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tv   Hardball With Chris Matthews  MSNBC  September 10, 2014 11:00pm-12:01am PDT

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colluded that it's really -- there's a real problem within the nfl. that's where we've been going. you know, if we saw something in the d a's office, we would go there, too. right now we're on the nfl. >> all right, let's get you to take a look at the d a's office, too. terry o'neill, thank you very much for joining us tonight. our live coverage of tonight's presidential address continues now with chris hayes live from washington. tonight on "all in" it is america that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the will against terrorists. >> a war president makes his case. >> we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country wherever they are. >> as congress lines up behind the president's plan, there are voices of dissent, and you will hear them here tonight. then, an nfl bombshell. >> did anyone in the nfl see this second videotape before monday? >> no. >> a shocking new ap report claims the nfl was given a copy of the ray rice assault video three months ago.
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>> if the evidence indicates that he did see it before this week, and i take no pleasure in saying this, i think he's done. >> the nfl has issued a denial. we'll have the late-breaking details. >> and today in ferguson, the protests returned. "all in" starts right now. good evening from washington, d.c. i'm chris hayes. president obama became the fourth consecutive u.s. president to give a prime time address announcing a military campaign in iraq. he laid out his plan to escalate u.s. military operation against the extremist group known as isis, isil, or the islamic state. >> our objective is clear. we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. >> on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks 13 years ago tomorrow, the president outlined a multiphase campaign that
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administration officials say could last well beyond the end of his term. the first phase, an expansion of the bombing campaign over iraq. president obama making it clear for the first time he's prepared to attack isis targets inside syria as well. >> i made it clear 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. >> and as part of the efforts to fight isis, there will be additional u.s. boots on the ground, almost 500 troops. just not in a combat role according president who sought to draw a clear distinction between the current condition and the long conflicts 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
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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 front lines is one we've successfully pursued in yemen and somalia for years. >> while president obama called on congress to authorize new training and equipment for the syrian opposition, he said he doesn't need congress' approval to attack isis. >> 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. >> although members of congress have found plenty to criticize in the president's speech, few are questioning his logic for an escalated response to the extremist group. house speaker john boehner said in a statement, quote, he's finally begun to make the case the nation has needed him to make for quite some time that destroying this terrorist threat
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requires decisive action and must be the highest priority for the united states and other nations of the free world. a speech is not the same thing as a strategy. many questions remain about the way in which the president intends to act. senator john mccain said the president didn't go far enough. >> clearly, do think that the president clearly understands the nature of the threat. he compares isis with yemen and somalia. but isis well armed, rich. obviously he doesn't understand the nature of the threat. >> a democrat who supports president's efforts says the white house has more work to do to make its case. >> i think this is much more of an opening statement than a closing argument. i think there's going to have to be a succession of speeches and
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conversations to 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 regional partners. there's a lot more to be said about this. >> members of congress have been unified on the need for an escalated military response to isis. among a small sampling of lawmaker, tom harkin was the only one who dismissed the idea that isis poses a direct threat. it's fear mongering. oh, my god, they have these planes crashing. now they're going to take over america. that's nonsense. that looks to be a minority opinion against the american public, too. a new poll, 61% said it's in our national interest to take military action against isis. it's worth noting, however, 40% say that action should be limited to air strikes compare to 34% who would include combat troops. that latter number is a surprisingly high number supporting actual boots on the ground, but it's still only about a third of the american
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people. and those numbers are frankly not because of effective isis is or how horrible they've been to the thousands of iraqis and syrians they've killed and brutalized or even how much of a threat they present to americans in the u.s. it's because they murdered two americans, and it's because they make terrifying videos. >> 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. >> in nine months, isis has gone from a second string al qaeda sprinter group, what president obama called the jv team, to what he now views as a subject worthy of a prime time address. >> 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.
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incluing to the united states. >> and they've done it through a series of military victories coupled with an unprecedented propaganda machine, featuring professional-level video production, use of social media and extreme brutality. >> jihadi propaganda videos are nothing new, but no group has documented its atrocities so self-consciously. they seem to tape everything they do, with high-production value, including sophisticated graphics and footage shot from drones that show off their technical know-how and their ample funding. and the isis propaganda machine has been extremely effective. the re7ation for brutality has proven an advantage on the battlefield, calling some of their adversaries to simply turn and run.
