably they're keeping an eye on potential targets. but until they actually start to threaten either the city of erbil in any kind of u.s. interests and resources that are there, or threaten the yazidi population, the u.s. is not going to strike against those. the only third possible place that they could strike would be if there's any kind of real threat against baghdad. but as we've seen, as the islamic state has been moving into iraq over the past several months, they've stayed relatively clear of baghdad, so right now the focus remains on erbil in the sinjar mountains. >> how successful have the air strikes been so far? >> so far, they've taken out several targets. they took out an artillery tube that could potentially have been launching into erbil and could have possibly threatened u.s. interests there and the kurdish people who are living there. our understanding is that the majority of these so far what they've been striking, they aren't things that necessarily were taking actual action into

erbil or hitting people. they were sort of more errant strikes, potential errant strikes into erbil. but they were able to take out the one artillery tube. they took out a convoy of seven vehicles that could potentially have been launching mortars into the city. so, so far those three specific targets the u.s. has successfully taken them out, neutralized them, is the term that they used. but as far as what goes forward, what we see going forward, if we see anything else, islamic personnel moving towards erbil, those would be the next kinds of targets that we would see if we see any strikes today and going forward. >> thank you so much for the update. we do want to get an update from erbil now. nbc's keir simmons just landed there a bit ago. this, of course, is where those u.s. air strikes took place friday. humanitarian efforts continue now. keir, you're on the ground now. give us a sense of what you've been seeing so far. >> well, we went straight to a

church where thousands of christians from a yazidi sect have gathered because they fled the areas around mosul where isis are in control, terrified. and it's hardly a surprise when you speak to them because they speak about being told that they must convert to islam, that may must wear shawls and if they don't they will be killed. the women saying they picked up their children and left in a hurry, some arriving just today. so they aren't any less frightened yet. what we saw was just thousands of people, large numbers of these families tonight are going to bed on the outside, just laying out mattresses with their children, and waiting to see what happens, whether or not the tide is turned against isis, or will they have to flee even further. >> any indication that the items, these humanitarian drops, are they getting -- do we have news that they're actually getting to the people they're

meant to help? >> those have been dropped in the sinjar mountains. they have had some effect. it's a difficult thing to do, you can imagine trying to drop food and water into an area whilst being clear of isis itself, and then attempting to shoot down u.s. planes. so dropping that kind of humanitarian aid in a way that's effective, and there are some reports that there are tens of thousands of refugees in those areas trapped, trying to make that work. and plainly it cannot last forever. at some point, they have to try to find a way to help those people escape that area where they are in the most dire need. but isis are not the kind of group that you can negotiate with. not the kind of group that you can say let's have a cease-fire. these are civilians who are fleeing because they believe that they have been told if they don't, they will be killed by

isis. >> nbc's keir simmons in erbil. thank you so much. we will continue to stay on top of this still developing story. we do want to turn now at seven minutes past the hour to the ebola outbreak, which the world health organization has now declared a public health emergency of international concern. the virus has killed 961 in four west african countries. just moments ago, harvard university issued an advisory to students to avoid non-essential travel to the countries affected by the virus. in nigeria, passengers entering the country are being screened at airports. the government of guinea announcing they've closed their borders with sierra leone and liberia to stop the spread of the virus. doctors at a hospital in canada are working to determine if a patient there has ebola. the patient who recently traveled to nigeria is showing flu-like symptoms which are similar to the symptoms of ebola. back here at home, dr. kent brantly and nancy riebold, they

are improving. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in atlanta. they are improving. what do we though about their treatment that could be helping them improve? >> reporter: we know nancy has taken the third dose of an experimental drug that was given to both americans and has seen them improve. both americans are here at emery. they have two nurses with them 24/7, two nurses with each of them trying to make them as comfortable as possible. yesterday from his isolation room, dr. kent brantly put out a statement saying he is getting stronger every day and thanking the world for its prayers and thanking god for his mercy as he deals with this terrible disease. nancy, meanwhile, she feels well enough to ask for starbucks coffee. her son says she is doing very well but she's not out of the woods yet. as for her husband, he is still in liberia. says he misses his wife. wants to come back to the united states, but he's waiting for this ebola incubation period to elapse to make sure that he's

not infected. this outbreak continues to rage in parts of africa. and dr. brantly, he did release a statement. we're hearing from him for the first time. in part, it reads, i am growing stronger every day and i thank god for his mercy as i have wrestled with this terrible disease. he also describes he put himself in isolation when he was back in africa when he had some symptoms. he thought he might have had some symptoms. how much do we know? this doctor was over there helping the folks deal with ebola in west africa. is he also participating a lot in the decisions about his own care? >> reporter: well, right now emery hospital and the cdc have been very -- they've been involved in his treatment here. he really doesn't have much say in it here. but back to when he was in africa, he put himself in isolation because this has been a problem for several months in africa. this outbreak started in march and it has since spread to four countries and it's killed nearly a thousand people so far. so he knew the risks.

that's why he went out there and has been helping people in that part of the world. nancy as well. they were well aware of the risks and were trying to help people get through this. so as soon as he came down with those symptoms, he immediately put himself in isolation so as not to infect others. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez in atlanta. thank you so much. coming up here, israel and hamas exchange rocket fire just a day after talks of extending a truce fell apart. so, are long-term peace talks still an option? we'll have a live update from israeli. also, plans are moving forward to overhaul the department of veterans affairs and help our vets get the care they need. we'll explain what's being done now. me from anything? or if power could go anywhere? or if light could seek out the dark? what would happen if that happens?

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that egyptians and palestinians are working on an agreement to bring an end to the hostilities. those reports follow new exchanges of fire between israel and hamas today. israeli defense forces have hit 58 targets in gaza, including killing a senior hamas leader. 28 rockets were launched from gaza into israel. the overall death toll in gaza due to the air strikes now stands at over 1,900. nbc's martin fletcher live for us in tel aviv. martin, what can you tell us about this possible deal, a possible proposal that could lead to some kind of temporary cessation of hostilities? >> reporter: well, t.j., there are real talks going on in cairo between the palestinians and the egyptians on behalf of the israelis. the israelis are not in cairo. they left on friday. they came back for the sabbath and they say they're not going to go back to cairo until the rocket in the shooting from gaza stops. they say they won't negotiate under fire. as you mentioned, 28 rockets

with five from gaza into israel today. israel hit back with about 50 to 60 air attacks. so there is fighting continuing, but it is at a much lower intensity than it was at the last few weeks. 28 rocket attacks in gaza. compared to an average of about 130 a day over the last month. so the fighting is down. so all attention now is focused on cairo. will they be able to come up with some kind of agreement that israel can accept and then extend the cease-fire, hopefully indefinitely or maybe just for a few more days. that's what it's all about. and the area that is getting some encouragement is it appears according to palestinian sources that there is an agreement that the siege of gaza between gaza and egypt could be lifted. a crossing could be open. medicine can go into gaza from egypt. but only on the condition that it's not hamas people who man that border, but egyptians and

palestinians from the west bank, from mahmoud abbas. so that's the area of possible agreement that is giving some signs of encouragement, but the two sides, hamas and israel, still very wide apart in terms of long-term cease-fire. so really all hope now is towards a limited goal of extending the humanitarian cease-fire by maybe another 72 hours. sort of salami tactics. keep the cease-fire going in order to stop the fighting. so that's the most optimistic we can be at the moment. >> the most optimistic we can be. does this feel any different? is there a reason this time around you can give us some perspective of just how hopeful folks are this time compared to the other times? >> well, i think the difference this time, t. jampj., is that t fighting that resumed after the cease-fire ended friday morning,

