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tv   The Daily Rundown  MSNBC  September 23, 2014 6:00am-7:01am PDT

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no matter how fast your business needs to adapt, if hp big data solutions can keep wireless customers smiling, imagine what they can do for yours. make it matter. u.s. military forces along with a coalition of arab allies
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rain dozens of missiles onto isis targets. it's a major escalation in the fight against isis militants, and the first time the u.s. has taken action inside of syria. good morning from washington. i'm luke russert. this is "the daily rundown." president obama is expected to speak for the first time about the air strikes. the white house just under an hour from now at 10:00 a.m. eastern. we'll, of course, bring that to you live. and we are keeping our eyes on secretary of state john kerry, who is already meeting with international leaders in new york ahead of the president's arrival fuelling the united nations meeting. the u.s. officials say more than 20 targets were struck. amateur video unverified shows some of the explosions as the first missiles began to fall more than 12 hours ago. and a new video this morning claims to show the aftermath of strikes. syrian activists say 70 isis fighters were killed. and the u.s. insists that this
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is just the beginning. here's pentagon spokesman admiral john kirby just a short while ago on "morning joe." >> we are aiming at their ability to command and control and resupply and train. we hit depots, training facilities. we actually hit some vehicles. we hit headquarter element type buildings where they were trying to lead command and control there for us. >> the strikes damaged or destroyed multiple isis targets in and around four cities. including the headquarters of the sunni militant group. one of the most significant aspects of the attack is who was involved? the u.s. was joined by five arab nations and the the uae. four of those five are majority sunni nations opting to take up arms against the sunni militants
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that make up the group. the u.s. used a mix of fighter jets, drones and missiles to carry out the attacks overnight. in the air the u.s. used f-16s, f-15s, f-22s and rap tors, the first time that plane has been used in combat. nearly 50 tomahawk missiles were fired from the u.s. warships operating in the red scene and persian gulf. and the u.s. went after a group of seasoned al qaeda veterans known as the korshon group. >> we have information that this group was in the final stages of planning an imminent attack, either against targets in europe or the u.s. homeland. and based on that information and the information we had about where they were and how they were resourcing themselves, we took targeted action against them last night. >> syrian and human rights
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activists say at least 50 members were also killed in northern syria. members of congress weighed in largely in support of the the attack. the top republican on the intelligence committee praised the u.s. allies in the region for stepping up. house foreign fairs committee chairman ed royce said the air strikes were, quote, long overdue. syria confirms the regime was notified of the impending attack. but a senior official says the u.s. did not can ask permission and did not coordinate with the government. though russian foreign ministry came to syria's defense saying attempts to achieve one's own geo political goals in violation of the sovereignty of the countries in the region only exacerbate tensions and further destabilize the situation. but instead of pushing back the syrian government released a statement vowing to keep fighting isis. why the lack of outrage? well, with the syrian rebels struggling to hold territory, assad's military may ultimately
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be the biggest beneficiary of u.s.-led efforts to clear out fighters. we have the story covered from all angles. joining me now, nbc's chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. nbc senior white house correspondent chris jansing in new york ahead of the president's arrival. and mik, let ne start with you, there's a barrage of weaponry being used in this attack. what is the latest and how long do we expect the bombings to go on? >> well, as we speak the u.s. is over syria trying to a assess first of all bomb damage to see how successful or not successful those air strikes might have been. >> can you hand me? >> i'm sorry. i'm sorry. particularly command and control. but so they're also looking ahead in terms of what additional strikes will have to be taken and when, luke.