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>> the iraqi government is losing control of large parts of northern and central iraq. some iraqi security forces are fighting. but most appear to be stripping off their uniforms in the streets, abandoning vehicles and weapons. >> the pr offensive has helped recruit foreign fighters. including the stars of this propaganda video, identified as british citizens. >> we have brothers from bangladesh, from iraq, from cambodia, australia, uk. >> and above all, it has raised fears here in the u.s. about the domestic threat possibly posed by isis. >> in some ways, it's more frightening than anything i've seen as attorney general. 9/1 1 was something that came out of the blue. this is a situation that we can see developing and the potential that i see coming up, the negative potential i see coming out of the effects in syria and
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iraq now are quite concerning. >> but nothing has galvanized the american public against isis as much of the videos of two american journalists being brutally murdered. with a message to broem from the executioner, apparently a native english speaker. >> this is an american citizen of your country. >> for a terrorist organization, there is perhaps no greater accomplishment than terrorizing americans. and according to a new nbc poll, more americans have been paying attention to the beheadings than to any other news event in the past five years. and their response to those videos is a big part of what's driving the u.s. military escalation. florida senator bill nelson discussing whether democrats would vote to authorize the president's plan reportedly said, quote, all they have to do is see the videos, then it's not a hard vote. all of which prompts the question -- does responding to ice sies with american military force, give the group its greatest propaganda victory yet?
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joining me now, democratic california, and democrat from washington. how much are those videos that have been play on a loop, particularly videos of two americans murdered in a brutal fashion, but general the videos of the men standing up in guns and masked figures. how much of 245 played in briefings on capitol hill, how much are they affecting the mood in conversation around this? >> i think there's a factor. but i think there's a bigger factor. that's the way isil got into iraq and took over a large portion of that country. and not only threatened the iraqi baghdad but also the kurds. that was the wake-up call. it was followed by the two beheadings and that may have been the final piece of it, but i think it was the underlying way in which they -- >> but that .haed, the fall of mosul and the fears initially that they might even take baghdad. that was several months ago.
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>> about a month and a half now. >> and you think that was the wake-up call and it's taken this long -- >> it's a piece of it. obviously the videos play into that. the beheadings play into that, at least for the american public. i think for those of us on the armed services committee, we were concerned about the fall of baghdad. we were concerned about the neighboring states, the way in which this could morph into a much, much larger problem in that area. >> congressman? >> certainly the beheading of the two gentlemen was an awful thing. absolutely reprehensible. there's no excuse for it and it digs deep into our guts when we look at it. as a psychiatrist, i know what it does to people, but the fact is that the president said some time ago that the military would not be the way this thing would be solved. and his speech tonight was all about a military solution. strikes from the air. now, we are going to become the shiaa/kurdish air force in the eyes of the sunnis.
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then we're going to go out and try to get them to change their mind and be a part of the government in iraq. we are making things worse for ourselves by doing that. what we should be looking at is, where did the money come from to finance isis? and i suspect we're going to find it in saudi arabia and in the qataris. and the president was absolutely silent on who those air groups were going to be that were going to go on the ground. because we can be in the air at 30,000 feet, but who's going to be on the ground? >> do you have those same fears about the iraqi army, which will be the boots on the ground, at least the initial, and the pashmirga, that the sunnis, who are the people that are living in the area that isis has taken, the folks that are the most disaffected and open to the message of isis as a counterforce to what they see as an oppressive sectarian
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government in baghdad, are you worrying we essentially reaffirm those sectarian divisions? >> it's going to take great care and caution. it's going to have to be very deliberate and we have to be very sure of what we're doing. our goal is to work with the new government in iraq to bring into that government the sunnis and open the door so they have an opportunity to come back in. >> in reference to the sunni awakening, centered around the surge and buying off sunni tribal leaders to fight al qaeda alongside the americans, essentially, that is pointed to auz a precedent, but it seems like a dubious precedent in so far as the cement didn't dry. here we are facing the same sectarian issue.
