. >>> joining me for more on all of this, barry mccaffrey, msnbc military analyst and former u.s. ambassador to iraq, chris hill joining us from denver. ambassador, first to you, let me ask you about where are the allies? we saw the president was just now on the phone within the last hour with jordan's king abdullah, probably to reassure him, but this is a situation where we haven't heard from the saudis. we don't have any other air forces going in. where is the coalition here? >> well, there's been a resounding silence on the issue of this sunni extremist group. and i'm not sure that's going to change as long as their targets are shia. arab shia on the one hand and kurds on the other. so i think for the time being it's going to be a fairly lonely fight, but i think it's worth making because i think if the perception among the kurds were that the u.s. didn't come to their help, i think that would change a lot of equations starting with the fact that the kurds have not gone ahead with independence, largely because the u.s. didn't want them to. and i think that has been the major fa

barry mccaffrey, nbc news analyst, former retired general, thank you both very much.e right back with more coverage, the yuu.s. back in ir on a very limited basis. but is this the beginning of what's likely to have to be more efforts to roll back isis? we'll be right back with continuing coverage. and schedule service by top-rated providers, conveniently stay up-to-date on progress, and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with the angie's list mobile app. visit angieslist.com today. yeah? then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. silence. are you in good hands? silence. and for many, it's a struggle to keep your a1c down. so imagine, what if there was a new class of medicine that works differently to lower blood sugar? imagine, loving your numbers. introducing once-daily invokana®. it's the first of a new kind of prescription medicine that's used along with diet and exercise to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. invokana® is a once-daily pill t

barry mccaffrey joins us, four-star general. welcome to you both.this now the beginning of an air strike campaign by the u.s. against the islamic state? and if so, how long does it last and how wide is it? >> those are all appropriate questions. we have to define the military objectives of this campaign. if it's to stop humanitarian violations, all this implies an extended powerful usair campaign. i don't think it's going to happen. >> you don't think it's going to happen. >> no. we don't have significant military power in the area. it's unlikely the turks or the saudis or even the iraqis, for that matter, will allow a significant u.s. military movement in the country. there's probably one carrier battle group out there launching pinpoint strikes against what is largely a dismounted jihadist murderous threat. we have to support the kurdish people to defend their own interests. >> tom sanderson, am i long that the kurdish people were looking for more reinforcement from baghdad and didn't get it? >> well, they're not often looking for more from baghda

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. >>> let's bring in retired four-star general barry mccaffrey, also nbc news national security analyst and former director of the national counter terrorism center michael lighter. thank you for joining me. general, what is your assessment of today's air strikes? i understand he has lost his ability to hear us at the moment. right now we work on the technicality. what is your assessment, michael? >> this is a very small tactical incident what is going to have to be a broader strategic effort in the region. really, for the past two years, we've known that isis was a huge threat and there was a huge threat of the syrian civil war spilling over into iraq. that happened. we saw it several months ago with the initial incursion. we ahave one of the closest allies under direct attack. this initial strike very, very small pinprick. what i think the white house has to generate now is a broader strategy. not just to protect what is going on in erbil but to roll back isis toward the border and defuse what has become a regional civil war. >> i understand the general has the ability to hear us now.

. >> bring in retired four-star army general barry mccaffrey. welcome. >> good to be with you. >> your reaction out of this news out of the uk today? >> i think the europeans and the united states have in the long term, let's say the next five years, an extremely high probability of facing attacks from spinoffs from isis. it's not just 500 brits. and yesterday the british daily telegraph reported on australian terrorists, a son holding up a severed head. we'll have a lot of these characters out moving in the international transportation system. we're going to have to sort out how in accordance with the law are we going to deal with them. so i'm actually pretty proud of what the brits have done, at least stepping up to it publicly saying we've got a strategy and we're going to take action. >> what about what we should do here forward, general? you heard what the president said yesterday. certainly taking a lot of heat for this "no strategy "a comment, though i'm sure he'd like to have those words back. what should our strat yi egy be? >> part mp