8:00 local time, that was the end of the 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire. the shooting on friday and saturday, as i mentioned earlier, is much less intense than it was. it's not as if the two sides suddenly went back to full-scale war. it's bad enough, of course, that the israelis 50-60 attacks. they've killed seven palestinians today, and so it's not good, but it's far less than the 80, 100, 120 palestinians who have been killed almost daily over the last few weeks. so there is -- i would say there is room for optimism. there is a sense that the heart, that the drive to fight of both sides is gone. that each side would like it to end. and they're looking for a way down from the tree. but as i say, it's all about what they can negotiate in kai row. but yeah, i think there is a sense that if they can come to an agreement, it could last for a longer period of time. but again, it's not easy, because the demands of the two sides are still wide apart.

israel is still insisting that hamas be demilitarized. hamas is demanding a complete opening of all the border crossings between gaza and egypt and gaza and israel, and israel is saying that's not going to happen because we're worried about weapons going into gaza. but israel has agreed that any kind of humanitarian assistance that goes through the borders could be acceptable to israel, as long as they can be monitored for no weapons shipments inside gaza. so yeah, there is movement towards a longer term truce, but i'd say it's still some way away, and the real question is whether a temporary truce, a cease to the actual shooting, can be negotiated over the next few days. at the moment, they're fighting, but less than they were before. >> all right, martin fletcher for us in tel aviv, thank you, as always. also right now, hawaii doesn't have a long time to recover from yesterday's tropical storm because a

hurricane is expected near the islands tomorrow.

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22 minutes past the hour. people in hawaii cleaning up after tropical storm iselle swept through hawaii's big island. the storm brought heavy rain, strong winds, flattened some homes, downed some trees. the town of puna took a major hit. now the islands are preparing for another storm tomorrow. that's hurricane julio. exactly where it's going to end up unclear right now. also, unclear is who's going to win today's primary election. it's election day. today. yes, in hawaii. governor neil abercrombie could be in for the fight of his political life in today's democratic primary, while the other big contest is the senate democratic primary race between current senator brian schatz and colleen hanabusa. mike taibbi is in hawaii. >> reporter: well, it's already had a direct effect on the big

island, because two polling stations remain closed. that's where the maximum impact was from yesterday's storm, iselle, as it approached and hit the southeast corner of the islands. but that aside, it shouldn't have that much of an effect because it doesn't look like hurricane julio is going to come anywhere near the islands now, 200 or 300 miles to the north as it passes the longitude of hilo tomorrow. you talk about the contested races. they are contested and somewhat surprising in a way. governor abercrombie is a popular governor. he had been a popular governor. he's presiding over a thriving economy. he has the most progressive positions in this very progressive state and finds himself in the lowest poll 18 points down to his challenger who is state narth david egay at this point. brian schatz also finds himself in a tough fight. his challenger had been trailing in the polls until the most

recent poll where she's up now by eight points, 50-42. so it's hard to say. but what we can say about hawaii pre-election polling is it's unreliable and doesn't always reflect what happens in the end. so at this stage, if you watch tv here, it's almost wall-to-wall political ads with occasional snippets of programming mixed in. yesterday, we ran into the mayor of maui here, and he was -- after we did the interview, he said, is this interview going to be on before the polls open tomorrow? everybody's concerned about the elections. people are beginning in. we saw people running in yesterday trying to get their ballots in, early balloting. today they actually go to the polls. back to you, t.j. >> mike taibbi in maui for us. robert mcdonald is making stops at v.a. hospitals for the first time he took over the embattled agency, and it all follows a week of reform. president obama signed a $16 billion bill thursday that would give veterans broader access to

doctors in medical care and overhaul the entire virginia agency. a federal judge's ruling could open the door for some college athletes to get paid once they leave school. the ruling stems from a lawsuit by a former ucla basketball player who believed he should be paid after his images appeared in a video game. also moments ago, we learned president obama spoke on the phone with german chancellor angela merkel to discuss the ongoing tense situation in ukraine. the white house says both leaders agreed that any russian intervention, even under the guise of a humanitarian effort would be met with additional consequences. this comes as ukrainian troops have reportedly surrounded the city of donetsk, aiming to take it back from pro-russian militants. as we get closer to the bottom of the hour, just a few hours ago, president obama announced there's no end date for u.s. involvement in iraq. i'll talk to a former u.s.

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the ongoing crisis in iraq, the united states continues to drop food and water overnight. the trapped refugees in northern iraq. earlier today, president obama said friday's air strikes successfully took out weapons and equipment used by the militant group isis. nbc's senior white house correspondent chris jansing traveling with the president in martha's vineyard where he just landed this afternoon. chris, hello to you. the president was talking about this a little earlier as a "long-term project." this certainly sounds open-ended to a lot of folks now. >> well, it does. the president made it very clear this is not going to be something that happens in just a matter of weeks. it could go into months and they are working this on several fronts. the first is the humanitarian effort and the food drops that have continued. i think they've now dropped at least 36,000 meals ready to eat. you have an unknown number of

people, but we do know it is in the thousands who are up in the mountains, so not only do they have to get food and water to people who have been without it for six days in some cases, but then they're also going to have to get safe passage for them down the mountain. you have another problem with a dam that has been taken over by isis and there has been some concern, although that does seem to be mitigating a little bit, that they could breach it. it could flood the city of mosul like a tidal wave and go into baghdad. the united states not only has interests in baghdad, but also in erbil, and that has been another ongoing concern that isis rebels were in two towns very close to erbil, and there are many americans who were there, both who work at the consulate who are military personnel, and also there are american businesses working out of there. so what the president made very clear as he was walking across the white house lawn today is that this is not going to be easy. it's going to be complicated. and that it is going to take

some time, t.j. >> president using the word genocide a little earlier today. >> even as our attention is focused on preventing an act of genocide and helping the men and women and children on the mountain, countless iraqis have been driven or fled from their homes, including many christians. >> and again, the president being clear that the humanitarian effort going on there, and also protecting americans and american interests are the two main goals here, but that's not all. i mean, you have to shut down isis to a great degree. on the united states from that permanent base. >> obviously what they want to do is contain isis, and one of the concerns they have, you just heard from the president and we heard it already from secretary kerry is genocide. we had been reporting that there