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the reason it didn't dry. malaki was in power and he pushed the sunnis out of power, persecuted them, threw many in jail, and gave them a good reason to look to another way of dealing with their own future, and that turned out to be isis. >> congressman mcdermott, the president said tonight that he welcomes congressional input into this, how do you understand that phrase? >> i was insulted by it. he needs our support. the president can do whatever he wants. clearly, he's the president. >> do you mean that as a practical matter, a constitutional matter or a legal matter? >> george bush proved you could pretty much do what you want, but if you do it without the support of the congress, then you get blamed for it. and the president would be very -- it would be very reckless in my view for him to go in and start doij all this without getting a vote from the
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congress. to say i already have the authority and i would be glad to have you guys come along is really kind of condescending. >> do you feel that way? >> i don't think he has a choice but to have a vote. there is a thing called the constitution. they said it is congress who authorizes war. it's very clear. we're at war, and there's also a thing called the war powers act, which he has initiated by sending a letter to the congress. >> so you see this -- he's sent a letter. a 60-day window of notification. the clock has started ticking. you see a vote of authorizing war? >> there has to be or the war is going to stop. plain and simple. the war powers act is clear. if you want a constitutional crisis again, this is not about whether we have notified congress about some detainees. this is about war and this is a very serious matter. mr. president, come to congress, get your authorization, he laid
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out a strategy. we should affirm that strategy if we want to and go forward. >> actually note the white house since the war power act tend to view the war powers act as andrews viewed the supreme court. >> mr. president, you're going to have to come to us if you take further action. i think there's a strong view for congress to use our power. >> there's late-breaking news tonight about the national football league. roger goodell announcing tonight an independent investigation led by former fbi director robert mueller, after a blockbuster report from the ap about just what the nfl knew about that assault and when. that is straight ahead. 3-1 detergent that gives me an amazing clean with just one pack. you already knew? i can't keep a secret in this family.
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>> shol we be going to war with isis? we'll speak to someone who is qualified to answer that question ahead.
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and late news in the brand-new investigation of the nfl's handling of the ray rice incident.
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>> breaking news tonight, roger goodell announcing tonight that former fbi director robert mueller will conduct an independent investigation into the nfl's handling into the evidence of the now infamous ray rice domestic violence incident. captured on video in a hotel elevator. this after a blockbuster report from the ap today that flatly contradicts what we' been
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hearing from the nfl for the last few days about whether or not anyone from the league had seen the footage from inside the elevator of ray rice punching his then fiancee, now wife janay in the face knocking her unconscious before tmz released it on monday. when all-in contacted the nfl that morning and asked if anyone from the league had seen that portion of the video before it was released they told us, and i'm quoting -- we requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident including the video from inside the elevator. that video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today. no one in our office has seen it until today. today's ap report, citing a single unnamed law enforcement official suggests that's not true. it reads in part, a law enforcement official says he sent a video of ray rice punching his then fiancee to an nfl executive three months ago. the person played the associated press a 12-second voice mail from an nfl office number on april 9 confirming the video arrived. a female voice expresses thanks and says, you're right, it's
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terrible. and it's after the ap released their report today the nfl put out this statement. kwet we have no knowledge of this. we are not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on monday. we will look into it. which is pretty much what roger goodell said to cbs news last night. >> when did you first learn about the second tape? >> yesterday morning. i got into the office and our staff had come to me and said there's new evidence, there's a video that you need to see. and i watched it then. >> so did anyone in the nfl see the second videotape before monday? >> no. >> no one in the nfl? >> no one in the nfl to my knowledge, and i asked that same question and the answer to that is no. >> joining me now dave zaun -- >> wow.
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>> wow. when this crossed today, let's be clear, it's a single unnamed source. you know, it is possible the report doesn't bear out. but the playing from the voice mail from an nfl number, it really looks at this early stage like the nfl has a massive, massive cover-up scandal aside, distinct from related to, but distinct from, the dmesing violence handling scandal they have. >> this is no longer the ray rice saga. the it's the roger goodell saga. it's not a story of whether one player -- by the way, one of six players in the roger goodell era to commit an act of violence. those six players all together suspended 13 games in the eight-year roger goodell reign.
