jim miklaszewski starting us off at the pentagon. jim, thanks. >>> now to our chief foreign correspondent richard engel, who spent much of a decade covering the war in iraq and has been watching all of this since u.s. forces withdrew. he remains in tel aviv tonight. richard, let's talk about the threat from this group, isis. >> well, if you remember, brian, in june, it looked like isis was going to take baghdad. it was seizing weapons. its fighters were marching toward baghdad. and the united states sent military advisers to help prop up the iraqi government. isis didn't get to baghdad. its fighters pulled back. but instead, they decided to go east and west, and they captured a lot of other territory. and they entered into a part of iraq that is its cultural heartland, where a lot of christians and yazidis are and they have been terrorizing people. and now about 40,000 people, particularly around the sinjar mountains, are leaving their homes and running up to the hills. they are stranded on this barren mountaintop. they have been ther

>> jim miklaszewski, thanks. tonight, we are on the ground in iraq. we are learning more about the stranded members of the religious minorities. horrific stories are emerging. we'll get more from keir simmons in erbil. >> reporter: desperation on a mountain refuge. people grasp for aid from a kurdish helicopter as it takes off from mount sinjar. one boy clings on. 20 made it on board. thousands cut off by isis. people from a christian community, president obama said place genocide. elsewhere, families are fleeing anywhere they can in temperatures over 110, one child only five days old, we want america to do more, they told us. [ speaking foreign language ] the president's promise, no boots on the ground is not what they want here. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: inside a church, we found 4,000 more refugees from the ancient city. crowds of families here, people just carrying their children. young and old, while children play, parents struggle to hold it together. she holds her 10-month-old daughter. they arrived today without her husband. i

>> jim miklaszewski on what became a sad day at the pentagon. jim, thanks. >>> at hospitals and airports across our country tonight. they remain alert for people who may have symptoms consistent with the ebola virus. there were new scares and false alarms today, just as the second american patient has returned home for treatment under heavy protection. our national correspondent kate snow is at emery university in atlanta for us tonight. kate, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. everyone was hoping that nancy writebol would walk into the hospital today just like the first ebola patient did. she is more than 20 years older. friends and family say fighting this dead thely disease for more than a week now has taken a toll. nancy writebol came home today. landing just before noon at dobbins air reserve space. news choppers were overhead tracking every move. >> you see the ambulance on its way to emory university hospital. >> reporter: unmarked law enforcement vehicles surrounded the ambulance in a moving formation. >> we had s.w.a.t. tea

>> jim miklaszewski starting us off again tonight. jim, thanks. >>> talk about a dangerous world, with this renewed conflict, iraq becomes the latest no flight zone joining a widening list of nations where the faa has determined the air space is dangerous, warning aircraft to avoid the areas in red and show caution when flying over the countries in yellow. >>> now to the other brewing conflict in the middle east. the three-day cease-fire between israel and hamas ended early today, as hamas resumed firing rockets into southern israel, almost 60 of them launched from gaza, two israelis reportedly injured. israel hit back with air strikes. palestinian officials say at least five were killed, three of them children. talks aimed at a longer term cease-fire continue in cairo. >>> james brady, ronald reagan's former press secretary, died earlier this week, and he was remembered on this broadcast and elsewhere for his humor, his humanity and as an icon in the gun control battle. then late today came a remarkable development from washington. a

nbc's jim miklaszewski. thank you very much. >> okay, joy. >> joining us now is reuters' investigative reporter david rhode. thanks for being here. i want to start out with that general. what do you make of the fact that security was breached? really not breached. this was somebody we trained. but it was the equivalent of our west point in afghanistan. >> it's a major setback. the taliban may have, you know, had nothing to do with this attack, but they will use it for propaganda purposes. to have killed the most senior american officer since the vietnam war is a big achievement for them. beyond this insider attack, there's a very alarming trend, a series of attacks by the taliban in kandahar province in the south and in sort of rural districts, they are sort of gaining ground as u.s. troops draw down. >> at the same time, insider attacks, these green-on-blue attacks have gone down dramatically, david. you saw 53 americans killed in 38 such attacks in 2012. as of this year, it's been three americans in total

jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. thanks for that. joining us from london is former senior adviser and analyst at the u.k.'s government counterterrorism center. he helped develop counterinsurgen counterinsurgency. let's just pick up on that point. martin dempsey said it yesterday. he said isis will ultimately have to be defeated. he said that, you know, military is part of that solution and that air strikes alone are not going to do it. so if it's now on table, we're going to have to defeat isis and air strikes alone -- you know, jim was there just talking about presumably plans are in place for that. so what will do it if that's going to be the goal here? what will it take to defeat isis? >> a lot of things. you've got air strikes, of course, but it's the boots on the ground. the boots on the ground in this case do not necessarily have to be american. they're already there. the peshmerga are involved to put the military squeeze on. the important thing to member is the military operations, air or ground, only provide you time and spac