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sorry. >> no worries. let's go to chris jan sising ah of the president's talk at the u.n. he made himself become an active wartime president in pa way he was not up to this point. something i'm sure he's conscious of heading into the final years of the presidency. what do we expect to hear be the u.n. chairing a security council meeting and what will this mean for his presidency moving forward? >> well, i think we're going to hear from the president in a short time from now. he's going to lay out what we heard from the last speech, almost two weeks ago, where he said he was willing to go into syria. talk about what the danger is, both with isis and with other extremist groups in that region. and obviously this is a major
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sea change for him. the message that the white house wants to put out this morning, luke, is this. he had said very consistently, the president had from the time that he was in the nato meeting and this coalition was first being form that had the united states would not go it alone. we heard samantha power saying when we do air strikes in syria, it will not be alone. they wanted to send a message saying this is isis at war with the world. and the u.s. is responding. and these five countries who got involved is unprecedented. they think they can take this moving forward. he thinks he can leverage it moving the forward to norm a true coalition. i told they don't have anything on the shelf. but they do think over the course of the next three days that will may be more progress
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in terms of bringing other countries on board, luke. >> yeah, a tough month for president obama's foreign policy. a huge diplomatic victory. chris jansing, thank you for joining us. and aman, that diplomatic victory i was mentioning. the fkt that president obama and the administration were able to get sunni nations to join in the fight, please talk about the significance of that. and i want to sneak in another one with you. there's no force on the ground that can take over these areas that are being bombed by the u.s. against isis. who is going to fill that vacuum? >> yeah, those are two very important questions. one, the presence of the arab countries is to show it's not acting alone and acting on regional interests, including those powerful arab countries like saudi arabia. obviously there will be questions to whether or not this
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is a substantial coalition or is it merely substantial on paper? there's no doubt that arab countries have expressed a tremendous amount of concern over the past several months with the rise of isis and particularly what happened in iraq. it's now a growing menace and concern in the region. there's a strategic p interest for the countries to be involved. but the question is whether or not they arkansas titiculate an what role they play. that's ambiguous for the time being as they weigh their own considerations as to whether or not this is good for them publicly to come out and say they played a big and important role on that. but on the other question, yeah, i think that's an very important part of what happened next. the air strikes, everybody knew they were going to happen. but who on the ground can take control of the areas and flush off the isis fighters? that remains to be see. the iraqi military is trying to do so with the help of the u.s.
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inside iraq. in syria it's more complicated. if the regime fills in the void, this is going to be a major setback for modern rebels. on the same front, if the syrian rebels can coalesce, put together a system of governing to fill the void, then it will fill a major problem for the t assad regime. >> and ayman, we're getting reports that our own andrea mitchell asked the president of iran about the strikes and he said they were illegal. iran is mainly a shia nation. they were supporters of assad. but they're also weary of isis. what do you make of those comments? >> well, there has been growing concern as to whether or not the u.s. had the proper authorization, whether or not issued back in 2011 wiz enough
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for an attack inside syria but it's not only iran that has come out to question the legality of the attacks. so, too, has russia saying they should have coordinated better with the the syrian regime. they warned them not to carry out the strikes without coordinating and said it was willing to participate. many people felt the the u.s. did extend the bravrj to the syrian regime or brought iran to the table, much to the disappointment of the united states and the emirates, it's going to give president bashar al assad some legitimate. it's giving you a sense of how it is. >> thank you so much. we appreciate. joining me now, virginia democratic senator tim kaine, member of the armed services and foreign relations committee who is already planning before the strikes to speak later today in washington on his call for congress to have a say? striking isis.
