this is james baker's 28th appearance on the program. remarkably, i'm the 11th "meet the press" moderator to interview you. secretary baker, thanks for coming on this morning. >> a pleasure to be with you. >> let me start with this. the president's plan. is it the right plan? >> it's the president's plan. so it better be the right plan. it's got some problems with it. your panel was just talking about some of those. the biggest, of course, is who are our quote partners on the ground that the president referred to in his speech. i don't know where they come from. when we did this in 1991, that is built a coalition to accomplish something in the middle east -- >> 200,000 troops? >> 500,000. we put -- we had 500,000 u.s. troops. >> and you had an additional -- >> for desert storm and we had thousands of troops from other countries. there wasn't any question about our resolve on the part of those people who were trying to bring into the coalition. but everybody tells me -- and i'm not -- i was in the marine corps but i'm not a military expert

james baker did not seem particularly confident in this coalition which came forth formally. i guess i wonder what you think that might look like. it seems like it's very important for obvious reasons for the u.s. to have some arab nations sign on. you played the role of pes mist and optimist. now where are you on the coalition being meaningful enough to actually change the situation in the long term? >> i'm pessimistic and i think the key factor here is ground troops. essentially this is like what happened in pakistan and yemen. it will be air strikes, drone strikes. isis may be underestimating it. that will slow down their operations. but we saw the same thing in pakistan and other countries. if you don't have ground forces, essentially drones create a stalemate where we're not able to completely eliminate the forces on the ground and they're not able to carry out as much attacks as they want. without a much stronger iraqi military or some ground forces and the big question is syria, you're not going to see much happen here. the u.s. will report strikes but i don't think mu

. >> james baker, the man who built the allianc that forced hussein out of kuwait will tell me if he thinks president obama's plan will work. >>> hillary clinton visits iowa today. many see it as day one of her campaign. >> i am looking for someone a little bit mre liberal. >> is she really as much of a sure thing as some people think? >>> the nfl in crisis. growing calls for roger goodell to resign over his handling of the ray rice case. how big a problem is domestic violence in this country? >>> what everyone in washington knows but is afraid to say. i'm chuck todd. joining me to provide insight and analysis are mike murphy, helene cooper, nia-malika henders henderson and jim vandehei. welcome to "meet the press." >>> good sunday morning. isis response to president obama was savage and depressingly predictable. yesterday they released a video showing the killing of british aid worker david haines. earlier this week the president used a prime time address to reassure a fearful american public that he is taking this threat posed by isis as seriously as they are. he has promised not t

[applause] >> it is now my honor to introduce the honorable james a. baker, iii, the 61st secretary of state. mr. secretary. >> thank you very much, pat. ladies and gentlemen, washington, of course, is blessed with museums and memorials that are dedicate todd a broad array of topics that have shaped the history of this great nation. museums of artnd the jewish holocaust and our news industry they are memorials that preserve the history of the brave men and women who fought in the two major wars and other major conflicts. there are testaments to george washington, thomas jefferson, to abraham lincoln and to other americans who helped make this nation great. until now, there hasn't been a center dedicated to one of the most important aspects of our state. that's diplomacy and to the diplomats who practiced it over the centuries. since the days of our founding the united states has been blessed by diplomacy. it allowed us to strike the treaty of paris. diplomacy that made possible the louisiana purchase. diplomacy that formulated the marshall plan and made sure

. >> on "meet the press," former secretary of state james baker said despite the president's pledge of no boots on the ground, some u.s. forces are needed. >> i'm afraid to say what i think it will be. it will be u.s. special ops forces and people like that on the ground. >> a growing threat yet again claiming another innocent life. >> unfortunately it was not in our hands, it was not in the hands of the government. it was in the hands of terrorists. >> a new nbc news wall street journal annenberg poll show while many americas support the president's decision to take action, 68% lack confidence they can take out the group. kerry will meet at an international conference focused on the isis threat. >>> and the president pledged this past week to step up the fight against isis and that means stepping into another conflict in battle-scarred syria. isis is one of the dangers of competing aims and alliances, locked in one of this planet's bloodiest wars. bill neely is there tonight with this report. >> reporter: syrian troops battling rebels who threaten the capital damascus. they have overw

