that's what we asked retired colonel jack jacobs today. >> the original plan was to increase the size of the american footprint in afghanistan to 68 thousand troop, but general mcchrystal who runs the operation in afghanistan has already said he knows that's not going to be enough. there are two run rns why our casual tirs higher, we're actively engaged in searching out the enemy and trying to destroy him but also the an my is actively searching us out, too. frequently our engagements are at the squad and platoon level, maybe 10 to 40 troops. they're not large-scale engagements with hundreds of thousands of enemy for, the kind we saw in the early days of the war in wrauk. iraq. they're small engagements from the standpoint of the number of troops involved but they're extremely violent. they last a long time, lot of casualties are taken on both sides. we have better weapon, we have better resupply but the enemy has the advantage in the intelligence, they know the terrain very well, much better than we do, they've been there a long time and in some areas they have the support of the pop

colonel jack jacob is here to discuss the protocol u.s. ry follows when it's attacked by pirates. colonel jacobs, why did we not return fire when the pirates sitting on a taiwanese ship they hijacked fired. >> the answer, the someone he's ship. one of the reasons we don't fire back, we don't want to cause any harm to the ship which doesn't belong us and we certainly don't want to endanger the lives of the crew. the rules of engagement look something like this. we will not fire back unless there is an imminent threat to our own crew for them to be either killed or captured. so we just stay away. >> what's the likelihood these pirates have sophisticated enough weapons it could be hit the helicopter and could have done damage, even taken the helicopter out of the sky. >> the range between the helicopter and pirate ship was about 3,000 meters. it sounds like it's a long way but for large caliber aircraft weapons that's not far enough to stay out of danger. the possibility is, it's entirely possible the aircraft could have been taken down. very

colonel jack jacobs, we'll see if that happens. thank you very much.o weigh in later. in for the latest with what's happening in afghanistan, check out msnbc.com. >>> soon, jon and indicate plus eight can get bigger. fans are waiting the new episode. a lot going on with gosselin gang, especially with jon he's been to europe and taken on as many as two girlfriends. could we see his girlfriends on the show? the latest on kate? "in touch's" senior editor, tom o'neal. >> not your favorite story. >> i cannot stand this story. although i will say this drama is making it just for than watching the demise of a bad marriage, which i could not stand watching on television. how do you think this new drama's going to show up on tv? >> all we know is that the iconic couch is done that we used to see the marriage disinvolsolve in, they're in see chairs not in the same place at same time, see them parentally separately. the big question, the remain, how much of the shenanigans will get on the show. so far they're saying none but leaving the door openen. >>> the show'

joining us here at our headquartered is retired army colonel and military analyst jack jacobs.to you. failed to heed warnings? i mean is that being put out there? can you imagine three american tourists cruising along the iraq/iran border and thinking, yeah, i'm not going to heed the warnings? >> well, iran said they didn't heed warnings and that they gave them warnings. they were actually warned when they were in the kurdish area that borders up near sulaymaniyah that they'd have to be very, very careful, the border is indistinct. the terrain is beautiful. quite a few tourists go up there and the place is extremely quiet and safe because the kurds control it. but they were warned by the kurds to be careful of straying across the border, which is ill-defined. >> is it an area that's known for its hiking? >> yeah. believe it or not. i don't think you hear about a lot of people who like to go on a holiday in iraq. but it's a popular tourist destination up there. because it is beautiful and it is very safe. but, don't go across the border. >> again you're saying it's a rather nebu

joining us here retired army colonel and military analyst jack jacobs.morning to you. >> good morning, alex. >> what's the likelihood that the prot is going to approve more troops? >> the word is the white house has no interest in approving more combat troops at least publicly. the fact is mcchris as tystal hd for more troops. he's going to need more troops if he wants to accomplish the mission. there's going to be tension between them. the white house making political decisions and the defense department having to make practical decisions. the defense department is going to ultimately win. they're going to have to send more troops if they're going to accomplish their mission. >> where is he going to get the troops from? >> there's lots of troops in iraq. the president made a big deal in the campaign about reducing our footprint in iraq, indeed with drawing. so some of the troops are going to have to come from there. we're really stretched thinly. there's less going on, less combat going on for american troops in iraq for a moment. some of the come bad t