are hundreds of women being treated as slaves. you have that humanitarian crisis, not just up on the mountain, but elsewhere, because thousands of people have been fleeing for fear for their lives. you have a situation that is not going to be anything where the president says this is the date, this is when it's going to end. we're also hearing criticism, particularly from john mccain, who has suggested that what the united states is doing is not enough. having said that, the president reiterated today what he said the other night and what senior white house officials have said repeatedly, which is that there will be no boots on the ground. that what we are seeing now is as far as the united states is willing to go. >> chris jansing traveling with the president. thank you so much. we'll check in with you once again a little later. with me now, ambassador james

jeffrey. served as u.s. ambassador to iraq from 2010 to 2012. thank you for being here. i'll start by listening once again to the president from just a little earlier, then i'll bring you back in. >> this morning, i spoke with prime minister cameron, the united kingdom, and president hollande of france. i am pleased that both leaders expressed their strong support for our actions and have agreed to join us in providing humanitarian assistance to iraqi civilians who are suffering so much. >> he mentioned france and great britain there and talking to leaders there. does this feel like to you that the united states is going at it alone in iraq in terms of this military campaign? >> t.j., in terms of political support at the u.n., in europe, and a little bit on the ground, we will have support from the international community. there's no doubt about this. president obama has rightly recognized that only the u.s. has the wherewithal to respond to what's going on before our eyes right now, as well as the longer-term problem as he said of not allowing isil a sanctuary

in the middle of the middle east. >> do you see this as another extended u.s. military intervention in iraq? is the president trying to get the u.s. president prepared for such? >> absolutely not. we have to set aside this fear of vietnam or another iraq or another afghanistan, and look at what we have done dozens of times since 1945, and the president has addressed this several times. he has a three-part strategy. one is counterterrorism. as you mentioned this morning. to ensure that these people with their sanctuary do not threaten the homeland of some of our friends. secondly, military action. as we're seeing now, when they push out from their areas in what is basically a conventional military operation, as you're showing on your clips, this is similar to gadhafi going after benghazi, similar to bosnia, to kosovo. that we can do from the air without any boots on the ground. digging these guys out of these

sunni arab areas in iraq and syria will take years, long-term. it's largely political and diplomatic. america can support, but it can't be in the lead. that's the difference from iraq in 2003. >> like you're saying there, many have said a u.s. military intervention, or the air-strike campaign, this is going to have limited effect. there's only so much you can do from the air. so is there -- not even a concern, but will this need to widen? will this military campaign need to widen in some way to have a greater impact on isis? you can slow them down for a bit, but to really get at them and have an impact long-term, you talked about, you know, the politics of it, but as far as militarily, will we have to widen this campaign? >> once again, as they attack into non-sunni arab areas where they're seen as the worst of all possible enemies and have no support, and when they have to do this using their pickup trucks and captured light armored vehicles, they are a

military target and can be dealt with by local forces on the ground, some of the better iraqi army forces, some of the sunni arab tribes. with u.s. air support, u.s. logistics, u.s. training, u.s. intelligence. we did this in vietnam effe effectively in 197. we did it in afghanistan in 2003. we did it with the kurds in 2001 and 2003. other people's boots on the grounds with american assistance and air support. it's a proven procedure that works, and will stop isis from moving forward. what it will not do is to go in and dig these people out from the areas from mosul to syria, where they have burrowed into the sunni arab population. that will require a large scale, long-term political diplomatic and to some degree military effort led by people on the ground. >> and, ambassador, you have the

confidence that that can work in iraq? because many are calling this a unique situation in that yes, you talk about the kurd force, which is certainly formidable, but they don't have the fire power necessarily to match these militants, and then you talk about the iraqi forces who don't necessarily have the motivation to beat back these forces. so isn't this a unique situation that might not apply the same as some of the others you mentioned? >> well, some of the iraqi forces do have good motivation based upon the reports of u.s. assessment teams that the president sent in. the kurds are well-motivated. you're right. some of these people do not have fire power. if there's one thing america can do, it's quickly use our logistical capabilities to move in fire power. so i'm pretty confident that in that regard, we can make these folks quite effective partners in this effort if the political prerequisites are in place, and that's what he's working on, as he discussed today. >> ambassador james jeffrey, thank you so much for your time, your insight, your expertise

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for the latest forecast. it could have been worse with the last storm, and are things kind of going their way with this storm as well? >> hey there, t.j. as of right now, it looks like hurricane julio will be staying off to the north of the hawaiian islands. and here's why. since the last advisory, julio has been tracking off to the west-northwest. still a category 2 hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour. forecast computer models still have the system staying off to the north and weakening, perhaps becoming a category one hurricane as early as sunday. now, we're still urging hawaiians not to let their guard down because if this track heads farther south, which could do so within the next 24 to 36 hours, we could be talking a whole different ball game. >> a whole different ball game, but right now, it's looking their way. but you don't want to say don't worry about thing, and then all of a sudden the thing changes direction. >> exactly. certainly, t.j.

as i mentioned, it's continuing its west-northwest track, but over the next 24 to 36 hour, we have to closely watch this because, again, if it tracks farther south -- it could head farther north, and that's certainly good news for the hawaiian islands. but if it goes south, we could talk at least category one hurricane conditions. that would be late this weekend into early next week, t.j. >> thank you so much. good to see you here with us again this weekend. turning to another story that could soon be happening in the oceans around the world. it's actually today's big idea. it's called the ocean cleanup, and the creator wants to do -- well, exactly what it sounds like, clean up the world's oceans. it doesn't use nets or big ships. instead, it helps the ocean help itself. natural winds and ocean currents of the water collect trash in the water. and this 20-year-old is behind the project. he joins me from the netherlands via skype. how does this work exactly? >> hi there. so it basically looks like a

giant letter v. it's made out of floating barriers. what happens is the plastic gets caught by these barriers while the sea life is able to pass underneath it thanks to the natural currents. the plastic gets pushed towards the center, becomes increasingly more concentrated where it can eventually be taken out of the water every six weeks, can be taken to land, and then be recycled into new materials. >> we're seeing video of it here. just how big is this thing? >> well, eventually, what we want to get to by 2020 is a device that spans about 100 kilometers, and that's long enough to clean up half the great pacific garbage patch in just ten years time. >> how far out will these things go? do you have to keep them fairly close to shores if you will, or can you send them way out? >> the location where we focus our research on is about halfway

between hawaii and california. it's about as far as you can go from shore, and that's whereabowher where about a third of all plastic from the oceans is concentrated. it really made sense to focus on that area. >> it sounds like junk and trash and plastic, you mentioned, a lot of people think about when the ocean gets dirty, they're thinking about oil spills. this isn't for that, right? >> no, perhaps we could think about some sort of spin-off for oil spill containment, but this is actually for solid waste, so plastic, about 80% comes from land. basically municipal waste. and therefore, it's not only an economic damage, but also a damage to ecosystems and also a potential threat to human health as well. >> all right, you're just 20 years old. you actually just turned 20 last week. so happy belated birthday to you.