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my favorite was james harrison, long-time nfl player says how does it feel now that the rabbit has the gun, mr. hunter? which is really something. there's that kind of chest thumping. you have held this moral cudgel over nfl for so long. it could look like i'm not a crook, i did not have sex with that woman, mission accomplished. this could brand him and push him out. >> you have richard blumenthal calling for him to resign. insurmountable credibility gap. you have a tweet from "the washington post" who says goodell remains adamant he won't resign. >> anybody who's a student of politics knows the appointing of the independent counsel is a step towards you actually
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getting canned. >> it's an attempt to quarantine yourself from the scandal. and so say okay, we'll hand this over to the independent -- and we saw it with christie, of course, randy masters who isn't dependent. >> let's talk about how cozy this independent counsel is going to be. robert mueller primarily under george w. bush. the two people overseeing robert mueller are john maren and art rooney, the two owners known to be the biggest backers of roger goodell. there's going to be so poor guy in the mail person. that's the person we didn't see this tape. >> absolutely. the thing i thought today, if the ap report is true, and i have no reason to think it is not true, other than it's an unnamed source, and i don't know who that person is, if it's
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true, they're going to try to make someone walk the plank on this who's not roger goodell. but it's going to be very, very hard for them to pull that off. >> it might not fly. the entire method of the roger goodell's ten-year commissioner could be hate the player, don't hate the game. every time there's a scandal, let's make sure the individual player is demonized and then pushed out the door, but let's protect, as roger goodell always says, the integrity of the shield, the integrity of the nfl. this is blowing back on to him. >> carolina panther defensive end greg hardy found guilty in a bench trial. hardy dragged his then girlfriend by her hair, he loosened his grip, she said just do it, kill me. there's a bench trial, he was found guilty. he's appealing it. there's been no comment from the league.
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everyone says they're withholding judgment upon appeal. but the one thing the league weighed in on this weekend when hardy played for the panthers was the league expressed unhappiness with his face paint. that it violated league policy, that the face paint -- this is the guy who was just found guilty in a trial, not a plea, guilty by a judge of doing this. >> and the fact that we're having this conversation is bhie roger goodell's days as a commissioner are largely number. nfl owners are not now born again believers we need to take a stand against domestic violence. there's nothing in the history of any nfl owner that shows a serious stand on this issue, particularly as it relates to the nfl. the problem though, week one of the nfl season is over and we're headed into week two and no with unis talking about the games. this is not an msnbc issue. this is espn. if only the nfl had an in-house network to talk about other things. of course they do. the nfl network. >> today was talking about injury reports while they ran a
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ticker with the ap on the bottom. it was this bizarre, you know -- >> they're trying to negotiate the facts. >> this whole attempt at managing. >> well, tomorrow night, there's a football game featuring the baltimore ravens. it will be cbs' first broad das casting of thursday night football. it will be fascinating. cbs is not the nfl network, so it's gong to be interesting to see how they handle it. a lot of people will be looking at that. thanks so much.
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>> protesters in ferguson, missouri, tried to shut down traffic on interstate 70. the protest and movement roused by the killing of unarmed teenager michael brown far from over. this afternoon as protesters began to block traffic near an onramp to the the interstate and after warnings from police, more than 30 people were arrested. other protesters proceeded to the ferguson headquarters. demonstrator demands today were clear. >> we only have two demands. we're not going to go through the long list. first demand is we want the immediate arrest, charge and firing of darren wilson, officer darren wilson from ferguson. and then two, we want the prosecutor to recuse himself on the case and let a prosecutor be appointed by a civilian board. >> that protester was referring to ferguson police officer darren wilson who shot and killed mike brown on august 9.
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protesters says they want the prosecutor to be removed. mccullough has said repeatedly, he will not recuse himself. when we return, a uniquely qualified official tells us why he's opposed to a u.s. war on isis. you know, millions of people have saved with progressive, so i get invited to quite a few family gatherings. heck, i saved judith here a fortune with discounts like safe driver, multi-car, paperless.