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thank you so much for coming to the program. >> you bet, luke. >> quite simply, should president obama order the air strikes without congressional approval? >> they began during the congressional recess in august. and when they began the president had a legitimate concern of isis' momentum putting the u.s. at risk. he has the ability to defend embassy. but the mission has switched to offensive mission clearly. and i think congress should be weighing in. it was unclear if congress intended to do anything because the leadership was saying the president has all the power he needs. in the past two weeks, the leadership has changed. we'll take up an authorization, and we voted, luke, as you know last week for probably the most controversial piece of the president's plan, which was the arming and training of rebels inside syria. i wish we were having that debate on the authorization right now. but with the senator on the foreign relations committee as
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the chair, he's confident we'll get to that in november. >> but these specific strikes in syria, do you feel they should have gotten their own vote? these ones in syria? >> yes. i think the constitution is fretty clear. the president always has the ability to defend the united states against any kind of imminent attack. but as soon as a president dtss as the president described it to chuck todd to go on offense against isil, if it's not just a defensive mission but an offensive one, that's when congress is needed. that's what the constitution says. i don't agree with the claims of some that 2001 and 2002 authorizations cover this military action, and i think a majority of members of congress, both houses and both parties share my belief that the authorizations are not broad enough. >> and he said in fact, the senate will take up a new authorization of military force agreement during the lame duck. so you see that as actually
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happening. >> i definitely do. there are three authorizations that have been introduced on the senate side. senator nelson, senator inhoffe to support the president's mission and the news about partners but also to impose significant limitations that are justified in this circumstance. >> one thing that struck me, the u.s. is bombing these targets right now. but unlike afghanistan, there's no northern align to move in on the ground. perhaps similar in iraq. there's no occupying force on the ground to take advantage of these air strikes. what do you make of that? e and what's the long-term strategy? >> that's what makes syria much more challenging than iraq. you have the iraqi security force and you have the fighters in the kurdish area are that strong fighters. but in syria it's a different
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situation. we're not able to coordinate with the syrian government for obvious reasons. bashar al assad is a brutal dictator. and so this is a critical component. but that will make the syrian side of the operation more complicated. but it's also why the presence of these arab nations in being part of the coalition defied isil as absolutely critical. there's no amount of u.s. troops that can police the region if it won't police itself. this is a hopeful sign. >> do you fear isis could survive the bombing attacks and use them as a recruiting tool, and were they given too much warning by pot obama in an attempt to retaliate? >> i definitely fear isis is a group with dangerous intentions. and unlike many such groups that not only have bad intentions,
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they're committing barbaric actions that are well funded. they are partners with europe and the united states. i traveled last month to nations in north africa that are allies of the united states. like tunisia. very worried about foreign fighters returning. they are a definite threat. could they survive these attacks? sure they could. but the presence of a the true coalition with the arab nations speaking out, saying because of the barbarity they are conducting. that's what it's going to take to beat isil. they need to be delegitimized. >> senator tim kaine from virginia, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> absolutely.
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>> we'll have much more on this breaking news throughout the hour. including reaction from a former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. ahead of the president's arrival in new york. we'll hear from the president at 10:00 a.m. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. this is . setting up the perfect wedding day begins with arthritis pain and two pills. afternoon arrives and feeling good, but her knee pain returns... that's two more pills. the evening's event brings laughter, joy, and more pain... when jamie says... what's that like six pills today? yeah... i can take 2 aleve for all day relief. really, and... and that's it. this is kathleen... for my arthritis pain, i now choose aleve. get all day arthritis pain relief with an easy-open cap.
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and we're back. a lot of breaking news this morning. overseas with the strikes against isis inside syria. we'll have more on that in a few minutes. and we're keeping our eyes on the white house. expecting a statement from president obama at 10:00 eastern. now we want to turn to important developments on the manhunt in pennsylvania. he said he's confident andrew frein will be caught soon.
