washington. right at the top of the hour, in just moments, we are expecting to hear live from the president of the united states. our msnbc continuing coverage of the president's primetime address starts right now. good evening. i'm rachel maddow. it's now 9:00 p.m. exactly here on the east coast. and this is a special edition of the rachel maddow show with prb prbs ap pri president obama's address to the nation on the militant group isis that operates in iraq and syria. the president is expected to appear on the state floor in the white house about one minute from now, we expect it to be a 15-minute speech laying out the administration's strategy to defeat isis in iraq and syria. i'm joined by chris matthews, reverend al sharpton, chris hayes and andrea mitch.

quick thought? >> we're all hoping he doesn't pander to the country's fears right now and gives us an honest assessment of the dangers we face and the costs and the effectiveness of what we can do to meet those dangers. we never got that in the previous administration. and the country's hungry for it. tell us what the real danger is at home here in america and what the danger is over there and what can we effectively get done in the short-term. don't overstate how powerful we are. because this is going to be a very tough fight. we see from the polling data heading into this discussion tonight that the american public is alarmed by isis, that they see isis as a threat to the extent that the president can speak to that with any specificity tonight it may help calm fears rather than augment them. but we have to see what direction he chooses to take it. what we're looking at is a live shot of the podium on the state floor of the white house. we're expecting president obama right now. my fellow americans, tonight

i want to speak to you about what the united states will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as isil. as commander in chief, my highest priority is the security of the american people. over the last several years we've consistently taken the fight to terrorists who threaten our country. we took out osama bin laden and much of al qaeda's leadership in afghanistan and pakistan. we targeted al qaeda's affiliate in yemen and him in it na itted its top commander in somalia. we've done so bringing more than 140,000 american troops home from iraq and drawing down our forces in afghanistan where our combat mission will end later this year. thanks to our military and counterterrorism professionals, america is safer. still, we continue to face a terrorist threat. we can't erase every trace of evil from the world, and small

groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. that was the case before 9/11 and that remains true today. and that's why we must remain vigilant as threats emerge. at this moment, the greatest threats come from the middle east and north africa, where radical groups exploit grievances for their own gain and one of those groups is isil which calls itself the islamic state. now, let's make two things clear. isil is not islamic. no religion condones the killing of innocents and the vast majority of isil's victims have been muslim. and isil is certainly not a state. it was formerly al qaeda's affiliate in iraq and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and syria's civil war to gain territory on both sides of the iraq/syrian border. it is recognized by no government nor by the people it

subjugates. isil is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. and it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way. in a region that has known so much bloodshed she's terrorists are unique in their brutality. they execute captured prisoners, they kill children, they enslave, rape and force women into marriage. they threaten the religious minority with genocide, and in acts of barbarism they took the lives of two american journalists, jim foley and steven sotloff. so isil poses a threat to the people of iraq and syria and the broader middle east including american citizens, personnel and facilities. if left unchecked these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region including to the united states. what we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, isil leaders have

threatened america and our allies. our intelligence community believes that thousands of foreigners, including europeans and some americans, have joined them in syria and iraq. trained and battle hardened, these fighters could try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks. i know many americans are concerned about these threats. tonight i want you to know that the united states of america is meeting them with strength and resolve. last month i ordered our military to take targeted action against isil to stop its advances. since then we've conducted more than 150 successful air strikes in iraq. these strikes have protected american personnel and facilities, killed isil fighters, destroyed weapons and given space for iraqi and kurdish forces to reclaim key territory. these strikes have also helped save the lives of thousands of

innocent men, women and children. but this is not our fight alone. american power can make a decisive difference, but we cannot do for iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of arab partners in securing their region. that's why i've insisted that additional u.s. action depended upon iraqis forming an inclusive government which they have now done in recent days. so tonight, with the new iraqi government in place and following consultations with allies abroad and congress at home, i can announce that america will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat. our objective is clear. we'll degrade and ultimately destroy isil through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. first, we will conduct a systematic campaign of air strikes against these terrorists. working with the iraqi

government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions so that we're hitting isil targets as iraqi forces go on offense. moreover, i've made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country wherever they are. that means i will not hesitate to take action against isil in syria as well as iraq. this is a core principle of my presidency. if you threaten america, you will find no safe haven. second, we will increase our support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground. in june i deployed several hundred american service members to iraq to assess how we can best support iraqi security forces. now that those teams have completed their work and iraq has formed a government, we will send an additional 475 service members to iraq. as i've said before, these american forces will not have a combat mission. we will not get dragged into

another ground war in iraq. but they are needed to support iraqi and kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment. we'll also support iraq's efforts to stand up national guard units to help sunni communities secure their own freedom from isil's control. across the border in syria, we have ramped up our military assistance to the syrian opposition. tonight i call on congress again to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equip these fighters. in the fight defense isil, we cannot rely on an assad regime that terrorizes its own people, a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost. instead we must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like isil while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve syria's crisis once and for all. third, we will continue to draw on our substantial