this, i assume, has been on your mind far while in your teenage years. so what was it that got you into this to want to develop something that could potentially have a huge impact on our environment? >> right. so it all started when i was 16 years old. i was diving in greece, and suddenly i realized i came across more plastic bags than fish. so i had to do a high school science project and decided to use that time to come up with a solution, think about why it's so difficult to clean up, and now together with a team of 100 people, we have now successfully been able to show that it's indeed feasible and financially viable way to do this. >> last thing, you said it's feasible, financially viable, so when do you anticipate maybe having these in larger production and having them out there working? >> well, for at least the next three and a half years, we'll be focusing on scaling up our pilot tests. so far the largest one was about 40 meters.

now have to scale this up. therefore we've now started the crowd-funding campaign. it's already the most successful non-profit crowd-funding campaign ever. but we are not there yet. and hopefully in about one month time, we'll be at our $2 million goal to start making this happen. >> well, thank you so much. congratulations on the ocean cleanup. we look forward to seeing it out there in years to come. really, congratulations. thanks for spending some time with us. >> thank you, t.j. >> all right, do you have a big idea? maybe as big as his? let us know about it. use the #whatsthebigidea. or you can e-mail us. we're about 12 minutes of the top of the hour. coming up, a big political story we've been keeping a close eye on. some call it the first major event of the gop presidential primary season. it's drawing some pretty big names and it's taking place right now. we will take you there, next. a family.

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welcome back. still following that breaking news out of iraq. see video of the president and his wife and at least one daughter there arriving in martha's vineyard. this is just about an hour ago. the president making several calls to american allies in europe. the president spoke to leaders of the uk and france, all pledged support for the u.s. mission in iraq and to help with the humanitarian aid. we do want to turn to another big political story that's happening this hour. the 2016 gop primary getting started today. kind of sort of. it's actually just 17 months away. yeah, just 17 months away. don't tell that to republican hopefuls like ted cruz, rick perry, and rick santorum, the former senator among those stars that are gathered in iowa. we're seeing the live picture right now. this is him onstage. this has been dubbed the first big cattle call event of the election cycle by "the des moines register."

we have a longtime political columnist for "the des moines register," she joins me now. why is this event such a big deal? it's clearly a big deal since you've got all those big names to show up. >> you know, today it's one of the first times when you bring a lot of people, we may be seeing a lot of in iowa over the next couple years. altogether with a group of republican conservatives. this is the kind of cattle call where a lot of people are a lot of times getting their first look at some of the guys who are going to be in their living rooms, in their schools, and in their communities stumping for their votes in a year or so. >> we're talking about some of these big names. someone else there, not necessarily a big name, but certainly talking butt a big topic, immigration. we had iowa congressman steve king actually making some comments about his recent trip to the u.s. border. i want our viewers to listen and i'll bring you back in. >> we saw -- i've got video in

my phone -- of a raft of two coyotes bringing a pregnant woman into america, right under the nose of the border patrol. they essentially -- and their hands have been tied by the president of the united states. we've got to restore the rule of law. >> now, is that what we just heard, immigration, first of all, a big topic? a hot topic there, and kind of the stance that we're hearing that congressman king at least take. is that popular there? >> so, immigration is a topic here in iowa, you wouldn't think that a landlocked state in the middle of the country would have a lot of firsthand experience with illegal immigration, but the meatpacking plants do draw a lot of people from around the world and some of them unfortunately have been undocumented. so it does become an issue here, and candidates are all over the board. they are trying to appeal to as

many people who are going to make the decisions in 2016 as they possibly can. >> and again, you're there. rick santorum -- that's live happening, folks. you hear him getting some applause lines in. he narrowly won the iowa caucuses back in 2012. i know it's early. we're a year and a half out. but is there any indication of who the folks in iowa, at least the iowa republicans kind of like right now? >> well, i think that a lot of the people here are still open-minded. you know, you talk to folks in the audience about who they're going to vote for in 2016 and most of them say, you know, i haven't met them all yet. people like to actually see, and if they can meet candidates in person if they can. rick santorum popular with this group. and mike huckabee will be here tonight as well, another popular guy. they also like ted cruz in this group. >> and one other note here before i let you go. governor perry is going to be coming around.

he's there once again. he -- it sounds like he's staffing up. maybe getting ready there in iowa. is there any indication that the folks in iowa, they -- you know, they put you through the ringer one time around, maybe they don't go for you, but the next time around, they're a little more receptive to you? is history on someone's side like governor perry? >> i think that rick perry is more popular now among iowa republicans than he was when he was running for president. he has spent a little bit of time in iowa. he is presenting himself much differently than he did in 2012. a lot more energy. the fact that he hasn't just had back surgery like he did during the campaign. of course, he has glasses now, so what's not to like? >> you know what? every little thing counts. kathy, thank you so much. we'll check in again, i'm sure. as we get close to the top of the hour, still ahead, president obama says he has goals for u.s. involvement in iraq. we'll tell you exactly what they

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we will continue to provide military assistance and advice to the iraqi government and kurdish forces as they battle these terrorists, so that the terrorists cannot establish a permanent safe haven. >> president obama says there's no timeline for u.s. involvement in iraq. he's laid out two goals, to protect americans from isis rebels and address the humanitarian crisis against religious minorities in iraq. so now that american forces are back in and engaged militarily in iraq, how does the u.s. get back out? we have full coverage from erbil, washington, and martha's vineyard, where president obama has just started his vacation. also, israel and hamas didn't waste any time exchanging rocket fire after the truce ended friday, so is israel planning another ground war? we'll hear from the spokesman for the israeli military. and a new voice is joining

the national debate over the name of washington, d.c.'s football team. i'll talk to the granddaughter of the team's original founderi who named them. she says she wants the name changed. hello to you all. i'm t.j. holmes, in for mr. craig melvin. the new united states military involvement in iraq will be a long-term project, that is according to the president himself. let me give you a look now american planes, planes dropping food and water to iraqi civilians. this was overnight. the military has not targeted militants with more bombs today, but the white house reaffirmed its commitment to a secure and safer iraq. courtney, no more new air strikes necessarily, but these could come at any time depending on when the u.s. military sees fit. >> that's right. we haven't heard about any more for today so far. but i think we'll see at this point we're going to see a

steady drew barrymoum beat of t. every time the u.s. military sees what they call a target of opportunity, they have the authority from the president and they have the ability based on the military assets that they have in iraq to take it out. so, for instance, yesterday we saw them strike an artillery tube. this was artillery that could potentially be fired into erbil, placing obviously kurdish citizens at risk, but also potentially placing u.s. citizens at risk, workers in the consulate, u.s. citizens who are there in the city. they also struck a mortar, potential mortar firing site and a convoy of vehicles. so these are all the targets of opportunity that they really come up with very little notice. the u.s. may be tracking with the intelligence assets in the air. they may be tracking these potential targets, but until they really start to threaten either erbil or the sinjar mountains where the yazidis are all hiding out, until they start to threaten one of those two