. >> joining me now, nbc's chief pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski. jim, these air strikes that the president said he authorized have begun, hitting isis territory. explain what the mission is. is it about creating space so that the kurds can basically regroup and take them on themselves? >> well, you know, while all the attention overnight was on this humanitarian air drop and the possibility of air strikes, the major concern of u.s. military officials has been the situation around erbil and the isis militant rebels have been able to move so swiftly with such precision and, quite frankly, speed and coordination, that it exhibited a new kind of ability, military capability on the part of the isis forces and that the peshmurda forces, long considered to be some of the fiercest fighters in iraq were actually put on the run. so the idea that just last night president obama warned that if there was any threat to u.s. facilities, personnel there in erbil, that he would order air strikes and that happened this morning. it's not clear yet if in fact the rebel

let's go to jim miklaszewski. did yesterday's promise violate the president's promise not to put boots on the ground? >> according to the white house it did not because, this according to the white house was a humanitarian mission, while those green berets were on top of the mountain assessing the situation involving those yezidi refugees, but there are others who say, look, that's a really fine line and some of the u.s. military are uncomfortable about drawing that lightning because they say, if you have combat forces on the ground in a combat zone, that's a combat mission. because at any time once the first shot is fired all bets are off. right now it's a squall over definitions. they were on the mountain for 24 hours, they came off safely, they filed their report, their assessment and everybody is moving on at this point. >> achkd the military is assessing that food and water drop. they're going to try to help those refugees get off the mountain? >> they certainly will continue those air drops as necessary, alt

i want to bring in nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. jim, can you give me your take on the president's remarks just now? >> reporter: quite frankly, melissa, he appeared to make all kinds of news in this sort of impromptu greeting and exchange with reporters there on the south lawn just before he heads off to vacation. first of all, for the first time he talked about a timetable in which he said there is no timetable. that it's not going to be all of this u.s. military involvement is not going to be over in a matter of weeks but is going to take some time. so it's an open-ended at this point timetable. he seemed to expand the u.s. military mission there at the same time. what he was talking about not only using airpower to protect those yazidi religious minorities trapped up on that mountain, starving and dying of thirst, but he said that he's willing to use air strikes to protect them against the rebel forces that are surrounding that mountain. but he also talked about opening a corridor, a safe corridor, from which they could leave th

. >>> first, let's get right to the story of the latest air strikes and jim miklaszewski is at the white house. jim, thank you. are air strikes looking inevitable based on this conflict? >> based on the information that we have, it appears that air strikes are likely, not in the immediate future, but likely fairly soon. you can never say inevitable when it comes to the obama white house. bought you'll remember, a year ago, the u.s. military was only three hours from launching cruise missile strikes on syria over their chemical weapons program when the president walked into the rose garden on a sunny afternoon to announce that he had pulled the plug. the ultimate decision is to be made by the president. and we're told that decision has not yet been made, ronan. >> and is there any other news about the u.s. response on the ground, jim? are they still sticking to the no boots on the ground in a combat context mandate? >> absolutely. and president obama has repeatedly said. he said it again today in fruns the american legion he will not commit u.s. forces to another ground war in iraq. now,

we begin tonight at the pentagon and jim miklaszewski. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. there's late word that those u.s. forces have flown off the mountain and safely back at their base. but based on what they saw, the pentagon says a full blown rescue mission is now far less likely. for 24 hours two teams of u.s. special forces were atop the sinjar mountain with thousands of yazidi refugees have been trapped, many dying of thirst or starvation. the heavily armed green berets were there to assess what it would take to complete a rescue mission, to get the refugees off the mountain in the safest way possible. u.s. officials say early assessments are encouraging. intelligence shows there are far fewer than the tens of thousands refugees first reported and that u.s. air strikes have driven isis rebel fighters from the area reducing the threat. with fewer refugees, it's possible they could be lifted by u.s. jet ospreys or helicopters or walk off the mountain with kurdish military escorts. does today's mission violate president obama's vow not to put u.s. boots on the ground