counterterrorism capabilities to prevent isil attacks. working with our partners, we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding and improve our intelligence, strengthen our defenses, counter its warped ideology and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the middle east. and in two weeks i'll chair a meeting of the u.n. security council to further mobilize the international community around this effort. fourth, we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this terrorist organization. this includes sunni and shia muslims who are at grave risk as well as tens of thousands of christians and other religious minorities. we cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient homelands. so this is our strategy, and in each of these four parts of our strategy, america will be joined by a broad coalition of partners. already allies are flying planes

with us over iraq, sending arms and assistance to iraqi security forces and the syrian opposition. sharing intelligence and providing billions of dollars in humanitarian aid. secretary kerry was in iraq today meeting with the new government and supporting their efforts to promote unity. and in the coming days he'll travel across the middle east and europe to enlist more partners in this fight especially arab nations who can help mobilize sunni communities in iraq and syria to drive these terrorists from their lands. this is american leadership at its best. we stand with people who fight for their own freedom, and we rally other nations on behalf of our common security and common humanity. my administration has already secured bipartisan support for this approach here at home. i have the authority to address the threat from isil, but i believe we are strongest as a nation when the president and congress work together. so i welcome congressional

support for this effort in order to show the world that americans are united in confronting this danger. now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like isil, and any time we take military action, there are risks involved. especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions. but i want the american people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. this counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out isil wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partners forces on the ground. this strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the frontlines is one that we have successfully pursued in yemen and somalia for years and it is consistent with the approach i outlined earlier this year, to

use force against anyone who threatens america's core interest, but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order. my fellow americans, we live in a time of great change. tomorrow marks 13 years since our country was attacked. next week marks six years since our economy suffered its worst setback since the great depression. yet, despite these shocks, through the main we felt and the grueling work required to bounce back, america is better positioned today to seize the future than any other nation on earth. our technology companies and universities are unmatched. our manufacturing and auto industries are thriving. energy independence is closer than it's been in decades. for all the work that remains, our businesses are in the longest uninterrupted stretch of job creation in our history. despite all the divisions and

discord within our democracy, i see the grit and determination and common goodness of the american people every single day. and that makes me more confident than ever about our country's future. a broad american leadership is the one constant in an uncertain world. it is america that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the world against terrorists. it is america that has rallied the world against russian aggression and in support of the ukrainian people's right to determine their own destiny. it is america, our scientist, our doctors, our know-how that can help contain and cure the outbreak of ebola. it is america that helped remove and destroy syria's declared chemical weapons so that they can't pose a threat to the syrian people or the world again. and it is america that is helping muslim communities around the world not just in the fight against terrorism but in

the fight for opportunity and tolerance and a more hopeful future. america, our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden. that as americans we welcome our responsibility to lead. from europe to asia, from the far reechaches of afrak ka to war-torn capitals of the middle east, we stand for freedom, for justice, for dignity. these are values that have guided our nation since its founding. tonight i ask for your support in carrying that leadership forward. i do so as a commander in chief who could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform. pilots who bravely fly in the face of danger in the middle east and service members who support our partners on the ground. when we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped on a distant mountain, here's what one of them said.

we all are americ-- we owe our american friends our lives. our children will remember that someone felt our struggle and made a long journey to protect innocent people. that is the difference we make in the world. and our own safety, our own security depends upon our willingness to do what it takes to defend this nation and uphold the values that we stand for. timeless ideals that will endure long after those who offer only hate and destruction have been vanquished from the earth. may god bless our troops and may god bless the united states of america. >> president obama speaking from the state floor at the white house saying tonight a broad american leadership is the one

constant in an uncertain world. he said our endless blessings bestow and enduring burden. we welcome our responsibility to lead. addressing the america people, he said, i ask for your support in carrying that leadership forward. in terms of congressional support, the president said bluntly tonight, i have the authority to address the threat from isil, but he then said he welcomes congressional support for these actions. he did not hype the threat of isis. he talked about his revulsion for the group and what's wrong with them, but he did not hype the threat to the united states. he said explicitly that they're not plotting against us as far as we know, but they've threatened the united states and our allies. the president then saying he would move forward in four ways. a systematic and expanded campaign of air strike, action in syria as well as iraq, he said an additional 475 service members would go to iraq to support those measures. he asked congress for more money to help syrian fighters,

describing syrian opposition as an effective counterweight to isil, at least more so than the regime of bashar al assad can be counted on to be. that's why he wants support for syrian fighters and he wants congress to provide that. he also continued to plan for humanitarian assistance. >> he heard all the conditions and i didn't hear in there how we're going to encourage the arab countries, the islamic world to go after isis. i didn't hear that. i heard air strikes by the united states. i heard military training and support for the free syrian army. i heard vague reference to someone over there flying with us over syria right now without saying what country that was, what ally that was. nothing really about the building of a posse. and everyone from richard ignatius -- david ignatius and others who really know this region are saying the only way you defeat a cancer like this, like isis, is within the islamic world itself. they must find themselves the