joining us now, jack jacobs. good morning to you.e was considered pakistan's most wanted man, was he not? >> he definitely was. about 30 years old. >> just 30? with all that to his credit? >> unusual in an area like that being elderly and having a great deal of experience is revered. a young guy got a bunch of tribes together to support him and the most feared man in pakistan. a top commander. perhaps the top commander in the taliban and pakistan and a big get. what's really important is not so much that he was killed but the fact that we were able to generate the intelligence to pinpoint where he was. that's something new that we're getting information not just from satellites and drones and also information from the ground that shows what you can do when you have good human contacts on the ground to get the required information. >> presumably just because he is dead although we should say that has to be confirmed by the united states at this point, they've not found his body quite yet, they expect him to be dead, it doesn't mean th

joining us here in studio, retired army colonel and military analyst jack jacobs. and colonel, another good morning to you. he's already said i'll give you 68,000. how likely is it he'll approve even more? >> right away, probably not. because it's going to be something of a public relations disaster. to admit publicly that 68,000 is not enough. but eventually he's going to have to get the troops he's asking for, because i don't think that they can accomplish -- he can accomplish the mission, and i think general petraeus, his boss, also doesn't think that the mission can be accomplished in afghanistan without additional troops. and probably a lot of additional troops. >> okay. a lot of additional troops. where do they come from? is it iraq? or is it home? or where? >> i think it's going to be iraq. a lot of them are probably going to come from iraq. we rotate units around. i think some of the units in iraq that have been there only a relatively short period of time, and therefore have maybe a year or so or nine months left on their deployment, those from probably go

joining me now, jack jacobs. let me ask about u.s. strategy.the outcome of the election, will there be a change in u.s. strategy? >> i doubt it. i think the strategic change has already taken place with the installation of stan mccrystal. a proven commander who's done well in conventional war. isolating areas and empowering local chieftons. overall, we're going to be fighting a nation-building exercise. the general has asked for more troops. the likelihood is he's not going to get them. he's got about 60,000. i think he wants another 10,000. i bet you he'd tell you he wants 100,000, but he's not going to get them. >> when you ask leaders here in the united states about nation-building, the general consensus is it something we shouldn't be involved in. we're realizing that to win a war on terror, you do have to nation build. how do you do that when the taliban is willing to go out and kill civilians to make a point? >> you asked the question, what's the taliban's strategy and their strategy is to hang back, wait until the united states gets tire

. >> all right, jack jacobs joins us now. we were hearing strange voices on the feed. but your thoughts, the first person killed in the 1991 gulf war. he was shot down. the mystery of course for so many years as to what happened to him and now, every indication was that he was killed shortly after he was short down perhaps on impact and now that we have the remains, they're coming back some 18 years later. your thoughts? >> the first thing is we don't realize how long ago it was. it was 1991. almost 20 years ago and the time just goes by. we've had yet another war in the same region again since then. the other interesting thing that comes to mind is the whole question about whether or not the navy and defense department had done enough to find his remains. at the time that he was shot down, he was flying over 550 miles an hour and that he was probably shot down with an air to air missile from the mig, which meant that the aircraft was almost instantly destroyed. and the aircraft was thrown way off course and he probably pulled something like six or seven gs when he was