areas, we won't know that the strikes are coming. >> so far, u.s. officials pleased with the success and precision of these air strikes? >> yeah, absolutely. they're dropping really high-tech bombs here. these are hellfire missiles. they're laser-guided. so they take out their targets. they're hitting -- you know, they fired off eight bombs. eight bombs at a seven-car convoy. that neutralizes seven cars. we haven't gotten any kind of an assessment, but the strikes were successful. they've been able to -- at a minimum, they're taking out these potential threats to erbil. taking out these very specific targets. yesterday, at least. we haven't heard about any for today. but again, if there's any threat to erbil, a threat to the yazidis, or even -- we don't expect to see this, but even if there's any kind of a threat to being dad and the u.s. embassy there and the u.s. assets there,

we will continue to see u.s. military air strikes. >> all right. thank you so much. i want to turn to nbc's foreign correspondent keir simmons now on the ground for us in erbil, the northern city where there's u.s. air strikes took place friday and humanitarian efforts continue now. keir, we talked to you last hour and it was really heartbreaking to hear you on the ground there to describe the situation on the ground. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. the painful part of it, the group of yazidis who are a small christian sect. they lived here for thousands of years in this part of northern iraq. and now they are fleeing in large numbers. most of the community, we saw 4,000 of them gathered at a church here. children, grandparents, parents altogether, all sleeping

outside. meanwhile, in the mountains in northern iraq, there are many, many more in far worse conditions, children dying, families forced to flee, to climb this mountain, trying to get away from isis. it was a desperate humanitarian situation. as you say, water and food is being dropped. the problem, though, is without a decisive military presence on the ground, how are these people going to get their homes back? >> also, you're mentioning the drops. how are they getting to that food and water that it's being dropped? are they getting indications at all that it's serving the purpose it's meant for? >> it is. it's not a -- you take food and water to themselves, frankly, we'd prefer to get them out of there entirely and to give them shelter. but it does have some advantage to bring food and water in this way. it does help.

it just mitigates the circumstances, and the trouble is there are these -- some say tens of thousands of yazidi on that mountain who can't get away, and how are they going to be able to help to get a way to sleep? people here, i have to tell you, on the ground are saying to me, thank you, america, for coming in, for launching this bombing campaign. now, please, bring boots on the ground. please bring soldiers so you can push isis back. we know from the president that that simply isn't going to happen. >> nbc's keir simmons for us in erbil. thank you so much for hopping on the line with us. we're about seven minutes past the top of the hour here now. we're going to turn to another big story we've been following for weeks now, the latest on the ebola outbreak. the virus has now killed 961 people in four west african countries that have been affe affected, leading to the world health organization declaring the outbreak of public health

emergency of international concern. within the last hour, harvard university issued an advisory to students and staff members to avoid non-essential travel to the countries that have been affected by the virus. in nigeria, passengers entering the country are being screened at airports in the government of guinea has closed their borders with sierra leone and liberia to stop the spread of the virus. meanwhile, doctors at a hospital in canada working to determine if a patient there has ebola. a patient who recently traveled to nigeria is showing flu-like symptoms which are similar to the symptoms of ebola. dr. kent brantly in the u.s., he's one of the two americans being treated in atlanta. responded positively to a lot of the treatment that's happening. also released a statement yesterday and it reads in part, i am growing stronger every day and i thank god for his mercy as i have wrestled with this terrible disease. nbc's gabe gutierrez in atlanta for us, and it sounds like these two americans are doing okay right now, and maybe even

getting a lot better. what do we know about their treatment? >> reporter: that's exactly right, t.j. no update so far from emery university hospital today, but as you mentioned, that statement from dr. kent brantly yesterday suggested he was feeling a whole lot better, ever since getting that experimental medicine. same thing with nancy writebol. she has been in contact with her sons. they are both here in atlanta and have been able to see her through glass. they've been sending flowers and cards into her room. and they say that she is doing much better. she's asking for starbucks coffee, and that's obviously a good sign. and someone else that's waiting to get back here to the united states is her husband, who is still in liberia waiting for that ebola incubation period to elapse so that he can make it back into the united states. so both american patients so far, as far as we know, are improving. but, as their family members will tell you, they're not out of the woods yet, t.j. >> gabe, what do we know about this patient in canada? what's the update there? >> well, in canada, that -- it's

a scare that's happened throughout the world really over the past couple of days. there was that case in new york earlier this week where it turned out that the patient did not end up having ebola. here they are taking precautionary measures, but health officials suggest that they are just precautionary. this patient had traveled to africa recently and came into the hospital in ontario, canada, with flu-like symptoms. which in its early stages are very similar to ebola symptoms. but right now, there is no official diagnosis and health officials are stressing right now this is all just precautionary in canada at this point. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez in atlanta for us. thank you so much. up next, israel possibly planning another ground war? we'll get the answer from the spokesman for the israeli military. it's the little things in life that make me smile.

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developing right now in the middle east, indications the palestinians and egyptians could be hammering out a plan towards an end to the month-long crisis there. it's just a draft right now. meanwhile, on his way to martha's vineyard, he spoke with david cameron by phone. both agreed that establishing a cease-fire needs to be a top priority. this follows new exchanges of fire today. nbc's bill neely live for us in gaza city. what can you tell us about a possible proposal that's in the works? >> reporter: yes, these are reports from cairo confirmed by palestinian sources here. it really comes in two parts. one is about a cease-fire. the other one is really about a broader peace or political deal at the end of it. egyptian intelligence officials, they've been meeting more today

with palestinian delegates from hamas and from islamic jihad. and the egyptians are trying to persuade these militants to stop firing rockets into israel. why? because israel left cairo, left the peace talks yesterday morning, saying they simply weren't prepared to negotiate any further while missiles are still being fired. the egyptians are concentrating, focusi focusing solely on a cease-fire. it just has to be an effective one and a real one and then the peace talks with get rolling again. the second area for hope is on a broader deal. it involves many of the parties. egypt it seems is prepared to ease its effective blockade on gaza by reopening the main check point. why will it do that? because hamas has agreed pretty much to cede control of that check point. it's old enemies in fattah,

effectively, but now the new unity government. hamas prepared to allow other people to man that check point. and there are indications that israel is also willing to ease the blockade of gaza by allowing more goods through, allowing more people to travel between gaza and the west bank. allowing a 12-mile limit, for example, just out there so that palestinian gaza fishermen can fish. there is one sticking point and it is extraordinary amid all of this, and it's concrete. this is a sticking point. israel wants guarantees. the concrete that's brought into gaza won't be used to build new tunnels for hamas. it wants the concrete to be used for reinstruction. getting those guarantees will be difficult, so believe it or not, amid all of this, concrete is a sticking point. another sticking point, of course, is it's all around all these talks happening behind the scenes, but the missiles are still being fired. hamas firing a couple of dozen across the border into israel