strength and the determination to go in and erase this blot on their culture. and i didn't hear in this speech how we're going to do that or if we can even imagine being the leaders of such an effort. as again, i'll say these are necessary steps. they didn't sound sufficient. >> let's put that to richard engel, nbc's chief foreign correspondent is in iraq, is in erbil. not being able to take the place of arab partners in securing their region. he also said that this strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the front lines is a strategy that we have successfully pursued in yemen and somalia for years. essentially saying he wants to do to isis what the united states has been doing to al qaeda and its affiliates in yemen and somalia. what do you make of that analogy? >> i think it is wildly off base, frankly. it's an oversimply fick kags of the problem.

in yemen it's a partnered government that doesn't have the force to reap soch some parts ie desert where al qaeda is hiding out, so it relies on the united states to lend a hand, to do some observation missions over yemen. and generally what happens is the u.s. will tell the yemenis, hey, there are some terrorists hiding in this particular village or in this particular oasis, go and find them. and if the yemeni forces can't get there, the u.s. strikes by air. in somalia, you have a similar group to al qaeda, the same mentality that's operating in a remote corner of africa that is generally ignored except when the u.s. special operations forces see an opportunity and target them. that's not at all the situation we're seeing in iraq and syria. here we have a large group, tens of thousands of fighters. they control an area the size of

maryland. they control an area that has 8 million people living inside of it. it's much more akin to regime change than it is to waiting back, picking targets with allied forces. they are not comparable at all. >> richard, when the president talked about not taking the place of arab partners and securing their region he said american power can make a decisive difference but we cannot do for iraqis what they muss do for themselves. does that strike you as congruent with what he's describing in terms of actual kinetic activity toward isis? does that make sense to use strategically? >> in principle, of course. the u.s. can't secure iraq unless it wants to send back several hundred thousand troops to this country and start over again and push the reset button, which i don't think anyone is talking about right now. but he's talking about having

the iraqi army reconstituted and using that iraqi army to secure this country. the problem is the iraqi army over the last several months has collapsed. it has been reconstituted already by many iranian advisers and sometimes regular iranian ground forces that have been witnessed on many occasions and these sunni villages that are now with isis are afraid of the iraqi army. they don't want the iraqi army to come into their villages. so we talk about a partner on the ground that we are going to link up with to rid iraq of isis. well, that partner on the ground in many cases is a reason that people support isis in this country. >> nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel joining us live from iraq, from erbil in northern iraq, invaluable to have you here. thank you so much.

i want to bring in andrea mitchell. what's your response to the speech? >> to elaborate on what richard said, you have the person mer ga forces. we have to work with the kurdish peshmerga forces and this iraqi army which richard witnessed himself turned and ran and let isis take over. huge areas of territory. and ended up, you know, actually threatening baghdad at one point before they started pushing back. and in syria, you don't have the syrian forces able to create the army yet. it's going to take a long time. i thought that the speech was balanced in that he did not exaggerate, as you pointed out, the threat to the homeland. he didn't say there are specific threats. he didn't try to hype that. it wasn't that kind of rhetorically. >> we need to lead in the world. it's not that they're coming here and we need to defend the homeland. >> but he still has to make a case to congress and the

american people, not that congress is demanding that he makes that case, but there are individual senators and house members who want to know what happens the day after. and that's the question that reverend al raised earlier, that we've all been thinking about. sending 475 more troops in, but we've all, as you look back over decades of history, and we are still haunted, many of us, by vietnam, you see groups, 475 now, another 250. and as you get more and more invested in this, this becomes america's war. rev? >> i think that we must first dial back and say what was the president trying to do tonight? i think he was trying to give a message to the american people and isis. i think that he's not going to tell everything. we are talking about the president that had us all laughing at the white house correspondents dinner while he already had people on their way to kill bin laden that very night. so i did not think he was going to give us everything that may or may not be happening.