we'll have more on the ongoing situation in afghanistan later on this hour and talk to cornell jack jacobs. stay tuned for that. >>> we have new details on that midair crash between a small plane and helicopter over the hudson river in new york city. two air traffic controllers have now been suspended for their behavior last saturday. of course the day of the disaster that killed nine people. the faa says one of the controllers was on a personal phone call at the time. the associated president says he was reportedly talking about a dead cat found on the ground of the teterboro airport. and the supervisor wasn't president because he had left to run an errand. still, the head of the ntsb says it's too early to say if air traffic control is responsible. >>> at this hour, hundreds of firefighters in northern california continue to battle several raging wildfires there. already some 5,000 acres burned in the santa cruz mountains outside of san francisco. and today officials fear the strong winds could bring the flames dangerously close to some more populated areas. we're going out to michael ok

joining us is msnbc analyst and medal of honor recipient retired colonel jack jacobs.for joining us. you have a spokesperson trying to clear up the general's remarks saying it's an aggressive enemy launching complex attacks. who do we make of the clarification and what these troops are facing now? >> well, the statement by general mcchrystal that things are not going all that well hit a very difficult chord and everybody feels like he's got to backtrack on it, but the fact of the matter is there is an insufficient number of troops, and general mcchrystal himself has said he's going to need more troops. insufficient number of troops to take care of this large area with lots of taliban. there are like 10,000 to 20,000 taliban. when we go into an area, insufficient number of troops in order to stay there and keep after them. taliban then moves to other areas and makes life difficult for our troops in other areas. we need more troops, and it's not enough just to say we're going to send 68,000, which is currently what's slated. i think that general mcchrystal will want at l

. >> i want to bring in jack jacobs, msnbc military analyst, washington post, jonathan capehart alongake a look at this live piracy map. such a thing exists and we have images of it. it shows both current ships that are potential pirate ships and recent pirate events. so if you've ever been to some of these natural history museums that show you where earthquakes were on the either, this is sort of the same thing, but with pirates, jack. and you have watched other countries deal with piracy far more effect ily than the u.s. is able to deal with it at this point. >> israel had a very big problem with palestinians rowing ashore in the eastern mediterranean on boats and assaulting towns nearby. and i happened to be in israel some years ago and was talking to the defense minister at the time, and he said he stopped all that. i said, how did you do it? he said, do you see these patrol boats? we send them out into an sclusary zone off our shores and any ship that is in that region, sink. no questions asked. >> effectively, you create a no-fly zone. like if it's over a military base and you b

. >> jack jacobs, we learned yesterday that you teach now at the school that is rated the best in america like to say, the reason is that i'm up there. but that's not the reason. it's number one in spite of my being up there. great fun. teaching young kids. i learned, and i can demonstrate to everybody, that young soldiers get to meet old soldiers. >> exactly. mike, you've got a big day ahead of you. you're going to put on your sunglasses, your track suit, your hat. walk around central park and chase women. >> i've learned that once again, willie has been unable to reach the inner punk within him, also, that little boys can grow up to be young men who continuely make you proud. >>> have a great weekend. william, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." it's time now for dylan rand th morning meeting. >>> health care town halls turn violent. is this what they call democracy in action or is this just a violent mob? good morning. we're looking at what's behind all of these protests on both the conversation on the right, left and right and wrong. >>> and rush limbaugh co

. >> looks like colonel jack jacobs. how old is he?ably 53. >> he's an adventure man. >> kgb guy. >> we love building implosions. it's up if to watch. this is turkey. this is a flower factory. >> no! >> and then it rolls over. just poor execution. >> no one was killed in the making of that. >> that's unbelievable. >> what you want to do is put the charges in the bottom of the building and have it fall on its footprint not topple over. >> can we see that again? that would have never happened. >> the full revolution on the top. >>> it's the top of the hour. it was quite an eventful weekend. timothy geithner and larry summers going on the sunday shows, not closing the door to new taxes for the middle class. the two economic wizards for the obama administration also telling us happy days are here again. in "the washington post" lee on panetta telling democrats and republicans alike that when it comes to the pesky cia programs it is time to move on. we're going to be talking about that and much more. first, here is willie geist. he's got th