[applause] >> it is now my honor to introduce the honorable james a. baker iii, the 61st secretary of state. mr. secretary. [applause] >> thank you very much, pat. ladies and gentlemen, washington, of course, is blessed with museums and memorials that are dedicated to a broad array of topics that have helped shape the history of this great nation. there are museums of american art, the jewish holocaust and our news industry. there are memorials that preserve the memory of the brave men and women who fought in the two world wars, the vietnam war and other major conflicts. and, of course, there are testaments to george washington, to thomas jefferson, to abraham lincoln and to other americans who helped make this nation great. but until now there hasn't been a center dedicated to one of the most important aspects of our nation-state, and that's its diplomacy and the diplomats who have practiced it over the centuries. since the days of our found toking, the united states -- founding, the united states has really been blessed by adroit diplomacy. it was, after a

. >> james baker, the man who built the allianc that forced hussein out of kuwait will tell me if he president obama's plan will work. >>> hillary clinton visits iowa today. many see it as day one of her campaign. >> i am looking for someone a little bit mre liberal. >> is she really as much of a sure thing as some people think? >>> the nfl in crisis. growing calls for roger goodell to resign over his handling of the ray rice case. how big a problem is

james baker, we go to the united nations, get a resolution authorizing the use of force. we build two coalitions, one with the islamic countries. we were able to get the turkish base to say operate, cooperation in the area. you saw the whole of government involved, a strategy that wasn't just the military piece of this. you saw a strategy that brought in diplomacy, cooperation, the ability to get international legitimacy. >> you think that's one of the issues now, we around getting the saudis and others to do as much as you think they should he? >> i just saw a release from the ambassador from the united states to saying willing to stand up and be part of a coalition. it's our job to structure this. i go back to desert storm, desert shield, where we structured, helped structure it. they need international support, legitimacy, a u.n. resolution gives them that. they need to know the world is with them. they need to understand the plan, what the strategy is, what we're trying to do. these countries have seen us stand up to iran, they join us and then see us back off, draw a

difference between the 1991 gulf war coalition that i got to see a symbol from the back of secretary james baker's airplane. obama has differences from george h.w. bush and his predecessors -- that is they were still dealing with hard states, solid states. so much of what president obama is dealing with our states that have come unstuck. so, you are just required to lead them in the right direction. there is an element of having to build their coherence. that is where -- i think that why this is a defining moment is that we are basically seeing the in -- the end of the ottoman empire. this is a region that is a pluralistic region, that is made up of many different communities, sects, and tribes. it has been managed by the ottoman empire, british, french, kings and dictators. the pluralistic nature has been managed by the top down with iron fists. the situation we are in right now, no british and french, fewer and fewer kings and dictators. the region can no longer be been managed vertically from the top down. it can be managed horizontally by the constituent communities on how to structure their o

. >> james baker, the man who built the aiance that forced hussein out of kuwait will tell me if he thinksbama's plan will work. >>> hillary clinton visits iowa today. many see it as day one of her campaign. >> i am looking for someone a little bit mre liberal. >> is she really as much of a sure thing as some people think? >>> the nfl in crisis. growing

>> well i think between president bush 41 and secretary of state james baker they did a fantastic political job building and keeping the coalition together. it started being able to define very precisely what your objective was, and what you were prepared to do to carry it out. in that case it was removing saddam hussein's forces from kuwait, liberating kuwait and we had a coalition that they put together that spanned really all over the world. but it takes a president who is willing to spend an awful lot of time on it at the state department, the careerist used to call president bush 41, the mad dialer, because he was always on the phone and he produced results. so if we had a president doing that i think we would be in different shape potentially. shannon: looking at what we are now facing with isis and now these elevated estimates of how many thousands of fighters they have spread across that region, what kind of coalition do we need to come together? if we're going to say, hey, we'll supply the air support but we're going to enable and equip and help others on the ground, you know, who

. >> james baker, the man who built the alliance that forced hussein out of kuwait will tell me if het obama's plan will work. >>> hillary clinton visits iowa today. many see it as day one of her campaign. >> i am looking for someone a little bit more liberal. >> is she really as much of a sure thing as some people think? >>> the nfl in crisis. growing calls for roger good