but he did say some things a lot tougher than we've heard like we will -- that isis -- we'll hunt down terrorists. there will be no safe haven. he was very tough there. but he said something that is smart by separating them from islam. saying this is not islam. and i think that's the message that he's going to have to bring to the sunnis and to people around the muslim world and separate them. now, where this goes, we don't know. we did not hear it tonight. i will concede that to chris matthews, but that does not mean there is a plan. but none of it will work if we do not have forces on the ground that's willing to do it. if in fact we're looking at regime change, it cannot be regime change to us. it must be by those that are there in that world that will take up the rights to do this

and whether they can be trained to prepare to do it is the question that we do not know. >> there's a kind of attempt to fit this in with a continuity of the obama doctrine in this speech, to basically say this is like what we have been doing in the kind of expanded drone war special operations global war on terror that i've been wamging from the beginning in the moment of that debate where said that we'll go into pakistan, that this is a core principle of my presidency. first, it's unclear if this this is a fitting analog and hard to point to yemen and somalia as successes. these are places that are not in particularly good shape. yemen is experiencing tremendous unrest, oppressive regime. somalia remains a failed state. >> american action in yemen and somalia aren't nation building efforts and supporting those governments, it's about attacking groups that pose a nationally emanating threat. >> six years from this is by the

administration's own admission to largest threat to the american people. that's the place we've been doing the most air strikes in yemen. it's unclear whether that has borne strategic fruit in the american homeland. if you say we're going to add another equilibrium of potential conflict to this in iraq, it's hardly -- >> in iraq and syria. >> in iraq and syria. >> we should not underestimate the fact that this president has now said we'll take it to syria, to their safe havens, he wouldn't say that a week ago. he's changed. >> he's comparing air strikes with yemen and somalia. he was not comparing the results. let's not -- he was saying that we can contain the would-be terrorism toward americans as we did in somalia and yemen. i don't think he was comparing the results of where yemen and somalia is now. >> let's bring in congressman adam schiff, a member of the

house intelligent committee. he, too, has been outspoken that congress ought to debate this matter, congress ought to weigh in, take an authorizing vote. thanks for being with us tonight. >> you bet. >> can i get your overall reaction to what the president laid out tonight? did he explain the things that you wanted explained? is there more that you need to hear from the president before you think congress should take some sort of debate and vote on this matter? >> well, i wouldn't say yes to both. i think it was a good solid speech that laid out why isil was a threat and why we have to act and a broad outline how we're going to take on isil. but i view this as more an opening statement than a closing argument. there are going to have to be a succession of speeches and conversations with the american people about how we're going to accomplish this task to fill in what kind of cooperation we're going to get from our allies and rnlal partners. there's a lot more to be said about, but i think this was a good opening for the president to lay out his strategy and to

invite americans into a very important conversation about how we go forward and how we take on this fight. >> congressman when the president made the analogy to yemen and somalia saying this is the technology we pursued for many years. it struck me that one of the differences there is that the president didn't make a big speech about that to the american people, neither this president nor the previous one in terms of launching that as an ongoing and public campaign that he wants political discussion about. he welcomes congress' support about, he wants the american people's support. this is not being done as a covert measure. it's not being done with either the support or tacit support that we've had some countries in syria. this president is talking about doing air strikes in syria, a country that's very troubled and has its own civil war. it would treat air strikes by anyone else in the world as a

hostile act. do you think that the president is essentially dialing back what our expectations should be for how big a confrontation this is by making that analogy? or is he letting us know that this could blossom into a larger war? >> i think it's a couple of things. you are right and richard engel as well that the situation is very different than in iraq and syria, for the very reason that we don't have a government like in yemen to cooperate with. but to the broader point, we're talking about thousands and thousands of fighters who hold a third of both of those countries who are the best resource to really terrorist army, very different situation than in yemen and somalia. but i think the point the president is making is if you look at a couple of the paradigms of how to take on the challenge of isil, we have the paradigm of fully occupying countries like afghanistan and previously iraq or you have the paradigm of doing what we can to help through air support, intelligence, et cetera, but

relying on local forces to be the ground forces, and he's saying this we ought to use the approach that we're using more in yemen and somalia. with that i agree with him completely. when you look at the threat that is posed to us by isil, yes, there's a real threat now and that threat's going to grow, but that threat does not yet justify, and i hope it never will, the wholesale occupation of iraq or syria, so i think he's right to use the approach that he is even if the examples he gave aren't completely opposite. >> congressman, chris hayes, how do you sperp receipt or understand the phrase welcome congressional support? >> well, i think what the president is saying, hey, if congress wants to have a vote on authorization, i would welcome that, i'd love for them to do that, but i'm not going to come to congress and say that this is required because i don't know what i'm going to get. so i think that's how i interpret it. at the same time congress really needs to step up and do its job. we're talking about a multi-year

military campaign. and rachel, you pointed out quite accurately, that even if we say this is only going to be in the air, one of those pilots goes down or we have special operators on the ground and they end up in yellow jumpsuits in the desert and you got to imagine we'll be sending in the troops after that. so there is a broad risk of escalation here and that's something that americans need to be mindful of. >> congressman adam schiff, thank you very much for being with us tonight. very helpful to have you here. >> you bet. >> here's a thought experiment. let's say congress decides that they are going to vote. they have a big debate, they're going to vote on whether or not to authorize this use of force and they vote no. whoa the president -- they vote it down. would the president feel constrained by that vote to not go ahead with it? he'd then be going ahead in defiance of congress. he's saying he welcomes it, so it would be nice, but if i don't get it, i'll go ahead. if they told him no, would he feel constrained by that to stop