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this morning the school close to the search area has been closed days are reopening for the first time as police stress they're closing in on the self taught survivalist and his anger is directed at police, not the public. sarah is joining me now. is a sense of normalcy returning there? how is life processing this morning? >> well, good morning, luke. folks here are tired. they're tired of feeling uneasy. they're tired of waiting for news of his capture. we're now awaiting the tenth day of this searchful one man telling me during this ordeal he set his alarm in his home for the first time ever. that is rights are trying to reassure the public they're getting closer and closer to capturing frein. they think he may be hiding in homemade bunkers. they think he put months into
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the escape and attack. they think he abandoned or hid for future use. that includes an ak-47 and ammunition. the area is 15 to 20 miles from the attack site. they think he made it there on foot, luke. and they're wait for more clues on where he may be hiding. >> and now to the latest in the disappearance of hanna graham. police continue their search for the college sophomore and the last person she was seen with, 32-year-old jesse matthew. police have named matthew a person of interest in the case and issued two arrest warrants ff reckless driving after he visited a police station, asked for a lawyer and then left without talking to anybody and speeding off. now he's wanted. joining me now is craig melvin. and craig, an all out search for mr. matthew, it seems. >> all out search. police are right now are looking
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for two people. they continue to look for hannah graham. this is the 11th day since she went missing. as you indicated there, they're also looking for jesse matthew, the 32-year-old hospital operating room technician who police have not seen since saturday. they have two reckless driving warnlts out for his arrest. they say at this point he has no idea if he is. they don't know if he's still in the area. yesterday police conducted their second search on matthew's apartment since friday. they hauled out three bags of potential evidence. i'm also told they expect they could be getting the evidence from matthew's car later this afternoon. but again, 11 days science hannah has been missing. we all continue to wait and hope. turning back to the air
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assault on syria. president obama will deliver his first remarks as they launch overnight. that and much more ahead on tdr. busy tuesday. keep it with us. you know.... there's a more enjoyable way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. mmmm. these are good! the tasty side of fiber. from phillips infrom the experts in feminine bladdeprotection.ection new always discreet underwear, for sensitive bladders. only always discreet underwear has soft, dual leakguard barriers, to help stop leaks where they happen most. plus a discreet fit that hugs your curves. you barely feel it. new always discreet. now bladder leaks can feel like no big deal. because hey, pee happens.
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in a telephone interview his ex-wife says he suffers from schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder. >> i wish there was something i could have done to help him. he's not a bad guy. i think he's night in his right mind. who jumps a fence knowing you can get shot and killed? who goes and tries to tell the president the atmosphere is collapsing? >> the incident puts the secret service under scrutiny yet again. last month secret service officers stopped gonzalez in front of the white house with a hatchet in his waistband but let him go. even though he had been arrested in virginia in july with a cachet of semiautomatic weapons, a sniper rifle and a map of the d.c. area with a line drawn to the white house. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker is live at the white house to talk about all of this. there's a lot of critics right now.
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they say they've been not getting the funds. what are the next steps here? >> look, that's certainly one of the things under consideration. you talk about changes around the fence, luke. i can tell you late last night they put up a second fence around the perimeter of the white house. it's very short, though. it comes up to about my elbow. but that's certainly one of the things under consideration. specifically they're looking into the possibility of checking in tourists blocks away from the white house. essentially having them go through security checks. that would be unprecedented if that were to happen. the secret service is broadening its investigation to try to figure out how a who was known to law enforcement was able to get away with this. and i would highlight one thing. the fact that omar gonzalez was stoppeded walking outside of the white house in august.
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he was found with a hatchet in his possession. at that point in time authorities searched his car. they denied find any weapons. but what didn't happen was a background check or they would have found the other instances that you brought up. the fact that he was arrested in july in virginia and found with a cash of weapons, including a saw-off shotgun and a map with the white house. so a lot of red flags were missed and that's certainly going to be a key part of the investigation. >> kristen, the u.s. secret service is also in charge of providing security not only if r the president but all the diplomats who will be at the u.n. in new york city. president obama is giving a big speech today to the u.n. and security council. what do we expect to hear from the president? >> before he heads to the u.n., of course, luke, he's going to speak here at the the white house. he's going to talk about the air
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strikes that were launched overnight in syria. and thyme told by a senior administration official that he's essentially not only going to announce what happened but talk about the importance of the international coalition. the fact that five arab nations joined the united states in launching those air strikes is certainly significant as he prepares to go to the u.n. and his key goal will be to broaden the international coalition. we saw these five arab nations. now what type of can commitments will he secure from european allies and then to the question of ground troops. will he get what he wants? wh is essentially some of the arab nations to put their boots on the ground. of course, as you know, luke, president obama continueses to insist there won't be u.s. troops in a combat role in iraq or syria. luke? >> arab nations helping with air strikes is one thing. ground boots would be an
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extraordinary accomplishment. kristen welker. thank you so much. we appreciate it. of course, we'll be right back at the white house as we await for president obama's first remarks since the strikes in syria were launched yesterday. much more on what's being targeted and the president's plan to gain international support at the united nations this week. aaaaaa! [popping & fizzing sounds] support both mental sharpness and physical energy with berocca. proud sponsor of mind and body. some people think vegetables are boring. but with green giant's delicious seasonings and blends, we just may change their minds. ho ho ho green giant!