today, and israel striking back with missiles. we heard aircraft in the skies above us all day, and a blast just about 200 yards down the road. so while the violence continues, there will be no deal, but there are indications, t.j., of the bones of a deal. >> nbc's bill neely, thank you so much for that update. let me turn now to lieutenant colonel peter lerner. sir, thank you for being with us. there's this talk now of palestinians and egyptians maybe trying to hammer out some kind of a proposal. does that have any impact on your military operations? >> well, here's what we know. basically, since hamas decided to end the cease-fire at 8:00 on friday morning, we've had over 100 rockets fired from the gaza strip into israel. 20 of them actually landed within the gaza strip. so what we're currently doing is combatting that situation with our defensive capabilities like iron dome, and counterstriking

the people that are launching the rockets, the people that are carrying out these attacks, indeed, hamas as the situation is today must feel pursued, paralyzed as an organization, and the individuals who are carrying out these attacks, they indeed need to feel threatened. >> feel pursued and threatened. one of the latest was an attack that was near, or at least an attack by you all on a mosque that apparently killed three people. that was one of the latest. can you give us the update? what was the target that was near this mosque and who was killed? >> well, what we know throughout the day, and especially throughout this entire conflict, over 170 cases of rocket launchers, of rockets being stored within, beneath, and weapons being stored within mosques. so these indeed have been part of hamas's strategic plan to carry out attacks against israel. we have launches from even last night against israel from adjacent to a mosque, so indeed we struck that rocket launcher,

and then i can confirm. i can also confirm that throughout the course of the day, we've carried out -- >> who was killed in that attack? i'm sorry to cut you off. you said you did hit with your intended targ. but do you know if civilians were killed near this mosque or militants were killed near this mosque? >> throughout the course of the day, we've carried out several strikes against terrorists factions, against terrorists that have carried out rocket launches or are planning specific attacks against israel. this is the type of challenge we are facing, and that is precisely what we are doing, and continue to do. they can't expect to use the territory, to use the gaza strip as a staging ground for attacking israel and expect to go without consequence. this is what we are currently up against. we didn't want to be in this conflict. we've said time and time that we will hold our fire, indeed, until friday morning we had upheld a 72-hour cease-fire.

we had withdrawn all of our troops after severing that tunnel capability and currently we are in a situation where they are continuing to fire at us, where we honestly don't want to be involved in this. we want to get beyond this. and we would expect them to be in the same situation for the people of gaza. as i said, 20 of the rockets that they fired since friday at israel actually struck within the gaza strip. why are they doing that? >> well, let's get to -- you know what, let me turn to one of my colleagues, msnbc's alex witt talked to a human rights attorney and former negotiator and spokesperson for the plo. i want to get your reaction to what she told my colleague a little earlier. let's listen and then i'll have you comment. >> no matter which government has been in place in the gaza strip, israel has always made one excuse or another to place some type of siege, blockade, or build settlements, etc. they've done the same in the west bank, too. the fundamental issue is that israel views itself as being above the law and views the palestinians as being beneath the law.

>> sir, what is your reaction to her, i guess, and what do you think of the idea of lifting the blockade and could that help get us closer to peace? >> well, today currently there is a military blockade intended to limit the access of weapons into gaza. there is indeed access points from israel where goods are going in, humanitarian goods. even some of the cement that help hamas build these tunnels against us came in through israel. what about that? i can also say that we have palestinians from gaza coming out to israel for medical treatment. i guess you didn't know about that. they're coming into israel for medical treatment. so, you know, hamas is kind of like our isis. we have a situation on the ground with an extremist islamist organization that have one goal to try and eradicate israel. we're not willing to sit down, and keeping in mind that this organization is on our doorstep. they are actively trying to

attack israel. we don't have a choice. and as far as the comment that i can also add about the situation, israel has not had any israelis in the gaza strip for nine years now. we left gaza in 2005 with no intention of coming back, of saying hamas, gaza strip, make your own decisions, do what's good for gaza. we have no interest in being involved in what's going on there whatsoever, unless it jeopardizes our safety and security. you would do the same. you wouldn't allow a situation, you wouldn't expect your government to allow three quarters of the united states be bombarded by a neighbor of yours and expect your government to do nothing. that is what we're doing. that is what the military is charged with and that is what we are determined to do. >> do you think it's a measure -- and i'm trying to get to two things here. but to your point, and i think that's where some of the criticism comes from, everyone would say you have a right to defend yourself. but the level -- when you talk

about 1,900 deaths. the u.n. makes the estimate that 70% of those were civilians. are you actually doing all you can do -- which you say is important to protect civilian life. if you're seeing that level of death from civilians, even if you say that the militants are hiding amongst the people, are you doing all you can, and is that really a legitimate response? is that really the right response if you have that many civilians being killed? that's where the criticism comes from, i'm sure you know. >> well, we've said -- the military has said we don't agree with the figures that are coming out. and over the course of the last few days, we've seen several reports in the media, not israeli spokespersons talking about the problematic figures that are now coming out of the hamas-run ministry of health. we need to be cautious about those figures. the idf, especially these types of strikes that we've carried out today pinpoint precision capabilities against terrorists moving on a motorbike from one place to another.

or palestinian terrorists, hamas terrorists thinking, trying, planning several further attacks against us. this is the level of our intelligence. this is the level of -- at the end of the day, when we are carrying out an action against them, we are utilizing what we can. it is an -- i'm certain you are not implying that we should not defend our civilians because hamas are hiding behind theirs. >> i think i've heard from you and others that, in fact, you have finished on the ground. you are satisfied with the level of dismantling of the tunnels, so no plans right now. it looks like we just lost him out of tel aviv. we just lost lieutenant lerner. there will not be a further ground incursion. they are happy with the level of dismantling of many of those levels. they are not in the ground on gaza anymore. we're 23 minutes past the hour here now. we'll turn back to the story here in this country. hawaii. hawaii not having a whole lot of tame to try to clean up from

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only chex mix has twenty bags of interesting. pick your mix. it could have been much worse for tropical storm iselle. still left its mark on the island of hawaii, dumping 11 inches of rain. no injuries have been reported. now the attention turns to hurricane julio, which is expected to pass near the islands tomorrow. its exact path remains unclear. we are also watching other major headlines on this saturday. a wildfire outside portland, oregon, threatens to destroy homes. today firefighters say they're making headway and burnout on rae -- operations appear to be working. the death of former press secretary jim brady has officially been ruled a homicide.

he was paralyzed on an assassination attempt on then president reagan and died on monday. prosecutors say the case could prove difficult since a jury previously ruled the shooter was insane when he opened fire. forces back in iraq. we dig into that with our brain trust. and do everything under the sun. twelve brands. more hotels than anyone else in the world. for a chance to win one million dollars, visit wyndhamrewards.com mom usually throws a gogurt in there. well mom's not here today so we're doing things dad's way. which means i get... two. (singing) snack time and lunch. (singing) snack time and lunch. gogurt because lunch needs some fun. when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs.