what he's planning on doing? >> he must fear that because he didn't ask for it. he must fear a rejection and he'd have to hoint. >> it's congress' decision whether to vote. >> once it happened. >> but if we're going to play the mind game, then why don't they do that? if in fact those that are opposed to the president feel they have the votes, they should then convene and vote and tell the american people, we've said something needs to be done. we don't care what the polls say, we're voting against this president. it's for them to convene and say mitch mcconnell and john boehner can call the vote. we should be asking why don't they call the vote if they thing the president's out of bounds. >> i share your belief that congress should vote. but as a congressional matter, a democratic principle matter. to play devil's advocate, the two aumfs that are in effect that haven't been revealed have

only expanded the concentric circles in which they can operate. a third one that perhaps names the nation of syria will only produce more authority and latitude for the next president to come along after this one. that they will then have three aumfs to bomb also in syria as that war drags on into 2020 as i watch my children grow up under a second decade of perpetual war. >> and in syria, i was talking to senior officials who were briefing us before the speech and said we couldn't talk about it until after the speech about why this doesn't help assad. you go after isis, the worst enemy assad has, the most potent military force which some say assad let grow and metastasized knowing that they'd become such a threat and wipe out the so-called moderate rebels and why doesn't this help us out? and the answer from senior

officials was that the isis forces are holding sunni territory in areas of syria where assad does not control the ground. so it won't really help assad -- >> so as they get defeated in that territory, it won't be assad that comes in. it will be the other rebels. >> exactly. >> but richard engel said it would be the government which would come in. can i ask a question. it's about isis versus us. if you're baghdady tonight and you just heard this or stayed up overnight to watch this? would you be afraid of the united states at this point? we've already said you're our enemy, which is what they want us to do. you've done all the good things they want, which is to engage in the united states with a big international war but the united states has tied its own hands saying we'll count on the free syrian army to take you guys on. we're going to train them. air strikes, all that does is give them, if you will, the street rep that they wanted to have, the reputation of being the one force in the world

taking on the united states. >> there's an event taking place in jebba on thursday on 9/11, interestingly enough and it's a gather of arab leaders, regional leaders, john kerry, hosted by king abdullah of saudi arabia. this is a newly formed coalition. i'm not saying it's going to work and everyone will ante up and we'll end up as in desert storm where japan and others paid so much that we made money on that war rather than spending money. jim baker actually negotiated deals, unbelievably, where people were anteing up all over the place, but i am suggestioning that with the saudis involved that bagdadi has to take note, that jordan, not yet turkey but others are putting up some money and some fighter planes. >> and some potential force, the way that they brought the world together is significant. and some of the countries that

are coming together to discuss international action against them are the places they've made all their money, where they've had all their support at this time. i don't think anybody ever welcomes air strikes. they do have the worry about the world turning against them. they're bummed that the u.s. isn't sending ground troops. send them here so we can kill them and recruit more. not getting ground troops is a loss for them. >> all those people meeting in jedda, they're already declaring war on them. isis is the hot hand right now in the arab world and not the king of saudi arabia. >> as much as this all resonates for us and we think back to previous negotiations with use of force in iraq and ground troops, as this resonates for us, how do you think this resonates to the less than 1% of our population that's spent all of those tours fighting that very long war in iraq? >> particularly the special forces that will get run through yet more deployments.

>> we have 2 million iraq veterans in this country. they're less than 1% of the population that fought in this war. tonight's speech has a very different personal resonance for them. we know they've all been watching closely as the rest of us. executive director of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. thanks very much for being here. good to have you here. >> good to be here, rachel. thanks, guys. >> does this feel like iraq war debating deja vu? does it feel like we're diving back into the same stuff? does it feel like we've evolved at all to you in terms of how we debate these things? >> it does feel like we're going down a similar path. but again i think there's a lack of clarity here. we didn't hear a lot of specifics tonight that will actually impact the veterans and military community. the biggest news for us is 475 more of our friends and family are going into combat. and i think that's an important point to make. it's combat. if you're on the ground in iraq right now, if it's your husband

or wife or son or daughter that's headed over there with those 475 people, it's combat. if they're killed in action, it will be just like combat for them, for their families and for our nation. so that's an important point to make. it's important to understand we haven't taken care of the folks that went to iraq the first time. we're coming off a summer of absolute scandal at the v.a. today is actually suicide prevention awareness day. we have to think about the total human cost. if the president does ask congress for financial support to fight isis, will it include support for vets? because it didn't the last time and we're still paying the price. >> one of the things we did wrong as a nation in the last iraq war, whatever you feel about baghdady's foreign policy, we went to a war in a way that sent military families out there on their own. the civilian population was encouraged to ignore the fact that the wars with going on. congress was encouraged to not pretend like it cost anything