. >> james baker, the man who built the alliance that forced hussein out of kuwait will tell me if he. >>> hillary clinton visits iowa today. many see it as day one of her campaign. >> i am looking for someone a little bit more liberal. >> is she really as much of a sure thing as some people think? >>> the nfl in crisis. growing calls for roger goodell to resign over his handling of the ray rice case. how big a problem is

gathering for a groundbreaking of a diplomatic center for all of the former secretaries of state, james baker in the first gulf war for bush 41, henry kissinger, hillary clinton. maybe he could get some advice from former foreign secretaries. there's a live picture now of some of the former colleagues, ex-secretaries of state all gathered around. it's a bipartisan club and you'd be surprised at some of the very close friendships across party lines because they've all experienced the same thing. trying to be a foreign minister for a president, a commander in chief who often has a different view of foreign policy. thanks so much to michael leiter. we'll be bringing you more later. >>> first, a love story. nancy writebol and her husband david sharing their story publicly. dr. nancy snyderman is joining us next, right here. >> i am so very thankful that this beautiful woman is still with me. she is -- she's the best part of my life and i told her so many times and continue to tell her, she is the most beautiful woman i know. this is holly. her long day of outdoor adventure starts with knee pain.

. >> james baker, the man who built the alliance that forced hussein out of kuwait will tell me if heesident obama's plan will work. >>> hillary clinton visits iowa today. many see it as day one of her campaign. >> i am looking for someone a little bit more liberal. >> is she really as much of a sure thing as some people think? >>> the nfl in crisis. growing

but what's more important is to express the strategy, president hw bush, james baker we get a agreement authorizing the use of force, working with general schwart schwartz kopf. you saw the whole of government involved, not just the military piece of this. you saw a strategy that brought into diplomacy, cooperation, the ability to get international legitimacy, that's what i don't see now. >> that we're not getting the partners, the saudis, the qataris,. >> standing up and being part of a coalition, it is our job we are the natural leaders to structure this. again i go back to the time of desert storm desert shield where we helped structure it. they need international support and legitimacy. they need to know the world is with them. they need to understand what the plan is what the strategy is what we're trying to do. these countries have seen us stand up to iran, they join us and they see us back off. draw a red line in syria and back off. they're confused as to where we stand. >> clarity one of the big issues here, we just heard our correspondent josh rushing, say the only consistency

part of what was successful about iraq with james baker and president bush 41, they put together a lot of troops on the ground, a half million. at least they had saudis in uniform and in the skies. here we will have saudis that give us training camps and we hope to shut down the money from the monarchy. that helps finance what they are doing. america never has been safer. 61% of the country said they feel this is a real and relevant danger to the country. the problem with isis and all these organizations, no one know this is better. they can move and live on the land and get reorganized. >> it struck me how sober he was preparing for the long haul. we will see if that turns out to be a blow back. in terms that was blow back, a lot of voices getting louder and louder and briefings under way on capitol hill. based on the reaction we are seeing so far, does the white house have an uphill battle in terms of building? >> they have an uphill battle and you are looking at less than two months outside the election. there is a long standing tradition that you get behind your commander in chief.

bush with scowcroft as his national security adviser with james baker and dick cheney and powell, verytrong cabinet that really came together as a team. whatever method you choose, first of all, have a degree of expertise that is at a level anywhere, be topped some real thinkers with a lot of experience. second of all, invite in opposition voices. hear all sides. weigh them carefully. third, and maybe this is the most important, do not try to cherry pick the intelligence. the intelligence community in my experience, they will answer the question you ask. if you ask a question in a certain way, you may not get the best answer. imagine if george w. bush said to george tenet, do you think i will have the justification for this invasion, this act of war in iraq based on wmd? that might be a different answer than because george tenet said later, we never said the threat was imminent. the inspector said there was no evidence of an ongoing program and there was no evidence. but if the question is, can you give me something to base this on? then they grab at stars and they give you something -