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hi. need an appraisal? yeah. we do. vo: when selling your car, start with a written offer, no strings attached. carmax. start here. i've been very clear that we're not going to have u.s. combat troops in iraq again, and we are going to maintain that because we should have learned a lesson from our long and immensely costly incursion in iraq. >> president obama this morning from the white house may not be heading into iraq, but american war planes are indeed flying overhead, dropping food and water to civilians who desperately need it and they've also been dropping bombs to try and disrupt isis military

activity. let me bring in nbc news senior white house correspondent chris jansing, she's traveling with the president. we're going to get to her in just a moment. she's going to join our conversation in a bit. also barry mccaffrey and our terrorism analyst evan coleman in studio with me. general mccaffrey, let me start with you. what do you think, was this the best of a lot of bad options? >> to be fair to the administration, there's almost no good options on hand. when you strike isis, you're striking against the force that's murdconfronted assad. having said that, evan coleman in the last interview i listened to on msnbc had it dead-on correct. if you're going to choose military force against isis, you have to go after the network at the same time. and not just with f.a. 18s. got to help our surrogates go

after them. primarily, that would mean arm the kurds and let them defend themselves. so i think these are political gestures, the current military options and we need to write down our purpose, what are we trying to achieve? >> what are we? let me bring you in. evan coleman, excuse me. chris jansing will join me in a second. evan, to his point there, the president stated the goals of this is a humanitarian effort. we're trying to avert disaster and also trying to protect american interests. he didn't necessarily say we're trying to wipe out or take out isis. >> i don't think he can make that argument, because the strikes that have been launched so far, and i think jim mccaffrey said as much as well, these strikes are not crippling against isis. ta this will temporarily stop their advance. this is not going to stop their advance entirely and it's not going to roll them back. the only way of really going after isis is number one striking militarily at locations or places that are significant to them. as general mccaffrey pointed

out, a lot of those places are inside of syria. these are places if we strike them, we risk destabilizing syria as much as iraq. and then the second part is the political side. in order to make progress here, we need to convince the sunni tribesmen that have aligned themselves alongside al qaeda and isis, to come back to the light. to realize these folks are not a reliable ally. they're really quite destructive. in order to do that, i think we're going to have to turn over the government in baghdad and get rid of al malaki. >> let's bring in chris jansing, white house correspondent traveling with the president in martha's vineyard. chris, what is your sense of just how difficult of a situation and a decision this was and how reluctant the president and the administration may have been to get the u.s. involved militarily once again in iraq? >> i don't think anybody who listened to the president over the last couple of days when he made this announcement thursday night or today when he was coming here to martha's vineyard

has any doubt about the reluctance he feels. and history would tell you that, too. this was a president who was elected in part saying he was going to get us out of iraq and military operations stopped there in 2011. so by all accounts, this was something he was extremely reluctant to do. but the situation on the ground changed. in fact, he acknowledged today that the intelligence didn't indicate how quickly this was all going to move. and it did. and not only were american lives at stake, but you had thousands of iraqis' lives who were at stake. and you have isis, who have a level of brutality that by most accounts exceeds even al qaeda. if you talk to senior administration officials about some of the things that are going on on the ground in iraq, it is truly horrifying. we know that they have taken a number of women captives, who they are keeping as slaves, so a number of things came together. the americans being in danger. the iraqis, obviously, both on the mountain and off being in danger. and then the seizing of the dam,

which also has the possibility of breaching that could flood into mosul, and then baghdad. that would also complicate obviously issues for the u.s. embassy in baghdad. so a lot of things came together going into this decision. but you're right, this is a president who is very reluctant, who stated again today as he has in the past, this is not going to be boots on the ground. this is a very limited mission and we're going to keep it very tight. >> i want to bring you all both and pick up on something that she said. speaking that the president said, the analyst out there, the experts out there miscalculated just how quickly isis could move. now, we're going to go back. i don't know how much this quote is beginning to be thrown around. but this is from the president in a january interview with "the new yorker," and he says, and i quote. the analogy we use around the white house sometimes, and i think is accurate, is if a j.v. team puts on lakers uniforms that doesn't make them kobe bryant. evan, he was speaking specifically about isis at the time, and i remember you being

here last time with me, you said people must be crazy if they are talking about they didn't know about isis. >> yeah, and again, with all due respect to the president, i don't think this is a very good sign about u.s. intelligence. it has been painfully -- it has been plainly obvious now for months, if not years, that isis has been on the march, not just inside syria, but let's not forget that it was all the way back in march that they took fallujah, one of iraq's largest cities. was not not obvious when fallujah was taken over by isis that isis was on the march? this argument doesn't make any sense. isis is on a campaign to wipe out its enemies. not just the bashar al assad regime, but the free syrian army, al qaeda, anyone who stands in their way. if they're doing that in syria, and they've been doing it in iraq for three months, why didn't we think that they were going to try and take over mosul? it was obvious. >> general, do you see that the same way? is there any way? how could we be so wrong about isis all this time, and does

that give you much confidence moving forward that we know what we need to know now moving forward about isis? >> well, look, this entire region is a mess. it's beginning to be violently re-adjusted in the coming decade. i'm sympathetic to the administration in that sense. i must admit there's one comment that chris made reiterating what the administration is saying. they were taking military action to protect our consulate in erbil. worried about the dam because it might affect the embassy in baghdad. if that's the rationale for our military actions and we need to withdraw our consulate and our embassy, we need to sort out what are we trying to achieve. if it's actually to confront isis, which is well worth doing, i think they're going to end up as a major threat to western europe in the united states and the region. and we ought to take decisive action, not just pinprick military strikes. step number one, seems to me, first of all to recognize there won't be a unitary state in iraq

at the end of the day. and so we've got to support the kurds and support our friends. who include the sunni tribesmen in western iraq. >> chris, you pick up on the general's point there, talking about, you know, if it's to protect, we should withdraw our people, frankly. how much -- the administration still has to be on the mind of benghazi style attack. the idea of something like that taking place, where we still have our people there. we don't pull them out. instead, we're using air strikes to try to frankly protect u.s. interests and hold isis back at the moment. >> well, i'll tell you, that's a question that's been asked of this administration, so why not an evacuation? why do this? the president has said very clearly, his senior advisers have said very clearly that we are not moving our embassy or consulate any time soon, that we have strategic reasons to be there, that the folks who are on the ground, the americans on the ground there are continuing to do their work. we should also say there's a joint military operation in erbil between the u.s. and the iraqis. there are also civilians who