retired four-star general barry mccaffrey is an nbc military analyst.nd patrick murphy, the first veteran of the iraq war to serve in congress. he's also an msnbc contributor. thank you, both, for being here. general mccaffrey, i'm going to start with you. josh marshall asked this question about the kurdish army in the north. for years we've been told that the peshmerga was a highly disciplined and fairly fearsome fighting force. is possible that the peshmerga were never the force they were made out to be? >> i must admit i was also astonished at the rapidity of which they fell apart in defending some of these peripheral areas. i don't think they wanted to fight to protect some of these religious minorities. they should fight and die to protect irbil. that will be the question. the other part of it is, though, we clearly are seeing isis with large quantities of captured u.s. armor, artillery, et set ra -- et cetera. we should have been and should now support kurdish ability to defend themselves. not u.s. air strikes but their ability to defend themselve

let's bring in barry mccaffrey this morning.>> morning. >> the president said i ran office bringing troops home, but what brings a long-term reversal in that staps? >> well, toy don't think we'll be involved in great extent in the middle east, certainly not with ground forces. right now, i think the president is thrashing around using minor military power as a political gesture. last night, we had three aircraft drop food and water to 50,000 refugees. today, two navy aircraft drop four bombs. you know, this is not decisive use of military power, not on the ground in the area. i don't think we know what we're doing. >> i'm sorry, you don't think we know what we're doing? >> no. i don't think we got a, you know, an octoberive that we've written down, what is the purpose, and we go to the pentagon, interviews this morning were with the white house national security adviser. where was the joint commander with the mission? turkey's not going to spot sore u.s. air power attacking targets in a region. i doubt kuwait is. we don't have a

let me bring in nbc news military analyst four-star army generally barry mccaffrey.or joining us. isis is threatingen to kill another american journalist if u.s. strikes in iraq continue. there is no leveraging here with this. but obviously it seems that these latest air strikes decimated eye ice in many ways to resulted to killing someone who has been held for two years. >> no question the hostages were valuable to them. there may be as many as 20 journalists missing in syria. as ayman said, some may have been kidnapped for randsome and sold to other terrorist groups. we have a problem. these very courageous journalists are in there. the freelance journalists who aren't backed up like a larger organization like richard engel was. we have a problem. fortunately the obama administration dialled up the pressure considerably. we're flying a lot of material into the kurds now to help give them the weapons to defend themselves, and the air strikes now some 70 odd strikes have run their captured armor off the road to irbil. things are moving in the right direction. now her

we begin with barry mccaffrey. he joins us by phone.re getting in the details attempting to learn more. again, the u.s. defense and military officials confirming a u.s. army major general, a two-star general was killed in this insider attack. what can you tell us? >> these attacks had a dramatic reduction last year after we put in place very rigorous guidelines guideline s. a lot of them tended to clean out the taliban in the afghan services. this is a major blow to corrosive impact on the dwindling sense of trust that the u.s. armed forces and nato officials will have in the afghan security units. >> they were meeting at the national defense university in kabul when suddenly the gunman, wearing an afghan military uniform sprayed the gathering with automatics weapons fire. unconfirmed reports saying as many as two were killed. these insider attacks reached a peak in 2012, i believe, it's around 38 attacks have taken place. 53 deaths. coalition forces resulting in that. but in 2013, we saw the number decrease. still, the significant 16 d

just last hour nbc military analyst general barry mccaffrey was extremely critical of what he saw as weak approach by the white house. >> last night three aircraft dropped food and water to 50,000 refugees. today we had two navy aircraft drop four bombs. you know, this is not decisive use of military power. we're not on the ground in the area. i don't think we know what we're doing. >> not the harshest things he said, you know, you conducted the interview. >> yeah. obviously a lot of discussion on twitter how generals in some people's view want to see boots on the ground by default. he was at least critical the major policy outlines are not well drawn. michelle? >> i think that's his point. what exactly are we trying to achieve at this point? one of the unanswered questions is, is there a plan for getting those refugees off the mountaintop? right now the plan seems to be bring them food and water. how do you get them out of there when the militants twol the roadway to them and find them safe passage? sounds like a very complicated operation. >> yes. keep our eye on it. michelle, than