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facto capitol. the targets included isis command and control, isis headquarters, logistic sites and isis training sites and troop encampments. >> we're still assessing the effectiveness of the strikes. we believe that we hit what we were aiming at. >> since august 8th the u.s. has launched a 194 air strikes against isis in iraq. when the president spoke a year ago, he fous kd on efforts to end war in iraq and afghanistan and turn the u.s. away from perpetual war footing. today he'll press world leaders to step up a new con applicant. the white house insists the coalition is partnering on strikes in syria, but it's not clear how deep the the support will be. and some lawmakers back home are not on board. here's my response from tim kaine just moments ago. ch these specific strikes in
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syria, do you feel they should have gotten their own vote? >> yes. the constitution is clear. the president always has the the ability to defend the united states against any kind of eminent tack. but as soon as the president describes, as the president described it to chub todd to go on isis against isil, if it's not just defensive but offensive, that's when congress is needed. that's what the constitution says, and i don't agree with the claims of some that the 2001 and 2002 authorizations cover this military action. >> joining me now, the "washington post's" ian geran and retiremented army colonel jack jacobs. first to general jacobs, a what can this air strike really accomplish? one point i made in the show that stuck out to me, there's no ground force to take advantage of what these bombs are going to
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isis. there's no northern alliance. there's no iraqi military. who can go in and fill the vacuum that the bombs are presumably leaving isis? >> well, the arabs. at the beginning of this, the president said we're going to degrade and destroy isis. well, the degrating part has begun. first round of strikes are over. we're doing bomb damage assessment. there may be a number of isis forces scattered as a result of the strikes. and there are secondary tarkt lists. but as far as destroying isis is concerned, you're absolutely right. what's really required is a force on the ground. air strikes are only good to support troops on the ground so they can take advantage of the situation, cease and hold terrain and so far nobody has stepped up to the plate to do that. we've had a lot of talk about support, but actually very, very little support, and in the end,
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it's going to take an arab force on the ground to make this work. >> and obviously the administration has had a difficult month pertaining to foreign policy. facing a lot of criticism from congress and aboard. but getting five arab states, including four sunni countries to join the strikes against a sunni terrorist group is a significant accomplishment. what does this mean for the long term, and do you see the possibility that the nations could offer ground troops beyond the air power they're offering to put forward right now? >> yeah, let me break that up a bit. it is a significant diplomatic achievement to have five major arab states going at some distance with the united states. it's not yet clear exactly what military role they played. the pentagon said they participated and supported three of those countries have large, well trained air forces flying u.s. planes and receiving u.s.
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training, so presumably those countries did, in fact, fly air strike rgs. but beyond that, the second part of your question, whether or not any of those countries or others would commit ground forces, that's a much harder ask for any of those nations. just for many of the same reasons it's a hard ask for the united states. and obama has ruled it out. and thus far the ground force operation is supposed to be run by iraqi forces and syrian rebe rebels. >> colonel jacobs, i keep comparing this to the air strikes the u.s. launched against the taliban in afghanistan in 2001. they did a degent job. part of the reason they were successful is they were aided by 400 to 500 special forces troops on the ground. they provided necessary intelligence about where the leaders were at the time, what buildings were important. can the u.s. effectively carry out these types of strikes, not
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having intelligence gathering capabilities on the ground that are u.s. primarily? >> not nearly as effectively. we don't have much, if any, human intelligence. we have a lot of overhead stuff, satellites, drones and all the rest. so we can find large concentrations of isis soldiers, artillery pieces, heavy equipment, ammunition dumps, so on. but we really need human intelligence on the ground. and we don't have that. there is one thing that works to our advantage. unlike al qaeda, isis is organized. it has a chain of command easy to discern. they have command and control headquarters. those are easy to find. at least by their electronic signatures. unlike al qaeda that was fragmented everywhere, in certain respects we ought to be
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able to strike from the air much more easily than we did al qaeda. >> and ann, quickly. i'm struck after we move forward on these bombings, who fills the vacuum? there are no adequate operations there on the ground. there's no real strong government that can take back the towns for the terrorist groups. are we heading to a perpetual state of conflict? >> certainly this does insert the united states into the syrian war. we're counting on the syrian rebel forces to some degree to fill the vak yup. what's going unsaid here is that the obama administration is also, and they would never admit this, just assuming that assad is going to be able to control a good bit more of his own country, the dictator we oppose. i also want to mention the state department announced a few moments ago that it had informed syria through the u.n. of the strikes ahead of time.