. >> james baker -- >> i was on the air. >> -- went to syria 30 times to get the support of assad, theather. we got syria's support. this is going to take time, sean, to bring a coalition together. the military strikes, the effects of the strikes are going to take some time. >> governor, 4,000 americans died. thousands more lost limbs for the very cities that they took over in weeks. and he did nothing. i want to make another point. i don't like this president lying constantly. now they're claiming josh earnest is saying that they weren't referring to isis when they were talking about the jayvee. he was referring to isis. you know, the whole thing you like your plan, keep your plan, save money. that was a lie. i'll cut the deficit in half. that was a lie. i don't like the president. he blames a youtube video for what happened in benghazi. i don't like the president when he says there's not a smidgen of corruption with the irs. i don't like when he's not honest with us. you're an honest guy. i think you'd always tell the truth. >> look, sean, we disagree. but look, let's put all that as

secretary of state john kerry broke ground with five predecessors, including two henry kissinger, james baker works date back to the cold war. that experience surely applies today with vladimir putin orchestrating what many call an invasion of eastern ukraine, arriving in mongolia, the russian president outlined a seven-point plan to end the ukrainian conflict that he said he had written on the plane ride over and the first two points he spelled out. >> to end the active offensive operations by the armed forces and militia of the ukraine southeast, secondly, to pull back the armed units of the government of the ukraine to a region that excludes the shelling of the populated area. >> reporter: while the government in kiev had earlier touted the deal we had a long talk with president putin on the phone at 5:00 this morning. there's only one aim. how can we be against peace? pro-russian rebels quickly disowned the agreement and even the kremlin said authority to sign, it assuring the baltics and other soviet states that a robust nato presence means they will never again lose their independence.

henry kissinger, james baker, madaleine albright, colin powell, and hillary clinton joined kerry to breakcenter that will offer interactive exhibits and other educational programs. >>> coming up on abc 7 news at 4:00, the father who says he no longer wants to walk his daughter down the aisle. the reason why will touch your heart. >>> coming up, i'm still taking your questions on twitter and facebook. contact me on facebook or twitter. i'll answer your questions right here live in just a little bit. >>> i'm spencer christian from the east bay hills. the eastern sky is sunnier than yesterday, but low clouds at the coast. i'll show you what's coming our way next in my forecast in just a moment. >>> and a live look at the afternoon commute at the golden gate bridge. sunny, mostly clear skies, and traffic moving pretty nicely in both directions. back with more on if she hand breaded chicken your mom would make that was delivered right to her door. and if she had a pressure cooker in her kitchen. and if she knew the combination to the vault in kentucky where they keep colonel sanders' secret re

bush before he went to kuwait to knock out saddam, which we could have done easily on our own, james baker went to the you and and got a resolution authorizing the use of force. we built a coalition in the region of all the muslim forces to work side-by-side. we build another coalition with the british, french, even the japanese and others contributed, all because we had that the international legitimacy of the u.n. resolution. and if necessary to strike into syria and particularly at isis at would do that, too. these other pieces that need to come about in the short term. [inaudible question] >> you don't understand what i am saying training and equipping does not put back on in the military. they have to have something to fight for, if they look back at the capitol and see a corrupt government that is not responsive to the needs of the ethnic group or religious group, why will they fight despite all the training and equipment you give them? the key to make -- why do americans fight for america? you know, it is something they believe in. their is a government system, a concept, a constitu

you know, i remember, i was around, i'm that old, fs a congressman and secretary of state james baker made over 30 trips to syria to get syria to endorse our efforts, assad's father in the gulf war against saddam hussein. he got it. but it took 30 trips. we built the coalition that was very strong. but the point is there were debates in congress in the end, we came together as a country and i worry that in this time where americans are being beheaded and the national interest requires bipartisanship, that everyone seems to want to take political shots and this is not the time for that to happen. >> bill richardson, great to have you with us, we appreciate your time so much. let me bring in e.j. dionne, columnist for the "washington post." the president came out in the last 24 hours and said that justice will be done. why isn't that good enough for the guy who got osama bin laden? >> you know, there are times when i wonder and maybe this is unfair, that if president obama dropped a nuclear weapon on someone, the response on other side would be he's week because he didn't drop two or th