. >> joining me now, barry mccaffrey who served as division commander.welcome, sir, do you think two brigades on the ground would do it? is that what you would do? >> tony zini is one of the most effective officers i've met. there are zero possibility of us putting two brigades in iraq and carrying out this action. i'm sympathetic to the president's caution on this whole issue. the fact he blurted out the truth and said we don't yet have a comprehensive long-term strategy may have been bad politics but reassuring they're thinking through what they're trying to do. our principle concern out of isis is foreign fighters going back to europe, the united states, australia customs and border protection the national security agency not u.s. air power. >> look you sir, you know the military strategy of these things and you know what the politics is. he is getting heat, i'm talking about the president here from both sides as being too cautious. on the heals of that, how much does that play into and should it play into what he decides to do ultimately? >> well it'

joining me with more, barry mccaffrey, msnbc military analyst who served as a division commander in theq war. the president has described this mission as protecting u.s. diplomats and ending the siege on sinjar. this operation we're talking about today that doesn't seem to fit either of those objectives. so is this an escalation? >> i think it's a useful objective to try and support kurdish ground forces which we have inadequately supported with military equipment and training and money to retake a very crucial objective. so i'm all for it. u.s. air power will be of some assistance, but, you know, at the end of the day, again, you've got to equip the kurds to defend themselves and defend their own interests. you can't free a dam with a carrier battle group operating out in the persian gulf. >> if we combine this high-powered u.s. air power, the kurdish peshmerga and more military aid, can isis be eradicated? >> well, certainly not focusing on the mosul dam. at the end of the day, we've got to know what is the objective we're trying to achieve. i fear right now our primary objective is h

joining me now, retired four star general barry mccaffrey.aid these limited air strikes are going to have little impact and are not going to prevent genocide. why is that? >> boy, that guest you had on earlier seems to me is dead on target besides being well informed. the proverbial joke about you can't be half pregnant. if we're going after isis, you have to go after the entire network at the same time. and not just with air power, with other allies, the turks, the iraqis, and i don't think we've done that. the notion you can pick out discrete targets in the city of erbil is unlikely to be significant. you cannot deliver humanitarian aid to 200,000 refugees with a couple of air drop supplies. so we've got to get involved in a significant way. >> the president, as you know, sir, vowed not to put american combat troops back on the ground in iraq. do you envision any scenario with u.s. troops on the ground? >> well, certainly not politically. i think it would be suicide for the administration to even consider that. but you know the bottom line

also barry mccaffrey and our terrorism analyst evan coleman in studio with me.frey, let me start with you. what do you think, was this the best of a lot of bad options? >> to be fair to the administration, there's almost no good options on hand. when you strike isis, you're striking against the force that's murdconfronted assad. having said that, evan coleman in the last interview i listened to on msnbc had it dead-on correct. if you're going to choose military force against isis, you have to go after the network at the same time. and not just with f.a. 18s. got to help our surrogates go after them. primarily, that would mean arm the kurds and let them defend themselves. so i think these are political gestures, the current military options and we need to write down our purpose, what are we trying to achieve? >> what are we? let me bring you in. evan coleman, excuse me. chris jansing will join me in a second. evan, to his point there, the president stated the goals of this is a humanitarian effort. we're trying to avert disaster and also trying to protect america

joining us is general barry mccaffrey, president of mccaffrey and associates and military analyst atsnbc. >> good morning. >> what do you think? are we going to do something in syria or not? thursday night the head of the joint -- dempsey made it sound like we were going to do something in syria for sure. bombings. and then yesterday on a plane with journalists he walked everything back. what do you think is going to happen here? >> well, i think they've -- they came -- walked up to the edge. they know they could go after targets of seized you armor vehicles that were abandoned by the iraqi army. now many of them are in syria and being used against both the syrian armed forces as well as the iraqis. but i think they've decided to think about it. dempsey clearly said en route to afghanistan they don't now see an active threat against the united states. which probably is correct assessment. this is a regional ethnic and religious war so far. >> colonel jack jacobs when he was on last hour suggested that perhaps dempsey had gotten yelled at by the administration for sounding so hawkish

to talk about it more let's bring in nbc news military analyst, retired general barry mccaffrey. first i have to ask you what are you thoughts about the tragedy in afghanistan? >> a huge loss, very talented officer, phd in political science, one of our real technical experts. remember this comes on top of 22,000 plus killed and wounded in afghanistan. there's been a pretty bloody conflict. i think the lack of transparency in reporting these insider attacks is something we ought to be concerned about. we're only talking about the ones that result in u.s. killed by the insider attacks. there are many more than this actually occurring. a huge chasm of trust opening up between the afghan security forces and the nato forces. >> so tell us what we're not hearing. why are these attacks being swept under the table? >> i think a lot of it, of course, is just an understandable feeling and a part of the isap nato headquarters. they don't want to accentuate the growing insecurity throughout the country. the reason i make a point of this, joe, looking forward, 10,000 troops spread out in smal