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we're back with coverage of president obama's address to the nation tonight. our next guest is uniquely qualified to weigh in on the president's position, having been both a fighter and a diplomat in america's two major post september 11 theatres of war. the
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ultimate goal? but in particular with iraq, jumping back into this iraq civil war, by going after the islamic state, we are, in fact, entering into a sectarian conflict here. the islamic state is aligned with the student communities. the student communities are aligned with the islamic state because for the last seven years and really since 2003, they've
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been the subject of oppression and persecution by the shia-dominated government in baghdad. what you're seeing here in terms of persecution, what you're seeing there is mass arrests, ski killings, disappearances, as well as the sunnis being shut out of positions in the iraqi security forces, out of positions in government, out of revenue. so by jumping back into this conflict, by becoming the shia air force or kurdish air force, we're taking one side which will make the sunnes even more desperate and will force them, or cause them to alie even deeper with the islamic state. this makes me feel -- i am looking at this, listening to what the president say tonight, i think we're going to see iraq convert back into 2006 levels of violence. i don't see really any difference between what the president said and what will occur, which in my opinion b will be a shia and kurdish envagss of sunni home
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territories. the kurdish and shia incursions into sunni territory with american fire power backing it, which again will bring us right back to where the iraqis were in 2006, with the horrible, awful bloody civil war. with regards to the islamic state, absolutely. they tier horrible, they're ghastly, they're barbaric. however, half a million people have been killed in one horrible ghastly way or another in iraq since 2003. 200,000 people have been killed in one horrible ghastly way or another in syria since 2011. so what makes the violence difference this summer than the previous 11 years of violence different? i'm not sure. i think the average iraqi citizen, average mom and dad worrying about their children, i don't think they care whether their children's safety is under threat from americans from shia,
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from sunnis. these people have been liing in a nightmare none of us here in the united states can understand, for the last 11 years. and the united states jumping back into the conflict will kpas ber rate it. >> thank you very much. really appreciate it. >> thank you, chris. >> the candidate who became president in large part because of his opposition to war in iraq is now the president who's ordering air strikes in iraq president barack obama's big dilemma next.
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>> the context of the president's address is this is the same man who was president today because he was one of the few to have spoken out early for
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the initial iraq war. a point he made over and over again in that campaign. >> i'm tired of us democrats thinking the only way to look tough on national security is by voting and talking and acting like george bush republicans. >> obama went on to defeat one of the iraq war's most vocal supporters making bringing the troops home an essential promise of his campaign. almost three years into his president circumstance he made good on that promise, announcing what he called an end to the war. >> today, i can report that as promised, the rest of our troops in iraq will come home by the end of the year. after nearly nine years, america's war in iraq will be over. >> after endorsing a troop surge in afghanistan during hiss for year as president, earlier this year, he announced most of the american troops would leave afghanistan at the end of '16 so that both of those wars would be done by his time in office
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drawing to a close. there have always been two impulses in the obama presidency. even as the president was touting bringing the combat missions to an end, he was in many ways continuing the bush war on terror and expanding it, dramatically increasing the number of drone strikes in pakistan and afghanistan early in his presidency. and later opening up new fronts in the woor in yemen and soma a somalia, all while e pressing a desire to bring the wars to an end. the goal of wrapping up the 9/11 era looks more in peril than ever. we'll talk about the legacy of the obama presidency and war when we return. [ heart beating, monitor beeping ]
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and get a document shredder free. call the number on your screen right now. >> from our use of drones to detention of terror suspects, the decisions that we are making now will define the type of nation and world that we leave to our children. so america is at a crossroads. we must define the nature and scope of this struggle or else it will define us. we have to be mindful of james madison's warping that no nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. >> joining me now, the president of the certain of american progress and the senior fellow at the new america foundation
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and msnbc contributor. that was a big speech the president gave in may. and it seemed an amazingly forthright articulation of what he saw as his difficult challenge, which was to guide the country at that cross roads away from perpetual war. what does it feel like tonight after having heard that speech in terms of that goal. >> look, i think that the president has demonstrated that he would prefer a world of not having perpetual war or not having to strike isis, but the reality is the facts on the ground have shifted and isis poses a threat. and when we think about war, and we think about the president in 2008 talking about, you know, his opposition to the iraq war. at the same time, he was talking about taking the fight to al qaeda. so he's always talked about and articulated his role as commander-in-chief to defend against terrorist strikes. and i think he sees isis as more in the al qaeda camp of