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but did not coordinate with them or give them military information. >> interesting. assad will probably benefit from these strikes to some degree. let me bring in former u.s. ambassador to iraq and the united nations. the first question to you, significance of president obama authorizing these strikes ahead ofday's u.n. meeting. why would he do it the day before? >> well, unless there was something urgent that needed to be addressed, this is a good backdrop for him as he goes to this the u.n. to asks other tos help. it gives him credibility that he's serious about isis and he wants the international assistance and support. this is good for him in the u.n. >> there seems the to be this optimism within the administration that the new government in iraq can turn back
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what happened under maliki and be unified. is that wishful thinking? it seems to be a lot harder for that to occur without a real strong u u.s. presence on the ground. >> definitely it's a lot harder to do these missions that you described without the u.s. presence on the ground. no doubt about that. because with the u.s. presence, you get the intelligence. you get to know people. you can talk to them. you can help them. you know, you mentioned before the northern alliance in afghanistan. one of the things that our special forces did is to help the northern alliance fill the vacuum. besides getting intelligence and targeting directed air power. ch so ground forces are very important, but the question is is doing nothing better still?
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i think that the president selected a metal option. it has its own risks that it may not do what he wants to successfully destroy in a reasonable time frame isil or isis. but it will have its challenges. >> and quickly, your thoughts on the ability of the obama administration to put together this arab coalition. obviously significant. it's not just a solo u.s. effort or a solo u.s. and europe effort being next to arab countries. how significant is that from your time spent in the region? >> i think it's important symbolically. on the ground they're not going to be able to do much. the countries that are helping us are not country with a lot of ground capability. bahrain or qatar or jordan.
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politically, symbolically, it's important. the bases are very important for us to have access to. i think where they can can play a vital rope is in diplomacy, in my view. we need to start a dialogue in the region between the sunni arabs and iran about the settlement in syria. because without that settlement in syria, i think this is going to be a long-term conflict that will go on. >> ambassador, thank you so much for being on the program. we appreciate you sharing your views. >> well, thank you. >> president obama is due to speak shortly before heading to the u.n. in new york to make his case against isis. we'll bring you those comments live right here on msnbc. much more when tdr comes back in three minutes. don't go anywhere. [ breathing] [ inhales deeply ] [ sighs ] [ inhales ] [ male announcer ] at cvs health, we took a deep breath... [ inhales, exhales ] [ male announcer ] and made the decision to quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. now we invite smokers to quit, too,
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you've bgot problems in yemen ad libya and boko towns in northern nigeria. i think we'll have to get into a different rhythm and understand it's not last beyond the president, this prime minister last for a significant period of time. tony blair on morning joe this morning. he discussing the fight he believes could last a generation or more. we're live from the white house when dtr comes back. don't go anywhere.