i'm joined by our chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski who has an in depth look at why the president started air strikes now. >> good morning, david. at this very moment last week nobody at the white house or the pentagon for that matter expected american war planes to be launching air strikes in iraq within the next few days. but according to u.s. military officials, that rapid and alarming advance by those islamic rebels, the u.s. could no longer ignore it, sending the generals back to the war room and u.s. war fighters back to iraq. >> reporter: isis has easily stormed through iraq for the past eight months terrorizing their enemies, forcing religious conversions, and slaughtering those who resist their rule and religion. but president obama waited too intervene militarily until this week when the extremist group threatened to topple the kurdish capital erbil. but why now? when isis took mosul in june, the president sent 300 american troops to support and advise the iraqi military but not to fight. >> i think we always have to guard against mission creep. american combat troops ar

thanks so much, jim miklaszewski, thank you, colonel jack jacobs. we appreciate both of you and your reporting today. >>> now to the other top story. the arrival of the second american of liberia with ebola. missionary nancy writebol arrived a short timing a and going to emery university hospital and still is i should say still going to be taken off that plane, that specially equipped plane, chartered. we don't if she'll be brought off on a stretcher at this point. whether she is able to walk off. a same unit where american dr. kent brantly has been received treatment since arriving over the weekend. kate snow joins me now and dr. shandran is a doctor at albert einstein college of medicine and joins me from new york and one or two other points here. first of all, that we have a suspected patient in jetta and flown and would be the first known case of ebola outside the african continent and british airways today suspended temporarily to the end of august the commercial flights into both sierra leone and liberia. kate, first to you. the preparations n

. >> jim miklaszewski, thanks for your time. we are receiving word right now that the president, president obama is preparing to address the nation at 9:30 eastern time about 20 minutes from now from the state diming room. he will be addressing on the subject of iraq. woo will have full coverage when that comes again about 9:30 tonight eastern time. let's bring in the chief foreign affairs official. andrea mitchell, the first thing i want to start on is the point that jim raised. the first of several missions. these are people who are trapped in a mountain and feel if they come down, isis wants to kill them. it strikes me and raises a more simple question of how do you get isis out from away at the bottom of the mountain. is that a job ultimately for the iraqi army or for the united states. that is the last thing this president wants to do around from where they are and circling the trapped people. this is a humanitarian crisis initially. it is conceivable that any airlift operation and any of those were fired upon, they would b

. >> he let's bring in nbc news chief pentagon reporter jim miklaszewski who was at the briefing yesterdayjim, as you've been watching this, we have been talking about this for a week. you got a sense of a week and a half ago that the white house realized that isis was a threat they no longer could ignore. talk about humanitarian assistance and then arming the kurds and bombing and then couple of days later we are going in helping them take over a dam. now we are actually talking about and i don't want anybody to take this the wrong way. i'm not being critical. i am saying it is remarkable that just a couple of weeks later, we actually have generals going out, obviously, at the white house guidance and talking about the possibility of actually bombing syria. talk about -- >> necessity. >> talk -- out of total necessity. talk about how quickly our focus is expanding. >> well, joe, we talked about this last week. when we talked about the u.s. backing iraqi and kurdish forces with air strikes to take the mosul dam. that was the opening salvo in what was going to be, according to some official

our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has more for us this morning. >> reporter: so far u.s. have launched combat air strikes against three separate air -- the isis militant targets. those air strikes took out an artillery piece, a mortar position and an entire militant convoy. now, under the rules of engagement laid out by the president, these air strikes are intended to protect americans that are inside the city of erbil, but those orders are open to wide interpretation out there on the battlefield and frankly a wide array of targets. at the same time overnight three u.s. military cargo planes made a second air drop of humanitarian relief, food and water to refugees trapped on top of a mountain die of thirst and starvation and surrounded by those rebel forces. now, according to u.s. military officials, the problem here is that there are 15,000 of those refugees and each air drop only covers one day of provisions and only for half of them, lester. >> you say the rule of engagement is open to interpretati interpretation. has anything been laid out as to how long this operatio

. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon, thank you for helping us understand this horrible situation. >>> the foley parents are in mourning. the family released this statement. "we thank jim for all of the joy he gave us. he was an extraordinary son, brother, journalist and person. please respect our privacy in the days ahead as we mourn and cherish jim." we're not going to be airing the beheading but it's a highly produced piece of work posted online yesterday and shot with multiple camera angles. it shows one isis militant holding a knife who, in a british accent, calls it payback. he's then murdered. in the last hour, jim's former boss from the global post said this to msnbc. >> something needs to be done to respond to this brutal murder. i think we have to take a stronger stand with the islamic state. i'm not an expert. i don't know exactly what should be done. but this brutal murder of an american citizen cannot go unanswered. the position of our government is not to pay a ransom. it's understandable why that position would be taken. whether it continues to be the wisest course, i

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we have chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski with us. e that artillery fire, the americans were well within the range of that artillery fire, according to officials. it met the president's parameter and therefore the air strike ordered and truck towing it. >> mik, what kind of fire power does isis have that could pose a threat to u.s. war planes? >> reporter: isis is well armed. after the sunni forces laid down their weapons, they gathered artillery and rocket launchers and rocket vehicles. they have limited anti-aircraft missiles that are not within range of some of the high flying u.s. military war planes that would be conducting these kinds of operations. at this point, it appears anyway, they may be defenseless against the u.s. air strikes from above. >> mik, this is a humanitarian mission to protect the kurds. the president is accusing isis of genocide in the area and starving the kurdish people. can you tell us the long-term mission, perhaps, will be there. >> reporter: the humanitarian issue that got the attention overnight was to

jim miklaszewski has more. mick, this is how u.s. service members are endangered today in afghanistan. correct? >> absolutely. they see very little combat these days but are always working side by side with armed afghan military. according to u.s. military officials and dod officials, that's what happened here today. at camp carga in kabul. military training facility that was established by the british. now, there was some kind of event or two that are ongoing that involved u.s. military officials when suddenly a lone gunman opened fire, shooting and wounding at least a dozen, mostly americans. we heard some german soldiers may also have been wounded. we're told as many as three have been killed. don't know if they were americans or germans. in fact, dod officials have asked nbc news not to identify at least one of the victims because next of kin has not been notified. according to a senior dod official here, this one is really bad, chuck. >> and this being kabul, this is supposed to be -- there's nothing that's incredibly safe in af

. >> nbc's jim miklaszewski is at the pentagon for us. and kristen welker is at the white house. is the president saying anything about a time line in iraq? >> i think that was one of the headlines out of president obama's remarks. he essentially laid the groundwork for what could be an open-ended military engagement, albeit a limited engagement in iraq. he said this could be a long-term project. take a listen at a little bit most a more of what he had to say. >> i don't think we can solve this problem in weeks, if that's what you mean. the iraqi security forces, in order to mount an offensive and be able to operate effectively with the supportive populations in sunni areas are going to have to revamp, get resupplied, have a clear strategy. but this is going to be a long-term project. >> the president also said that plans are coming together to determine how to get those ethnic minorities off of the mountain. in the meantime, he is going to be reaping out to his allies to get their support, their help, with the humanitarian part of this mission. you heard the president say he spo

right now from the pentagon and from the state department that indeed there were two more as jim miklaszewski has been reporting. we're talking about a remote piloted drone attack apparently around 10:00 eastern our time. and then four fa-18s dropping a total of eight laser guided bombs on aa convoy an hour later. both near erbil and both under the mission statement that the president has defined to congress under the war powers act where they are notified that this is to defend american personnel and interests in erbil. >> andrea, you asked this question earlier but i would love your thoughts on it. the lack of coalition forces here, i was surprised that david cameron so early in the day said the u.k. was not planning a military intervention in iraq. we're on this mission alone, which is very counter to as you discussed president obama's these sis about engagement elsewhere in the world. >> last friday at the president's news conference he was saying we can't do everything everywhere and again repeating that last night. but there was a big but. genocide and interest of america with kurdish a

let's bring in chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski and colonel jack jacobs.l us what you know. >> reporter: well, the general and more than a dozen other american soldiers had gone to that defense university for a meeting with afghan officials. there were

joining me now is nbc chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. thanks for being here. >> you bet. >> how much has this killing ratcheted up the decision to take action against isis ? >> i think we are already hearing from the white house that they would like to step up the game, so to speak. to increase the military pressure on those isis rebel fighters. here at the pentagon there was shock, grief, dismay. but they had to put those emotions aside and get back to the task of planning to not only contain but force isis out of iraq and defeat them once and for all, reverend al. >> today, deputy national security adviser ben rhoads said the killing of james foley was a terrorist attack. >> when you see somebody killed in a such a horrific way that represents a terrorist attack. that represents a terrorist attack against our country, against an american citizen. an attack not just on him. he's an american. we see it as an attack on our country when one of our own is killed like that. >> does this terrorist attack change how the u.s. would deal with is