and otherwise not debate it once it was already started. and we had this cleaved experience where you had military families and veterans who had the on the ground experience with it and the rest of us, nothing in our normal lives changed. are there lessons learned about that mistake that we should be putting into action now so we don't make that mistake. again, 1100 americans already, another 500 going and who knows how many will end up there event wally. >> and we've still got folks in afghanistan. the unfortunate reality is our country has never been so disconnected. so right now a lot of americans are changing the channel and going over to a reality tv show and our military families are waiting for the phone to ring. they want to know if it's their loved one that will go over there as part of that unit. they want to know when their folks are coming home from afghanistan and when they do how will they be taken care of. the same folks going over and over again. it does feel endless. the rest of the country is at the mall and we're at war.

at some point the country has to address this disconnect that it's almost war by remote control. a small group of people that continue to sacrifice over and over again. when i went to iraq in 2003 i never could have imagined that ten years later we'd still be fighting for quat v.a. benefits. everyone said they'll have our back, they said there would be yellow ribbons. now folks are on secret waiting lists. we found from the new secretary of veterans affairs that 100 hospitals are being investigated. we have a long way to go before we keep the pact that we made with the ones that went before. >> that's part of the up front costs of doing this, the lifelong commitment. thank you, paul, it's great to have you here. >> thanks, rachel, any time. yojoining us live from damascus is correspondent bill neely. thank you for being with us in the ked of night there.

i really appreciate your time tonight. bill, on the ground, can you tell us anything about how the president's announcement tonight may be greeted both by the syrian government but also by the rebels that have been fighting the assad regime through all these bloody years? >> well, i think as ever with this president, rachel, the words are important. and i heard him say, i will not hesitate to take action in syria but not, i will take action immediately, or i'm authorizing immediate action. so i think the syrian government will remember this time last year when the president looked like he was going to bomb the regime only to pull back and do a deal with the russians. so you know, a year is a long time. and the rebels will be looking not just at his words but at his actions as well. interesting, he called for more help for the rebels but didn't

announce that help was going to immediately spend what, $500 million. the words he uses are important and they'll be listened to with great interest here in damascus where the war against the rebels and the war against isis is very much alive. as i've been standing here there have been several explosions in the outskirts of damascus behind me. so the war here very real. but the president saying iraq is now, syria is well later. >> do you have a sense that the united states will have allies in syria, serious allies in confronting isis? >> well, it's a very good point because, as we remember, the syrian national coalition wasn't much of a coalition and wasn't very national. and you do look around now where are these moderate rebels that president obama hopes to train

and arm? because most of the free syrian army have just simply been overrun by isis. the plain fact of the matter is there is no effective ally on the ground here and there certainly is no friendly government. there's only president assad. and it was also interesting in the speech that president obama simply said we cannot rely on assad, but he didn't say he's got to go, he's an evil dictator. all that receihetoric of a year has disappeared. so the central dilemma for the united states and the coalition remains, how do you weaken isis and not strengthen president assad? and you know at the end of the day, what does victory over isis in syria look like? does it end up with president assad also holding the trophy? >> bill, let me ask you about a point that andrew raised earlier

in terms of the way the white house is explaining this, the way the administration is explaining how they're going to thread that needle. hurting isis but not thereby helping assad, which, of course, is locked in combat with isis. the we they're explaining it is we're going to hit isis in the territory they're controlling. the territory that they're controlling is not going to be retaken by assad once they're gone. other rebels will take that. assad will not be able to capitalize on the harm that we do to this group simply because of where they are geographically inside syria. does that resonate for you? does that make sense on the ground there in damascus? >> it does make sense in that the assad forces have all given up in the east of the country, in raqqa, the provence where isis is strongest. you can't see american bombs falling, then the syrian forces

moving in. having said that, this is a civil war that has had so many twists and turns. you know, you simply can't easily predict what might happen. i mean, it was only a year that we thought jabbar al nusra was the main rebel force here and possibly the main threat to the west only quickly to be superseded by isis. so i think in some respects there is some wishful thinking going on here that when the bombs drop there will be a force of moderate rebels who will move in and retake and hold the ground. i think that's exactly what that is. whether it's assad forces or the rebel forces, it's wishful thinking. >> chief global correspondent bill neely staying up into the predawn hours in damascus for us. thank you so much. fascinating point that things change in the middle of a civil

war, things change four years into a civil war. you can't predict. you act not because of the predictability of the results and you have to make it up as you go along. >> that will be one of the many concerns that the american public has. but the president probably feels bolstered by this change in public opinion in the last three week, the change which is a marked change after the release of those isis videos. they probably released them to scare, to terrorize, that is the essence of terror, and to recruit, but it actually mobilized the american people more on a war footing, you if will, than at any time prior in the last few years. >> something else quickly about the component of the fighters in syria, right, there's assad, there's isis, there's the free syrian army there's also this front, this coalition of islamic jihadis, al asham, islamic front, nusra who have been