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back now with the breaking news we've been following all morning here. we're expecting the president to speak any minute now from the white house on the syria air strikes. let me bring in nbc chris
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jansing, jose diaz-balart, and retired army colonel. we expect to hear from the president momentarily giving the public an idea what the intex of the strike was. what do we expect to hear from president obama today at the white house and the u.n.? >> well, he's going thank the men and women involved in the strikes. he's going to thank the five arab nations that took part. he said over the last couple of weeks as have others senior administration officials they wanted a couple of things. one, they want to be heading into the u.n. today with a broader coalition than the one that was formed several weeks ago at the nato summit. but also, over the last couple of days they said when the syrian strikes happened, they didn't want to go at it alone. this is an unprecedented coalition, the five nations. it allows them essentially some cover. so the headlines aren't about the u.s. going against a muslim country but a cooperative effort. it also sends a message that the president wants to really hit
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while he's here that this is an international threat. yes, the u.s. is threatened, europe is threatened, isis is a threat around the world and the world is uniting and is at war with isis. >> chris jansing. thank you so much. jose diaz-balart will have the president's comments in your hour. you'll chew on a lot during your hour. one thing that stuck out to me, there is the u.s. attacking syria with air strikes but there's no force on the ground that can take advantage of the push back on isis done by these air strikes. we had ambassador on who said it's the obama middle option. not necessarily avoiding the conflict completely but not going all in. do you think has this prolonged it gets more and more prolonged can the president continue on
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the middle option there's not a real adequate u.s. ground presence and continue with the air strikes? it's a key question, luke. if you're one of the isis people in iraq and just had tons of explosives blow up in and around where you are. this is a very substantial attack against the infrastructure of this terrorist group that is based primarily in syria. the question remains the long-term plan on how to deal with the remnants of the organization. let's not underestimate what happens overnight in syria. it was a massive campaign, and i think that isis got the message that this is not just pinprick operations. this is a very clear war against this terrorist organization. >> yeah. i think it's one official said it was shock without the complete ah. more in your hour coming up shortly.
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i want to go to colonel jack jacobs. e lab on what we were talking about. the long-term plan. how effective can air strikes be if there's no ground force in taking advantage the air strikes put forward upon isis. >> not effective. over the long-term. at the end of the day, air strikes indirect fire like artillery and similar forces are only good inforce they support troops on the ground to season hold objectives. i've been in a lot of combat and i've never seen a circumstances in which air strikes alone are any good. you have to have somebody on the ground to grab terrain and hold it and defend the terrain against isis or any other aggressor when it pops up. this is not in the plan. without a ground force, an arab ground force, as a matter of fact, i don't see how it's going to succeed over the long-term. >> what do you do over the long-term? we can just bomb the living
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daylights out of them. we don't have the intelligence gathering on the ground. we know it's a prolonged air campaign. obviously the administration deserves credit for getting sunni arab nations to be a part. they don't show a real willingness to put their forces on the ground. we had the ambassador on the show earlier and he said they probably wouldn't be that effective. >> we have to increase the diplomatic effort to make sure our allies are involved. you know, you show a whole series of flags that demonstrate who is involved. i'll tell you who is not involved. turkey our biggest ally in the region. a nato ally. they're not on the list to support. >> they will be a country to certainly keep a fresh eye at us. thank you so much. that does it for the daily run down. stay tuned for the president's comments expected at 10:00 a.m. jose diaz-balart is up next.
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>> thank you so much. we have live images of the white house. you see the helicopter, marine 1, waiting to take the president to new york where he's going to be at the united nations. we're expecting to hear from the president any second now on a major escalation of the fight against isis for the first time the u.s. zeroed in on isis targets in syria. from the sea and from the air. more than 20 targets inside syria were struck by u.s. war planes and tom hawk missiles overnight. and for the first time, arab allies in the region. take a look at these countries.
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saudi arabia, jordan, qatar, united arab em rates, and bahrain, they played a role in these attacks on isis. we're waiting to hear from the president at any moment who is expected to speak for about five to seven minutes and could take a question or two. he will then leave the white house, head to new york where he will be giving a high stakes coalition building speech before the u.n. security council. that is going to happen tomorrow morning. i want to start with nbc ayman mohyeldin who has been closely following the developing with isis and the attacks come nearly two weeks, ayman, after of the president authorized air strikes in syria. this is significant. >> absolutely. i think on one hand, it's not surprised a lot of people who are anticipating this. obviously the u.s. had been forewarning it was going to take the actions. a lot of indicators on the ground suggested such as well. but more importantly i think now there are at lot of questions as to what happens next. and this strike, the strikes