president obama and secretary of state james baker built a coalition of 34 countries. the u.s. relied heavily on arab nations with the saudis footing most of the bill, not the u.s. it's an approach many say president obama and secretary kerry need to consider, with kerry leaving just this afternoon for the middle east. nbc news senior political editor mark murray have more on how bush and baker orchestrated the successful mission. >> as you just mentioned, it was incredibly important for george h.w. bush to end up getting a very big coalition. you're seeing president obama and john kerry, secretary of state, trying to do the same thing. as far as like who pace for the war, saudi arabia did that in 1991. it's unclear, it does seem president obama will be asking congress for some money to be able to pay for any kind of action combating isis. krystal, i have to say, while getting a big international support was very important and key in something the administration needs to be able to follow, probably the biggest lesson from the gulf war in 1991 was you have to have a limited aim

. >> thank you jame baker for being with us. have you >>> tonight on al jazeera america there's a documentary series called "edge of 18', premiering tonight, following high school seniors as they prepare for a leap into adulthood. alex gibney introduces us to three of those. >> some of the kids ask powerful questions - where do i fit in? how do i make a difference? how can i better my life? is there going to be a place for me out of high school? >> this is a time of uncertainty, and there doesn't appear to be a clear path for anyone to follow. >> my application process is a little different from normal high schoolers. not only do i have to apply for the colleges and get in academically. >> do that. that's pretty. >> i have to apply for the dance school separately, and audition to these places. >> is there mail for me today? >> yes, you have one from arizona. >> whoe hue. >> i want to thank you guys for accepting me for me. [ clapping ] . >> this is an academy of our university. this is my dream school. california. >> yes. i want

these are a set of notes by james baker who became treasury secretary leader. it's the notes of his meeting with dick cheney. why? because baker is going to be chief of staff. cheney was the chief of staff to gerald ford said he wants to get some pointers from this kind and one of the things that cheney says -- let's see, i can't read his writing anymore. presidency, basically the point is the president standing has been weakened in recent years. restore power and authority to the executive branch needs strong leadership. that is a quote from cheney. then in the margins, baker has six stars next to that and says the central theme in the presidency. so, we see that cheney has had certain pieces of that for quite a long time. he carries the use views into the iran contra. he's a member of the house republican investigating committee. he feels a little bit insulted by the way because of the senator in a way on the senate side has seen fit to name warren as the vice-chairman of the caddy. vice chairman of the committee. lee hamilton by all accounts offer it refuses

bush before he went to kuwait to knock out saddam, which we could've done easily on her own, james baker went to the u.n., got a resolution authorizing use of force. we built a coalition in the region under all the muslim forces to work side-by-side with general schwarzkopf. we built another coalition with the british, the french, the japanese and others. all because we had the international legitimacy of the u.n. resolution. if it's necessary to strike into syria, and particularly at isis, i would do that. so these are the pieces that need to come about in the short term. [inaudible] >> you don't understand, you don't understand what i'm saying. training and equipping does not put backbone in the military. they've got to have something to fight for. if you look back at the capitol and they see a corrupt government that isn't responsive to the needs of their ethnic group or religious group, why are they going to fight despite all the training and equipping you give them? the key to make -- why do americans fight for america? they fight because the american something they believe in. ther

. >> i would do what james baker did. i would go around all right saddam hussein went to kuwait.t to the world. japan what will you do. japan would say we need more money. james baker made a profit for the united states military because they went around and you are exactly right you negotiate first. these arab states and what really, what pisses me off they whisper to america that's a problem we'll be behind you. we go in and their state-run newspapers in egypt and saudi arabia blast american imperi imperiali imperialists. >> it's game and we've fallen into it another time. >> jonathan stay with us if you will and we'll have you defend charles krauthammer next. jonathan's head hurts now because he's been bashed for defending david brooks. >> up next why stopping isis is just the first step to solve the problems in iraq. former senator george mitchell joins us next. and then anita dunn and mick mulvaney join us for a healthy debate. if you don't think seize the trip when you think aarp, then you don't know "aarp". get inspired with aarp travel. plan and book your trip online and g