fighting isis tooth and nail. isis it looks like just blew up al asharan's in an attack. it means assad's gain or the moderate rebels gain. it could just be the other group of jihadis in contact with al zawahiri who are expressly al qaeda affiliates gaining ground from isis. >> and i think that's very important. >> right, tah-dah! >> that's an important point because even neely said that it is not necessarily wrong that assad -- his forces would come back in those areas, that they don't have strength. so clearly we don't know, but where we've seen a shift in public opinion and a shift in the president. i don't want to see under any president ground troops, but for the president to come on tonight and to say assad must go and we're dealing with isis would have been the wrong approach at this point. i mean, president obama's been accused of many things. stupid is not one of them. tonight was to deal with the

threat and how we can, without giving information that would in many ways tell them which way we're coming, expressedly make it firm that we will hunt them down but he won't put ground troops. he had to deal with the american public on the eve of 9/11 dealing with well-founded fears but at the same time send a message. >> andrea mitchell has a very important interview tonight so i'll hand it over to her for that. >> senator john mccain is about to join us. he has been critical. he, lindsey graham, other republicans. but some democrats, we heard from senator dianne feinstein two weaks ago on "meet the press" saying that the president has been overly cautious. and she said he got it right. what is your reaction to the president's speech? did he say enough and go far enough to satisfy you and others who say he's not done enough in the last three years? >> well, clearly i don't think

that the president clearly understands the nature of the threat. he compares isis with yemen and somalia. but isis is well armed, rich, they are -- they have a huge control of areas as large as the state of indiana. obviously, he doesn't understand the nature of the threat. his statement that america is safer, that's fundamentally false under any circumstances. and he failed to acknowledge, which he should have, that our withdrawal from all of our troops from iraq was a major contributor to the situation we're in today. i also would like to see what we're going to do as far as support for the free syrian army. >> we have secretary kerry is going to be in saudi arabia tomorrow. there is an agreement from the saudis today that they will create bases or permit the free

syrian army to train and americans will be training them, but can we degrade and destroy isis with air power alone and without boots on the ground? >> i don't believe so. in fact, i think we need to have other countries be more helpful. we have 1,000 boots on the ground now. they're in a combat situation. to say they're not is obviously untrue. but we need more american support, whether it be air controllers, trainer, whether it be other intelligence capabilities, the kind we should have left behind as a residual force when we left three years ago. i still believe that one of the biggest mistakes that's ever been made is when the president overruled his entire national security team who recommended strongly that they arm and train the free syrian army. now it's going to be a lot tougher. >> senator, does congress have to vote on this?

or can the president do it on his own? should congress vote on this? >> andrea, i think that the congress should vote on it. and i do believe that just as president clinton before bosnia came to the congress, george herbert walker bush before desert storm. it's better to have the support of the congress, therefore getting the support of the american people. so i don't know why he is reluctant to do that. i think it would be helpful to him in the long run. >> but isn't there reluctance from congress from both parties saying basically don't ask us because we don't want the responsibility. why aren't democrats coming together and debating and scheduling votes? >> we should be, andrea. to say that we don't want to make a decision, we're literally the security of the united states of america is involved, because i believe that isis -- there's clear evidence that their goal is to harm america, i think it's an aggregation of our

responsibilities to our constituents. and i don't quite understand it. i'm willing to go out there and debate and vote. that's's what the senate is supposed to be all about. >> thank you very much, senator john mccain. thank you for joining us. ray zmel. >> thank you, andrea. i think we can add into our rolling informal whip count of members of congress who say there ought to be a vote. house speaker john boehner issued a statement after president obama's speech tonight. i will not read the whole thing. he says a speech is not the same thing as a strategy. while the president presented a compelling case for action, many question the way the president intends to act. the president views isil as a counterterrorism campaign, rather than what it is, an all-out effort to destroy an enemy and the principles for which we stand. an all-out effort. i'm not sure what the difference is between an all-out effort and

a counterterrorism campaign. i don't know why everybody is shy about saying war and i don't know why we think about air strikes as not combat, but i feel like we're through the looking glass right now in terms of the language that we're using here. >> well, i think if mr. boehner is serious, then he's the speaker of a house, call a vote. i think john mccain should go to the floor of the senate tomorrow, call a vote. i think mccain said yes, i think there should be a vote. i don't know why the president doesn't call it. he's in the senate. they're the heads of the committees, they have the numbers to call votes. what are we talking about here? it's like everyone is dancing around what they should do. the president laid out his four-point strategy tonight, whether everyone agrees or not. they are talking about a vote that they can call. and again, as i read the president's speech, he compared -- he said that we have used supporting our partners by supporting our partners and

dealing with the strategy of taking on terrorists who threaten us as we have done in yemen and somalia. he did not compare the results of yemen and somalia. i think that for mccain and others to act like that is what he was saying is not how i read or heard the speech. >> i think the president did say, we are going to do something like we have done in yemen and somalia -- >> he was very specific on what -- >> he was specific. but he said we're going to do air strikes and it's going to last for years. i think the framing ends up being important when he says explicitly, this is a group that used to be al qaeda in iraq. we're going to use the same sort of tactics against them that we've used against other al qaeda affiliates, and the question is whether that's appropriate, given that they are physically a much larger organization, organized -- under baghdadi, the next two guys used to be high-ranking generals in the iraqi army under saddam.