were there, so you have quite a few americans, and the president has made it clear that this is the approach that is going to be taken right now, and, you know, they've been doing some things over the last several months. they've said they've had increased surveillance on the ground. special forces obviously on the ground who are still doing their work there. but there is no plan right now for any type of evacuation. >> t.j., may i quickly intervene? i'm not arguing to remove our consulate and our embassy. i'm just concerned if that's the rationale for limited use of military air power. that's the concern. we need to write down wha the political objective. >> go ahead, chris. >> i think the president has said, and he said it again today, that the political objective is to help the iraqi government stabilize. now i know, general, you say that there is not going to be a unified government. there was some hope, and it was part of what went into this

equation, that everybody would get together to name a new prime minister, and it's no secret the united states wants to see nuri al malaki go. that meeting has now been moved to monday. so if there is sort of an end game and a strategic objective, it's to give the iraqis enough stability so that they can do many of these things on their own. given the fact that the united states has been very clear that they're going to be no boots on the ground inside of iraq. >> evan, you take my last 20 here. can this be done by arming the kurds, helping the iraqis any more? >> the key here is going to be getting rid of nuri al malaki, putting in place the government of baghdad, and getting sunni tribes to turn on isis. this is how we beat al qaeda in iraq previously during the surge. this is how we can beat them again. anything short of that is not going to work. >> all right, evan coleman, retired general mccaffrey, chris jansing, thank you all so much

for this discussion. talk the you all again real soon. a programming note. david gregory will have a full recap of the operation in iraq tomorrow morning on "meet the press" on your local station. and it will be reaired tomorrow afternoon right here before this show on msnbc. that's at 2:00 eastern time. the historic anniversary of president nixon resigned 40 years ago today, calling for a process of healing to begin. this day also began a 40-year conversation about who nixon really was. nbc news political director and msnbc host chuck todd took that question to former senator bob dole. look at this. >> what do you think his tragic flaw was? >> i always try to figure that out with him. was it just he didn't want to lose? he wasn't wanting to lose power? what is it do you think that sort of triggered this mindset in him that's do whatever it takes? you ever figured that out? >> nope. never figured why it was necessary. i think down deep, he just had

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i can say as of right now, things are looking okay for hawaii. it looks like the computer models are still forecasting this system to stay well-off to the north. it looks like it will weaken as well. hurricane julio still a category 2 hurricane pushing off to the west-northwest. maximum sustained winds at 100 miles per hour. it's expected to weaken as it continues this track on sunday, perhaps weaken to a category 1 hurricane well north of the big island of hawaii. again, by early next week, we still are looking at tropical storm force conditions, possibly for kawhi and oahu. we're talking monday into tuesday. i can say that the big island did see some impacts from iselle, but as of right now, the big island should be spared, but i can't say the same for islands of kawhi and oahu. they may see tropical storm force conditions monday into tuesday. that's still up in the air. we're going to continue to keep

a very close eye on julio's track. >> still need to be prepared no matter what. meteorologist jeanette calle, thank you so much. a new face is joining the debate over the name of washington, d.c.'s football team. the granddaughter of the team's original founder. she's speaking out. are you surprised to hear what she has to say about changing the name? she joins me next. honey, look i got one to land. uh-huh (announcer) there's good more... honey, look at all these smart rewards points verizon just gave me. ooh, you got a buddy. i'm like a statue. i just signed up and, boom, all these points. ...and there's not-so-good more. you're a big guy... huh. oh no. get the good more with verizon smart rewards and rack up points

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take a look. the president not wasting any time getting his vacation started. we showed you video of him landing in martha's vineyard. he kissed the wife and kids and said take it easy and headed to the golf course. that's video of the president starting a round of golf earlier. the president keeping an eye on many things around the world. it is a sign summer is nearing its end. nfl preseason under way. things that appeared normal nor washington, d.c.'s nfl team, they have the same player,

uniform and name. the league still refusing to force the team owners to change the name. team owner says he's not going to change the name despite growing protest calling it disrespectful to native americans. he gave an interview this weekend. >> the name means honor and respect. we sing hail to the redskins. we don't say hurt anybody. we only sing it when we score touchdowns. that's the problem. last season we didn't sing it quite enough as we would have liked to. >> one person now calling for the team's name to change is jordan wright. her grandfather was the original owner of the team and gave it that controversial name. jordan wright is a writer on food, travel and native american culture. thank you so much for being here. i'll get your response to what he says. the name means something of honor and respect.

do you see it the same? >> well, i think when this team was named it was a different time, different era. it was named because they shared the same name with the baseball team in boston. they were both called the boston braves. the name needed to be changed. that's the name he thought of at the time. there's some discussion whether there were american indians on the team or the coach was or was not. nonetheless it feewas a popular theme back then. >> you certainly don't believe your grandfather named the team to be disparaging. he didn't mean it that way originally, in your opinion? >> no, absolutely not. he was very proud of that. >> it sounds like you're saying the name should be changed even though the original idea, in your opinion, wasn't to be disparaging. names and things and words

evolve over time. >> yes, they do. if you put it in the context of today's cultural landscape, it's clear that american indians do not like this name. they've told us and we should listen to them. there's been very little voice given to our american indians here in this country. now they have a stronger voice and some political clout. now they have a lawsuit that they've won about the name. i think people are becoming more familiar or understanding of what's behind this. >> have you felt that your grandfather, his name has been drug through the mud to some degree because there's some groups out there, at least one indian group that called him an avowed segregationist. he's been a racist out there.

was that in your american or family history, was that something that your grandfather was? >> i'm not here to condone or excuse racism in any manner. preserving the name, i don't understand that this. you have to understand it's feelings of people who are being insulted. >> you think dan schneider not being sensitive enough to this point? >> no. >> he's not being sensitive enough. >> no, i think you nailed it. he's not being sensitive enough. perhaps he doesn't understand the culture and i've been privileged to be able to write for, write about american indian culture and understand it a lot more and understand the struggles to be heard.

>> what would your grandfather think? would he be fighting to keep the name as well? >> i hope not. i don't think so. he was a businessman. let's look at it that way. it's not a smart business decision to be arguing against people. it's distracting from the sport. it's distracting from the fans. he was all about getting people in the seats and winning games. >> in the last 15 second, when did you evolve and say this should be changed? did it take some evolution on your part? >> it did. my husband's grandmother is full blood cherokee. i began to learn more about it as i saw documentaries and saw disparaging terms used to refer to american indians. didn't grow up knowing a lot of

this culture. >> we appreciate your voice. your name now attached to this story. thank you so much for your time today. >> thank you. >> thank you for watching our show. i'll be back with your here tomorrow. see you tomorrow. have a good saturday afternoon. . at humana, we believe the gap will close when healthcare gets simpler. when frustration and paperwork decrease. when grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home. so let's do it. let's simplify healthcare. let's close the gap between people and care.

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