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terrorist organization even farther than al qaeda in many ways. i mean, they are reshaping the borders of the middle east in a way that over the long term can pose a significant threat of greater and greater atrocitieat. not just threats to americans but atrocities. innocents are dying and more will die unless action is taken. >> we're not doing this because of atrocities. let's be clear. we're not going to go against boka haram. we didn't go to war against assad who slaughtered people in the most brutal way possible. '. >> i think the president articulated his reason. i think isis is responsible for atrocities. they are trying to go after religious minorities. and i think progress is should be concerned about that happening in the world as well. >> steve, you've been someone who has kind of chronicled the
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way our national political conversation has happened around strategic vision and foreign policy and war. and i think have been strongly opposed to kind of knee-jerk thinking about foreign intervention particularly. and i wondered if you had the same feeling watching the reaction, what's been happening in our political culture and conversation over the last three weeks where it feels like there's this kind of battled feeling to us getting revved up. >> i feel so badly for president obama because this is a president that wanted to make trillions of dollars in asia for america, for decades ahead and not lose trillions of dollars in the meeds which is what we're setting ourselves up to do again. because he said asia is our future. that we can't abandon that in that speech you just profiled. it wasn't perpetual war he was talking. he was talking about drones and the dereliction of congress. and he kind of struggled as a president saying i don't like what i'm doing and i want to change that course. now when we see isis emerging,
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he's reverting back to that old form, not showing that the new form can work. and i think that's the worrisome thing here, if you react to terrorism. terrorists, no matter how bad they are are performers on a stage trying to look legitimate to the eyes of a public out there. we're trying to kill the actors, not steal the audience. i think we need to focus on what do you do defuse the tensions. isis is the most extreme edge between sunni and shia groups in the region. if obama is going to be the truman, whoever, sculptor of the international system has to get the iranians and saudis to talk together. that will rob the oxygen from isis. that's the strategic move, not killing them all. >> look, i don't disagree with that. we have facts on the ground right now, which is that isis was taking over more and more
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land. i mean, before we issued our strikes, before we struck in august, i mean, they were on the way to baghdad. they got held off from baghdad they were on the way taking more and more land and threatening kurds. they do pose a threat to jordan, and the real challenge -- >> but they have taken a ton of land in syria. >> i guess the thing i would say, though, is in the middle east where the borders are redrawn where countries are collapsing is not one in which the united states will just be able to leave and never come back. i think what the president is trying to do here is to say, we can address this now or we're going to have to do much more in the future. and i worry -- >> why weren't the people making that argument a year ago. it seems hard for me, for that to be the argument now without them retroactively saying the -- the argument of people saying you know, arm the free syrian army a year ago. and essentially, drawing out a
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strategic vision that looks a lot like number two in the president's speech tonight about how they're going to get training. how is that the case now and wasn't the case a year ago? because the borders were close to being erased a year ago. >> they did go into iraq. this is a big difference when you have a civil war in syria and going into another country that's asking you for help. iraq asked us to come in and defend against isis. so that is a different thing. >> 2 1/2 years ago malaki ran the sunni vice president out of the country. the kurds protected him. he now resides in turkey. that was the spark of the opening of the civil war. joe biden knew it. the national security adviser knew it. and it simmered along. and there was no heavy action. so this was something that had been building over a long time. and i think that the broader question -- and i don't -- look, i think isis is a threat, it's a problem. i am so sorry. and regretful for the journalists who lost their lives.
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160,000 people have died in syria. you've got a huge problem. why aren't the saudis defending borders in the region? why aren't other arab league members -- >> that becomes a question. >> we americanize this so quickly. >> i think that's an important element of what the president is talking about today, which is actually only going in with partners. i agree with that. >> john kerry is in saudi arabia as we speak. the other side of that is, what doraniranians, which is what we're going to talk about in the days ahead. that is "all in" for this evening. president obama's special address to the nation is next. >> good evening. i'm rachel maddow show. it's now 9:00 p.m. on the east
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coast. the president obama is expected to appear on the state floor of the white house just 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.