>> this is an early stage of what will grow. if we use air strikes, somebody is going to get shot down. there's going to be engine trouble. they'll grab one of our pilots. we will probably get very angry again. and what's the next stage? more air strikes? then you're going to force the congress' hand. if they don't vote this time, at some point they're going to have to damn well skroet. >> we have four leaders who can call a vote and none of those four want to do it. >> i want to bring in senator bernie sanders of vermont. he was a member of the house of representatives in 2002 when he voted against the last war in iraq. what's your reaction to the president's remarks overall tonight. >> rachel, let me start you have on a tangent many others are not taking. there is no question that isis is a dangerous and brutal organization and that they have got to be stopped. but i tell you what i'm a little worried about.

this country today in terms of a collapsing middle class, more people living in poverty than ever before in the history of this country, growing income wealth and inequality, we have enormous domestmeomestic issues. we have crises right here that cannot be ignored or pushed aside. so i hope that while we focus our attention on defeating isis, we do not forget, especially my republican colleagues, do not forget that tens of millions of americans today are struggling to keep their heads above water. we have more hunger in america than we've ever had before. so the goal, it seems to me, is to address the crisis in the middle east, but not to to forget the crises facing the american people. >> senator sanders, i agree with your foreign policy so often and i think -- it's chris matthews. i think the big lesson of vietnam, which you and i grew up together learning, you go into a country, try to change the course of its history and you come home. you're leaving the people behind

to run that country. we're not going into syria. and somehow we have this notion we can change the course of its history. and i just wonder what you think about that, this -- is it arrogance? we're going to change the course of syrian history. >> chris, of course you're right. you're not going to change the course of syrian history. and i hope that we do not ever forget the lesson of the bush-cheney war in iraq. it was simple. we were going to go in, they were going to vote democratic. it wouldn't cost a whole lot of money. our people would come home. it didn't quite work out that way. what chris is saying, there are a heck of a lot of unintended consequences once you get into war. and here's the nightmare sen flair owe that we' got to fight against, and that is -- chris is right, if you have air strikes, somebody may get shot down. people will become angry. maybe we send troops into combat. and then you have a perpetual war decade after decade in an incredible mor rasz of the northeast.

now, i think the president has been criticized, he wasn't tough tough like cheney and bush. thank god, he understands how complicated this issue is, that we need the international community. that at the end of the day, if we defeat isis, it will be the people in iraq and syria do that with the support of the united states. and with the support of the international community. so my my mind, this is an enormously complicated issue. i think the. the is right, we've got to help the so-called syrian moderates. god knows how many of them that there are. i think air strikes are an important part. we need the international community. but let us be very mindful of vietnam, as chris just talked about, and let's be mindful of the bush-cheney war in iraq and the disastrous impact that had on the region and on our country. >> senator bernie sanders of vermont. thank you so much for being with us tonight, sir. really appreciate it. one of the consequences of the war in iraq is the creation of the group called isis.

there was no isis in iraq before we invaded in 2003. >> the reason in congress is passing the buck, the basic condition is that this is a horrible mess. over 100,000 people have died in syria in the most brutal conditions imaginable. roy royaling conflict. the amount of power we have to effect the outcomes in a positive way is smaller than anyone would care to admit. >> closing thought, about ten seconds. >> do not listen to dick cheney. he's the one that created al qaeda by taking over the holy land in saudi arabia. we created isis. and he's coming back again with more advice. >> i think it's a mess, but it's a mess that dick cheney and others created that mccain supported. they don't want to deal with the mess today that they started. i think the president is right not to put troops on the ground, i would not support that. i think they need to be dealt with, but i do not think we need

to put boots on the ground. >> this is not the legacy that this president sought. he is in a place he did not want to be. he is doing this very reluctantly. >> this is a president who is trying to make his international legacy that the united states works with international partners and that we do not do stupid stuff. he carried forth those aims in what he said tonight. what happens because of this strategy will prove, though, whether or not it's right. my thanks to chris matthews, al sharpton, chris hayes, all our guests tonight. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. thank you very much. an hour ago, the president presented his plan for as he put it, degrading and destroying the islamic state. >> our objective is clear -- we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism