expressed skepticism about yet another war in iraq. some questioned if we could trust the group known as the free syrian army, which included congressman joe manchin which told andrea mitchell that he would rather vote for a government shutdown rather than an explicit vote on arming the rebels. nancy pelosi says she suspects the president's plan but no amount of careful planning can erase the stain of the 2003 invasion. >> i think the american people are very burned by that experience of iraq. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell joins me from capitol hill. a lot of skepticism, especially by joe manchin. what do we expect today? >> reporter: joe manchin from west virginia, a state with a very high population of those in the armed forces and of veterans. he's really echoing among

democrats, not unique but there are democrats stepping forward to say they do not want to see another commitment of the u.s. military in a way that might not have the kind of control that one would hope. that's one of the problems. the iraq war went in directions people didn't anticipate. there's a great skepticism and even fear about what would happen if the u.s. has to escalate in a war against isis or isil, as the president refers to it. so, what do we have? we have nancy pelosi, a progressive democrat say she has a lot of concerns about this but will vote to support the president's idea. it happens this afternoon on the house side, where they will be the first to really commit to what the president has asked for. this authority to train syrian vetted fighters. one question is how vetted are they? that would be a program that would take probably more than a year. and it would staff them, arm them, train them to do the work on the ground inside syria.

separate from that, fction, are the iraqi and kurdish forces working on the ground in iraq. while the president was very careful in his phrasing today to say ground combat, that he would not have u.s. personnel engaged in that, of course, general dempsey says those pilots who were flying in the air and carrying out air strikes are, in fact, engaged in combat themselves. so, part of what we have here is the backdrop of all the weariness and pain and cost of the iraq war, confronted by a new set of problems with unclear solutions and unclear roles of national/international partners. how will other nations step up? one of the issues that some argue is that if the u.s. is forced to use ground troops. again, the president says that won't happen. would that attract friendly arab nations? jordan, saudi arabia. to also commit to their forces. if the u.s. won't do it, why would other nations do it, is one of the questions. so, this is a murky, difficult topic but an important vote

today and important testimony from secretary kerry, who has at times made the issue a bit muddy himself saying, no, the u.s. is not at war. it's just counterterrorism. and then sort of the administration backing off from that saying, yes, it's a war against isil, isis, but not the traditional ground war we've seen in years past. joy? >> nbc's kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. stay with us for live testimony of secretary kerry's testimony coming up at 2:30 p.m. eastern. as if to add to the drama of today's capitol hill hearings, authorities here in new york city have charged a man with trying to recruit people to fight for isis here and abroad. a grand jury on tuesday indicted 30-year-old elfki on charges, including attempts to assist isis militants and illegal weapons charges. for more on that we're joined by nbc justice correspondent pete williams. >> these handgun charges, weapons charges, were actually filed in may when he was arrested. he was accused of trying to buy two handguns from two men he

thought were contacts in the terror world. unbeknownst to him were undercover informants for the fbi. prosecutors told him, and he said on several record the conversations, that he wanted to carry out mass shootings. he wanted to fire at u.s. military personnel coming home from the middle east. and also at shia muslims in the rochester area. but it's the new charges that are getting them more attention now. grand jury charges handed up yesterday. prosecutors say he urged those same two men. the undercover informants, to go to syria and join up with isis. he helped one get a passport. he did not know they were informants and they obviously never intended to go. the fbi says he sent $600 to a man he knew in yemen urging him to go to syria. there's no indication in court documents that that man ever made it there. >> all right. nbc's pete williams, thank you very much. >> you bet. three things to know this wednesday. the house select committee on benghazi held its first hearing

today. unlike heat hearings led by darrell issa, today's hearings struck a more bipartisan tone. they vowed to pursue the attacks on libya, resulting in four deaths including ambassador chris stevens. joe biden rolled into iowa today to kick off the get out the vote bus tour. biden's visit fueled speculation about whether he'll make a 2016 presidential run. it comes just three days after former secretary of state hillary clinton's first visit to the hawkeye state since losing the 2008 caucuses to one barack obama. st. louis county prosecutor bob mccullough says he may release videotapes and recordings and if he gets a judge's permission. coming up, the vikings reverse course on adrian peterson as a major sponsor cuts

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another day of accusations, condemnations and damage control in the nfl. a little more than 12 hours after standing by their man, minnesota viking adrian peterson, nfl apparel nike has suspended his contract. hours ago the entire front office of the minnesota vikings went before the cameras to admit that putting peterson back in the game two days ago was a mista mistake. >> we have given this issue much thought and consideration. since last friday. we have decided the appropriate course of action for the organization and for adrian is to pet him on the exempt list

until the legal proceedings are complete. we made a mistake. and we needed to get this right. >> right now nfl sponsors like bridgestone, fedex, gm and verizon are still playing ball with the nfl, but sending sternly worded statements as a shot across the bow. meanwhile, former raven ray rice filed his appeal in his indefinition suspension last night. ray and the players association want an impartial party assigned to the case. meaning anyone other than roger goodell. >> the nfl thinks they can play by their own rules. commissioner roger goodell is judge and jury. yet, he is also the one who stands to profit by seeing these cases hushed. >> so, again today, many are asking whether roger goodell can be trusted to make the right call.

joy taylor is co-host of "zaszlo show" on the ticket. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to start with the players association statement because it's an interesting wording on what's happening with adrian peterson and child abuse case. it says adrian peterson made a volunte decision to take a voluntary leave with pay to take care of his personal and legal issues. the n does that mean he was technically not suspended? >> well, he's being taken away from the team and team activities and obviously from playing. i think it's mostly just everyone trying to save face at this point. they all kind of got together and came up with an agreement that makes everyone happy. adrian still gets paid so they don't have to fight with that with the nfl players association. the players association is backing up the player.

and the team is saving face by separating themselves from the issue. so, i think that that's what's really going on here. >> it definitely feels like a face-saving decision. they made an affirmative decision to let him play. then retracting it, you have the vikings coming out saying the league informed the team to place adrian on what's called the exempt/commissioner's permission list. that means he is away from team activities ask and can take care of his personal activities. what does that mean and how often is that used? >> i've never heard of it. that doesn't mean it doesn't get used. this is a punishment. i think they're just not using that word. it obviously is a punishment. like i said, i think it's the league trying to save face. they said, here is your option. there are not options. here is the option. we have to do something. we have to do it fast. because the public is freaking out. sponsors are freaking out. we need to do something. we need to do it fast.

we need to do something everybody can agree on. let's get together and get it done. you know, in activating him, according to the players association agreement, they can only do it for four games, i believe, so putting him on this list allows him to do it for a longer period of time and he'll still get paid. >> this whole response to each of these cases has felt haphazard, as if they never thought through a policy even though yesterday we reported there have been dozens and dozens and dozens of cases of some sort of arrest or legal issues with players in the nfl going back more than a decade. leave it to congress, who usually can't get anything done, to come up with a simple elegant solution that had the nfl done in the beginning, you kind of get a feeling it would have avoided a lot of the problem. let's play you jackie speier and her suggestion on a simple, elegant new policy. >> when a player is arrested for domestic violence, the nfl should immediately suspend the player and continue to pay them until a preponderance of the

evidence determines their guilt or innocence. this is what zero tolerance looks like. >> joy, it wasn't even one politician, it was two. the governor of minnesota comes out with essentially the same thing saying the team -- the governor of minnesota saying the team should have suspended mr. peterson until the accusations of child abuse had been solved in the criminal justice system. boom. why is it so simple for two politicians to come up with a policy and so difficult for roger goodell? >> i have no idea. i wish i had the answer for that. i mean, they're saying makes so sense. a lot of people are complaining saying the nfl shouldn't get involved in legal situations and they shouldn't insert themselves in investigations, but the bottom line is, the nfl is bigger than these two players. they represent billions of dollars and millions of fans. and they have a responsibility to those fans, both men, women and children, to put the best product on the field. and i believe the best product is not just the best players but the best people. and they have a responsibility to these victims as well to

separate themselves from domestic violence. and violence in general. it's just a bad time for the nfl. they're absolutely right. if they had acted swiftly and done the right thing, then everything would be fine. these guys aren't losing their livelihoods. they're still going to pay them until due process plays out. if the charges are dropped and nothing legally happens to them, they get their job back. it's really simple. don't understand why they didn't do it from the beginning. >> they have due process. like you said, you're not depriving people from their livelihood and the nfl isn't a proper business. it's a nonprofit. it's a 501c6 and $5 billion a year. the 32 teams estimated at $47 billion. roger goodell very well paid. this seems to be something that's extremely -- there's a lot of risks. so your reading of it, is that why sponsors have been so loathed to walk away quickly?

is the value of the business and the size of the audience the reason the sponsors aren't just bailing? >> sure, of course. where else do you get that visibility if you're not a sponsor. football is the monster, the biggest, the baddest and that's why there's so much attention on it right now. that's the bottom line. as far as why they didn't do it in the first place and what makes it different from any other business who would drop an employee immediately who was involved in domestic violence or child abuse situation, you saw what happened with the vikings last week. they need adrian peterson. he's their star. they need him on the field. having him away from football activities is different from having him away from their company name and their brands. having him off the field hurts the team, which hurts the fans, which hurts the dollar. so, it's much bigger than just separating themselves from a legal situation. >> yeah. there are 300 million, approximately, americans and 111

million watch americans. love your name, joy. >> you have the best name in tv. >> exactly. we thank both of our parents. thank you for being here. i appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. now, a "reid alert," nbc's ann curry wrapped up an exclusive interview with iran's president. we'll get some of that interview today, including his reaction to isis beheading james foley, steven sotloff and david haines. whenwork with equity experts who work with regional experts who work with portfolio management experts that's when expertise happens. mfs. because there is no expertise without collaboration.

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the program foek can yous on three main areas, education, vaccination, sanitation and water. in fact, the global partnership for education says investing in education is the single most effective way to reduce poverty. now, recently actor adrian grenier traveled to ma llawi to see how education can play a part. >> i was invited to rwanda and malawi to visit schools to see the amazing work they're doing and to understand firsthand how these programs are actually being effective. and i wanted to do that because, till now, i'm -- i was relatively ignorant. i didn't know how wonderful these programs are and what they are actually doing to help. >> joining me now a three yan and hugh evans.

you a month ago went to the african continent. where did you go? >> we went to malawi and rwanda. i'm so thankful that hugh approached me and asked me to be a part of the gpp and global poverty project and actually brought me to see what they're doing out there in africa. it was extremely illuminating. >> i want to show a little bit of the video you actually shot while you were there. some of the kids, they are absolutely adorable. singing, if we can show, that's some of the video. let's take a quick listen. ♪ >> that is awesome. hugh, what is the mission of the global poverty project, specifically in that country, malawi? >> we were focused on the yib of education. we know globally there are still 57 million kids who don't have access to primary education, like the kids you saw in the video. this year we're focused on every effort we can do to support the global partnership for education, which is the peak funding body responsible for

putting 29 million students into schools over the next five years. we're calling on member states who have yet to commit to actually taking action to end extreme poverty, focused on education, like the canadian government, for example. so, of the $2.9 billion that's been raised thus far for education, canada is yet to make their contribution. we want to encourage the canadian government to step up and be part of this important endeavor to get kids into school, specifically girls. >> come o canada. >> o canada. isn't the purpose of a prominent person like yourself, the idea you come back and you become an evangelist for the idea and that gets the ball rolling? if that's the case, what is the message you would take back to the artist community? what message would you take back about why this is important? >> that's true. i would just say that education is the root of all good. it's the building blocks of healthy, successful and peaceful society. so, we need to help the

youngsters, the most vital resource that any country can have and give them the tools and the opportunity to become strong citizens that can support their communities and ultimately become our neighbors in success around the world. >> did you learn anything about rwanda that surprised you? >> it was incredible. i can't even quite describe how moved i was and how much i really learned about empathy and transcending the suffering they've experienced over there with the genocide and how much they're really trying to reach beyond their struggles to actually build together a better society. >> and what can ordinary citizens do? there is a sense a lot of people have of futility. going back to live aid in the 1980s. there have been massive efforts, celebrity-driven efforts, to try to get at global poverty. what is different now about this effort and what can ordinary

people do? >> the things that are different about our effort, as opposed to live aid. if you go to live aid you buy a ticket, $200, $100, whatever the price is, you ruck, forget about it. we say we wanted to turn the activist model on its head. we said you actually have to earn your way in. all the actions you take on global shortstop citizen.com, whether it's purchasing the global impact or signing a petition, calling on the prime minister of canada to support global efforts, all of those actions, big and small, earn you points. these points enable you to enter the global citizen festival for free. in doing so, you've become an activist through the process. you've educated yourself, educated hopefully your community and take in sustainable action. this is not about some massive flash in the pan event, as important as they are. this is actually about building a sustainable, lasting movement till 2030 when extreme poverty is wiped off the face of the planet. >> what would you say to people who feel that sense of futility, but they're just one person. you're one guy going down to

some parts of subsaharan africa you hadn't been. do you think that transformed you into someone who can make significant change or it is it about collecting people to work on this. >> it's both. we all need to come together to make a real difference, but if you root through your heart, your experience, all of these ideas, then it stays with you. it sticks with you. you can take it throughout your whole life and it transforms the way you look at the world. >> how do they get involved? i'm holding up one of the things you can actually obtain by being a part of the movement, other than the concert with jay z. >> there are still tickets available to the global citizen festival. have you to earn your points right now. one way to earn point is through purchasing the global citizen impack. includes a t-shirt, a wrist band, all the information you need to become an activist 24 hours a day, hopefully, and seven days a week and for 365 days a year.

in that includes all the information. you can purchase that at globalcitizen.org/impack. you can get your points to qualify you to get a ticket. >> i'm claiming this one as my own. >> can you have that. >> thank you both for being here. >> thank you, joy. and be sure to tune into msnbc for the third annual global citizen festival, a concert to end extreme poverty with live performances from jay z, carrie underwood, the roots, and more. saturday, september 27th at 3 p.m. eastern with chris hayes, alice wagner and ronan farrow. we're moments away from john kerry's testimony. stay with us for live coverage. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there are no branches? 24/7 it's just i'm a little reluctant to try new things. what's wrong with trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates.

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state john kerry will testify before the senate foreign relations committee about the u.s. strategy to wage war against isis. as the u.s. tries to build a global coalition against isis, even iran's president has slammed the group. he ann curry joins me live from tehran where she just sat down with exclusive interview with iranian president. ann, what did the president of iran have to say about isis? >> reporter: quite a lot, joy. in that exclusive interview with nbc news here in tehran, he issued blistering criticism of isis and president obama's strategy to fight it, including the u.s.-led coalition. he called isis nonislamic, liars, and condemned the beheadings of james foley, steven sotloff and david haines. . what was your personal reaction

when you saw the piely publicized beheadings of james foley and steven sotloff, the american journalists, and also the humanitarian, david haines? >> translator: who can really tolerate to see an innocent person be executed. it doesn't make any difference from our viewpoint if the person is muslim, jewish, christian or is the follower of any other religion. it is not important to us to which nationality does it belong to. they want to kill humanity. and from the viewpoints of the islamic tenets and culture, killing an innocent people equals the killing of the whole humanity. and, therefore, the killing and

beheading of innocent people is a matter of shame for them and it's a matter of concern and sorrow for all the human and all the mankind. >> reporter: president rouhani also mocked president obama's strategy to fight isis with air strikes. asking about the united states, are they afraid to put people on the ground, getting people killed? is it possible to do this without sacrifice? he said it's not the solution and he pointedly said that without the permission of the governments on the ground, it's not fighting terrorism, but, quote, aggression. iran's president called the u.s.-led coalition ridiculous saying if members include nations that help build isis, providing weapons and support, but he would not, when asked, mention any nation by name. he also said categorically that iran would refuse to join the coalition fighting isis, if

asked. saying, quote, we do not see a need to negotiate or cooperate. perhaps most significantly he said that iran will give iraq any support it requests, including ground troops. but so far he said iran has only been asked for military advisers. president rouhani made a point to say if it comes to defending religious fights in iraq, iran would -- >> and we will definitely have much more of nbc's ann curry and her interview with the iranian president tonight on "nightly news". back to capitol hill now where we're -- we're awaiting secretary of state john kerry who's set to testify before the senate foreign relations committee. joining me is colonel jon jay cobbs, msnbc analyst, as well as wilson center's aaron david miller, and author of the forthcoming book "the end of greatness" and lynn sweet,

washington bureau chief for the chicago "sun-times." i want to start out with you, colonel jack jacobs, you now have the president of iran weighing in our our strategy, saying it's ridiculous, bombarding from the air is not the solution and mocking the united states saying, are we afraid to get troops on the ground? isn't the essential question here, doesn't isis want us to put troops on the ground? >> i think so. we need to put this all into proper perspective. it's not a decision of whether we put troops on the ground on the one hand and bomb them on the other. in fact, using air power and indirect power like artillery, cruise missiles, whether they come from ships or airplanes, or even the ground, all that is only for the purpose tactically of assist be troops on the ground. it's not going to work. it is great that we can bomb bad guys, but it is insufficient to achieve any kind of either midterm or long-term strategic objectives. i hate to get on the side of the

president of iran in this case, because he's got a political agenda we haven't discussed yet. but the fact of the matter is, tactically and strategically he's absolutely right, it's not going to do anything. it's not going to achieve what we to want achieve on the ground. >> aaron david miller, to further dig into -- you have the president of iran, majority shiite country, expressing with ann curry, they obviously have a relationship with the syrian government. how does iran now stepping forward into the breach and at least in a rhetorical way getting itself involved, does that change the calculation potentially for the sunni muslim countries on the ground who also have an issue with isis? >> no. i mean, look, iran will be there long after this administration leaves office and its success ses sores as well. look, iraq is driven by two forces that really provide tough competition to the u.s. one is geography, where it is, which allows states like iran to

manipulate and intercede. the other factor is demography. you have a majority shia population which, unfortunately, from the perspective of the sunnis under mr. maliki, has fed the grievances which have allowed isis to thrive. i really think -- i think the colonel is right with respect to perspective. i'm not sure the president's policy, even though he said he wants to ultimately destroy isis, i think this guy's way too smart and understands that, in fact, that is not going to be achievable. it's 13 years, let's remind ourselves, after 9/11. and yet if you ask the agency, cia, what the most imminent threat to the u.s. would be right now, they wouldn't say isis, they wouldn't say iran. they would say al qaeda. president obama is interested in trying to check isis in iraq, which i do believe can be done, through the use of air strikes. local allies and good intel.

and examine the possibility. here's where it gets really complicated about what he can do to degrade and undermine and weaken isis in syria. the point of all this is not to put humpty dumpty back together again in iraq or syria. it is to weaken isis's capacity to strike at the continental united states. that is the one area where barack obama, frankly in his own policies, has been risk ready rather than risk averse. >> the politics of this for barack obama, obviously he came in saying he didn't want to fight dumb wars. it's clear he doesn't want to topple the government of bashar al assad. even if isis fighters are -- i want to let everybody know that is secretary of state john kerry. he arrived in the hearing room of the senate foreign relations committee. we'll wait for him to begin speaking. he's shaking hands, doing some glad-handing. americans want to see no more americans beheaded. americans are not interested, i

gather, in an overwhelming ground war in the middle east. is the president politically on safe ground when we're ra ratcheting up the talk of war. >> the short answer is, no. i've been talking to democrats who are in the house. and they're agonizing right now because in just a few hours -- >> lynn, i'm going to let you continue. anti-war protesters from code pink are on the floor. we see their signs. go on. >> well, right now, the house is just a few hours away from voting on the amendment for funding for this so-called syrian moderate rebels who we want to arm and equip and help our effort in combating isil. this is far more agonizing to members of the democratic party, president obama's own base, than to any members of the republican party right now. just think, the vote's a few hours away and many democratic loyalists to the president are still wondering what they're going to do. as you know, and as you've talked about it, polls are

showing the public wants to do something and they're reluctant to get into any kind of long, extended war. which is why, when we hear secretary of state kerry coming up, what i think a lot of democrats want him to clarify is whether or not, indeed, there is any thought of having ground troops, notwithstanding what general dempsey said yesterday about the potential of asking the president for ground troops. >> yeah. as we watched senator bob menendez, as he makes his opening remarks, there is this increase about verbiage of war. we're at war with isis the same way we said we're at war with al qaeda. but at the same time, smallness of the effort. taking a year to train 5,000 guys to fight 25,000 people. we're calling it not ground troops. more special forces, air power. if we're at war with somebody, we're at war with somebody. so, there is a disconnect. >> there's so much rhetoric involved. don't forget the president is trying -- this is a terrible

cliche but it's apropos in this case. he is actually kicking the can down the road. we're not going to make the effort on the ground or even in the air other than degrade isis. it's going to take a long time. i'm reminded of general mcchrystal's observations that in that region, if you want to accomplish what the president is talking about accomplishing, you need a decade. don't forget, the president said we're leaving. so, this is -- there's a lot of public relations involved here. not a real focus on a military operation. >> and aaron david miller, the other thing that complicates it, too, senator john mccain got to it in his questioning f we are arming and training a set of free syrian army, quote/unquote, free syrian rebels and they turn from fighting isis and turn from training the military of bashar al assad, are we going to keep helping them? doesn't seem it's in the u.s. interest to topple that government because you don't know what comes after them. >> that's right. you essentially have four

conflicts being waged in syria. one between assad and syria, assad and the opposition, one between assad and -- and al nusrah, and in the middle of this we're going to make a focused, determined effort to, quote/unquote, destroy isis? it's not credible. >> let's listen to bob menendez. >> what success looks like in iraq and syria across the region and what conditions will indicate when it's time to end military action. now, this is what we know about isil. it has brutally mercilessly, barbarically followed through on threats to kill hostages james foley, steven sotloff. beheaded british aid worker david haines on saturday and threatens to execute another british citizen, alan henning. it promotes genocide against

anyone who does not follow their view of warped islam. it enslaves women and children. it has seized u.s. and iraqi military equipment, has built a formidable fighting force. it's pumping oil and selling it to a tune of $1 million a day to fund its brutal tactics, along with kidnappings, theft, extortion and external support. it is recruiting disciples for its un-holy war at a frightening pace. these foreign fighters are crossing often from turkey, which either because of fear or maybe ideology, has declined to participate to stop that flow of fighters and to counter isil. it has declared the territory occupied caliphate with intent to seize more territory from u.s. partners and allies from jordan to saudi arabia to

lebanon. the risk to jordanian and lebanese stability is real, urgent and grave. we would be fools not to take this threat seriously. isil is an enemy of the united states. and the civilized world. now, as i have said many times, temporary and targeted air strikes in iraq and syria fall under the president's powers, as commander in chief. but if the military campaign lasts for an extended period of time, which i gather it will, it is my belief that congress will need to approve an isil-specific authorization for the use of military force. i am personally not comfortable with reliance on either the 2001 aumf that relies on a thin theory that isil is associated with al qaeda. and certainly not on the 2002 iraq aumf which relied on misinformation. i ask the administration today and in the days ahead to brief this committee on its comprehensive strategy and the operational objectives by which

we will defeat isil so we can draft an appropriate aumf to address the very grave isil threat we face. now, let me be clear. i support the president's strategy and sense of urgency, and i commend you, mr. secretary, for your efforts with allies in the region who also face violent and destabilizing threats from isil. let's not, over however, make the 9/11 mistake of rushing into an aumf and authorization for the use of military force that has become the overriding authorization for the last 13 years, has been used for indefinite duration and has been used from south asia to the persian gulf to africa and southeast asia. the fact is, we need to ensure that whatever authorization for the use of military force we consider is comprehensive and appropriate in scope and duration to meet the threat and sustain the fight. it is our responsibility to answer three fundamental

questions. what will it ultimately take to degrade and destroy isil? how does this fight end? and what end state do we seek in the region? we need to get it right, in my view, not just get it fast. and in doing so, we need a bipartisan approach that puts politics aside and the nation first. this is a long-term effort and we in congress must be very deliberate in our consideration of any new strategy, new authorities and new funding that it will take to meet the new threat we face. i believe we need to defeat isil before they develop the operational capacity to perform a september 11th-like attack. i never want to lose as many citizens from my home state of new jersey or from the united states as we did on that day. that is our responsibility. and it is our solemn obligation. with that, let me turn to the ranking member, senator corker,

for his comments. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i appreciate the full and broad opening comments you made and the way you've expressed many of our concerns regarding isil. and their capacity over time to harm americans. i know we're here a few days after the president publicly addressed this as the nation and many others around the western world, arnold the civilized world, are outraged over the conduct of isil. and i know that americans are greatly concerned about over time the effects they might have on this nation, as you just expressed. we're also here, exactly one year and two weeks after -- in this very room, this committee voted out an authorization for the use of force in syria. one of the bright moments n my opinion, of this committee.

not necessarily because of the product but because we all worked together in such a way to come to an end that we thought was best for the country. much in the light and in the tone that the chairman just laid out. so, i just want to start by welcoming our secretary. we've had some conversations. i appreciate his hard work. but i do want to say, as i've said to him personally, i'm very disappointed that the administration has chosen to go about what they're doing without explicitly seeking the authorization of congress. i think that's a huge mistake. i realize that part of that, unfortunately, has to do with the political season that we're in, which is, to me, very unfortunate. that that might be a factor to some. i also realize that part of the strategy and plan, or big parts of it, are still being created.

therefore, it's being put together as we move along. we're really not in a place for congress to fully ascertain what the plan might be. as the chairman just mentioned, he's going to deal with an authorization. our committee will deal with an authorization. i just want to say to the secretary, i hope when that's done, it's done with the administration explicitly seeking that. not saying if congress wants to play a constructive role, it can and it would be welcomed, but one where you seek it and you lay out in detail for us, in both classified and opening settings, what it is we're seeking to achieve and how we're going to go about it. again, i know much of this is being made up as we go along. i do hope -- i do hope the secretary today will outline the true nature of the threat. i know he was in a meeting prior to coming in here where some of that was being discussed.

i hope today you'll clearly lay out what you think the true nature of the threat is. thirdly and just one glaring piece, i know that secretaries of state probably don't have the same opportunity as senators do to visit people in refugee camps and to see people that we said we would support and don't. we've been pushing in this committee for years, or for a long time, to arm and train the vetted moderate opposition. we passed out of this committee a year and a half ago almost on a 15-3 vote that we've been pushing for it, for longer than that. and in spite of the fact there are some alleged activities occurring, we have not done the things we said we would do. as a matter of fact, i would say that the position that the administration has taken over this last year and two weeks, since we were here meeting about

the authorization and passing one, has led to many of the problems that we are facing today. many of the problems that are causing civilization itself to be fearful and again, though, i appreciate the fact that the secretary is here today, that the administration has stepped forward and has the beginnings of a thought process as to how to address it. i do want to say, what i've heard about dealing with the moderate opposition to me is odd. i know that the administration especially at the white house has stated how generally feckless, to use a word, i think, that describes it, they believe this moderate opposition to be. and yet we look at this and today it's our entire ground game. i have supported the training

and arming of these rebels for some time. i will say, i was shocked yesterday to hear that in the armed services testimony, these rebels are actually going to be used against isis. all of them that i've met with, and things may have changed, but their focus has been taking out assad. i know they've had a two-front battle, or war-waging, trying to do that, but i'm surprised the administration is basing their entire ground game on a group of people that candidly are going to receive very little training in the small authorization that's been put forth and that that's our entire ground game, which brings me back to point two, talking about the very nature of the threat. seems to me the administration has placed many, many caveats on what we will not do, and at the same time, the rhetoric describing the threat is far

greater than it seems to me the plan is being put together. i'll close with this. i know typically when you have a coalition, you have the coalition put together before you announce it. i know in this case we're announcing a coalition and we are attempting to put it together. and i hope that what we're going to end up with is more than a group of coat-holders. i hope we're going to have people who are really going to be doing things on the ground that matter, but i do hope the secretary through his hard work in generating commitments that will matter as it relates to this. this effort we all know is not going to be a one or two-year effort. it's going to be a multi-year effort. some people are saying a decade. some people are saying a decade. i do think it's important as our chairman laid out that all of us fully understand what we're undertaking. fully understand the nature of the threat.

fully understand the commitment of this administration to deal with this threat ain the appropriate way. i we will couple here today. look forward to your testimony and to our questions. >> with that, mr. secretary, we welcome you back to the committee so ably and distinguishingly chaired. we thank you for your service to our country. we know you recently arrived from building this coalition and we appreciate you being here today in order to inform members of what has been achieved, what is in front of us, and with that, the floor is yours. >> well, chairman menendez, ranking member corker and members of the committee, my friends, and former colleagues, i really thank you for holding this hearing on an issue that is obviously fraught with all the high stakes that both the chairman and the ranking member have just described and all of the members of the committee

understand deeply. and i really look forward to this opportunity to both define the threat that isil does pose, the ways in which it does, and, of course, our strategy for defeating it and all of that could not be more critical for the country. during the years that i had the privilege of serving here and working with different administrations, it always struck me that american foreign policy works best and is strongest when there's a genuine discussion, a dialogue, a vetting of ideas back and forth, really a serious discussion. much more than an arctic lailgs lags of one set of ideas, then another, they just oppose each other, they sit out there and there's no real effort to have a meeting of the minds. so, i want to make sure that by

the time we're done here today, i've heard from you. i know what you're thinking and you've heard from me and you know what we're thinking, what the administration is thinking. and that you have a clear understanding of what it is we have done so far, of how we see this and how hopefully we can come to see it together. what we're doing now and where we go next. and i state unequivocally, and it's not a passing sentence, that i welcome the input, need the input, of this committee, because it is together that we're going to be much stronger and much more effective in guaranteeing the success of this effort. and it's a big effort in a lot of ways. it's about isil and the immediacy, but as we will, i think, discuss today, it's about a lot more than that. so i want to underscore at the

start. you know, there are some debates of the past 30 years, 29 of which i was privileged to serve in the senate, that will undoubtedly fill up books and documentaries for a long time. and iraq is certainly one of them. iraq has caused some of the most heated debates and deepest divisions of the past decade. a series of difficult issues and difficult decisions about which people can honestly disagree. but i didn't come here today, and i hope we don't have to rehash those debates. the issue that confronts us today is one in which we all ought to be able to agree. isil must be defeated. period, end of story. and collectively we're all going to be measured by how we carry out this mission.

as i came in here, obviously, we had some folks who spoke out. i would start by saying, i understand descent. i've lived it. that's how i first testified in front of this country in 1971. i spent two years protesting a policy. so, i respect the policy of code pink to protest and to use that right. but you know what? i also know something about code pink. code pink was started by a woman and women who were opposed to war but who also thought a government's job was to take care of people. and to give them health care and education and good jobs. and if that's what you believe in, and i believe it is, then you ought to care about fighting isil.

because isil is killing and raping and mutilating women. and they believe women shouldn't have an education. they sell off girls to be sex slaves to jihadists. there is no negotiation with isil. there is nothing to negotiate. and they're not offering anyone health care of any kind. you know, they're not offering education of any kind. for a whole philosophy or idea or a cult, whatever you want to call it. that frankly comes out of the stone age. they're cold-blooded killers ma rauding across the middle east making a mockery of a peaceful religion. and that's precisely why we are building a coalition to try to stop them from denying the women and the girls and the people of iraq the very future that they yearn for.

frankly, code pink and a lot of other people need to stop to think about how you stop them and deal with that. so, i -- i will -- >> more invagus will not protect the homeless. >> let me -- >> more invagus will not protect the homeless. >> so, it's important for people to understand -- important for people to understand, there's no invasion. the invasion was isil into iraq. the invasion is foreign fighters into syria. that's the invasion. and it is destructive to every possibility of building a state in that region. so, even in a region that is virtually defined by division, and every member of this committee understands the degree to which these divisions are deep in that region. leaders who have viewed the l