a set of notes by james baker. played a big role of the white house and treasury secretary later. notes of his meeting they why? because he will be chief of staff. so he says -- let's see, i cannot read his writing anymore. basically the point is the president's standing has been weakened in recent years. restore power and authority to executive branch. the strong leaders. that is a quota. and then in the margins there are stars. the central theme of the coming years in the presidency. we see that he carries these views into iran-contra. he is a member of the house republican investigating committee. he feels a little bit insulted because the senator on the senate side has seen fit to name vice chairman of the committee. lee hamilton, by all accounts a moderate, refuses to name cheney is vice chair. it sets off a kind of a running conflict. throughout the hearings he makes the point repeatedly that the problem is not the president. congress oversteps its balance, tries to take over presidential power. it was unconscionable, unconstitutional, and it is the cause a lot of serious pr

part of the iraqi study group chaired by james baker and lee hamilton, who teaches at johns hopkins and george washington, and has lectured at more that 30 countries. team,art of the csis senior adviser, counterterrorism sis, was deputy national security adviser in the bush administration. he worked on the investigation of the uss cole. juliana goldman, who i am proud to say is our newest cbs news correspondent. she came over from bloomberg in august and has more than a decade of experience covering international news. she covered both president obama's presidential campaign, went with him to china, got the first one-on-one interview with the president after his reelection, and reported from the white house on the night osama bin laden was killed. jon alterman, let me start with you. you wrote after trying hard to downplay policy in syria and iraq, the white house has dived in. you said the beheadings of two americans had crystallized the new policy approach by the administration. you said while the new policy is more than merely military, it is more military than it should be. it seems

james baker coming up this weekend? >> i do.e chief of staff and jim baker, last successful american secretary of state to put a middle east coalition together for a military campaign so that and a lot of other stuff. >> all right. we're all ears, chuck. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> a preview of the sunday's "meet the press." now abusive and cheap or justified and making a point? it's a fact that millionaire runback he sean mccoy left a 20-cent tip on a $60 tip in a restaurant in philadelphia. the owner is here with his story, next. just take a closer look. it works how you want to work. with a fidelity investment professional... or managing your investments on your own. helping you find new ways to plan for retirement. and save on taxes where you can. so you can invest in the life that you want today. tap into the full power of your fidelity greenline. call or come in today for a free one-on-one review. >>> imagine this. a nfl superstar walks into your hamburger restaurant in his home city and then it goes sideways fas

second, james baker promised putin that the u.s. would not go when one engine to eastern europe and that happened in malta and now here we are inducing a revolution in the ukraine, the majority of the people do not want to join nato and the country is split. and we have $17.5 trillion deficit due to the iraqi lawyer and how we are going to resolve our problems instead of having to support the revolution and other countries simply because of our interest and oil interests. no one in the world, i don't mean no one. 5% of the world and we have europe, which is another 10% of the world may agree with us. the rest of the road, especially the support to israel do not agree with us and no matter what we do over there, whoever comes into power, they are not going to agree with us. >> host: robert levinson. >> guest: the caller talks about certain promises made at the end of the cold war. there were a lot of tacit promises. one was made about ukraine. ukraine had nuclear weapons at the end of the cold war. ukraine agreed to give the not then

. >> james baker, the man who built the alliance that forced hussein out of kuwait will tell me if hel work. >>> hillary clinton visits iowa today. many see it as day one of her campaign. >> i am looking for someone a little bit more liberal. >> is she really as much of a sure thing as some people think? >>> the nfl in crisis. growing calls for roger goodell to resign over his handling of the ray rice case.

also attend the former secretary hillary clinton, battle albright, henry kissinger, james baker and colinoverage starting at noon eastern here on c-span2. later, doctors and global health officials will discuss the latest on the ebola outbreak in west africa. georgetown university for national a global health law host the event. you can see it live starting at 1:20 p.m. eastern also on c-span2. taking a look at some of our primetime programming tonight across the c-span networks. >> here are some highlights for this coming weekend. >> c-span2 providinc-span to pre coverage of the u.s. senate floor proceedings and key public policy events. ended weekend, booktv now 415 years the only television network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. c-span to greater by the cable tv industry and brought to you as a publix was by local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. the american bar association's homeland security law instead held annual conference in washington last month. a portion included panel discussions focusing on immigration poli