hagel did not mince words during a discussion with reporters about isis thursday, telling nbc's jim miklaszewskijust how advanced this terror group is. >> jim, isil is a sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen. they're beyond just a terrorist group. they marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. they are tremendously well funded. oh, this is beyond anything that we've seen. >> california democratic congress ann adam schiff is on the house intelligence committee and joins me live now from washington. congressman, let's pick up on those comments from secretary hagel. some of the things that he said, they really stop you in your tracks. how concerned should everyday americans be about isis right now? >> well, we should be very concerned. i think the secretary is exactly right. this is probably the best resourced terrorist group in history. they hold territory, and the significance of that is that they have sanctuary to plan attacks not only in syria and iraq but potentially against the u.s. at home. we also have these thousands of foreign figh

we want to bring in jim miklaszewski, our pentagon correspondent. what do you make of the fact that this is being broadcast live, mik, and what more do we know about how he was killed? >> reporter: well, since 2009 on the agreement and permission from the families of the fallen, live coverage, video coverage of the returns of the remains of america's fallen from the wars in iraq and afghanistan has been permitted at dover. general harold greene's family agreed to allow media to cover the return of major general greene, who was killed in afghanistan on tuesday, kristen. >> mik, he was killed by an afghan soldier. there's a tragic irony to this. he was, of course, charged with training these afghan forces in how to take over, because the u.s. is drawing down its troops there. what more do we know about the soldier who killed him and the broader implications of that? >> reporter: well, according to military officials we talked to this morning, there's really nothing new yet on the investigation at least that they can report. we know that the shooter wa

nbc's jim miklaszewski joins me from the pentagon along with nbc's duncan golestani who's live in erbilk, what can you tell us about the arms the u.s. is giving to those kurdish fighters and the recent cia involvement to get those directly to the fighters and bypass the iraqi government in baghdad. >> quite frankly, it's not what i can tell you it's what deputy national security adviser ben rhodes told chuck todd on "daily rundown" on thursday. in an interview from the front lawn, here's what he said. if we see isis advance, we're going to hit it and the peshmerga are engaged with isil and we're going to support them and we have increased the flow of arms to the kurdish forces as well so that they're reinforced. so actually that news was broken on thursday. the additional news is that flow of weapons was actually not going directly from the u.s. to the peshmerga but was being channeled through iraqi forces as per u.s. law and an agreement with the iraqi military. in fact, we're told that two c-130 cargo planes loaded with weapons were flown from baghdad to the kurdish region by the iraq

. >>> first, joining us from the pentagon is chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. he's got the latest an the air strikes themselves. what do we know at this point? >> ronan, some military officials are describing this as a target of opportunity. when two u.s. navy fa-18s off the aircraft carrier "george h.w. bush" there in the persian gulf zeroed in on an isis artillery operation or piece that had been firing, according to the u.s. military officials, randomly toward peshmerga forces. we're told that peshmerga had tried to attempt to take it out but weren't in a position to do that. so the fa-18s came in, dropped two 500-pound bombs and instantly took it out. so how was that a threat to u.s. personnel in erbil? according to u.s. officials, the embassy and u.s. personnel were within range of that artillery piece. so if it was firing randomly there was always the possibility that american personnel could have been in danger and that gave green light to the military to take that artillery piece out. >> nick, we're looking at live images of these two briefings at the w

jim miklaszewski, appreciate it. joining me on the phone from kabul is "new york times" reporter matthew rosenberg. joining me here in the studio is nbc analyst journal jack jacobs. matthew, do we know at this point whether or not this truly was an afghan soldier or someone who had stole an uniform? >> we have no reason to believe he was anything but an afghan soldier. this is not the first time this has happened. it's happened dozens of times. the widespread belief among afghan officials and coalition officials and american officials is that in almost the propond rans of cases, these are afghans who have grown disgruntled, alienated, and frustrated at the foreign presence in their country and have turned their guns on their foreign counterparts. some of them have reached out to the taliban before doing so and said, sure, you know, you can come join us after you do it, those who escape. but in very rare cases has it been a taliban plant or a guy who wandered in. it's hard to imagine some random guy put on a uniform a

joining me with the latest, nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. mik, this was not a big strike today but it was sending a signal to isis. >> absolutely. and clearly it's being described here pretty much as a target of opportunity. u.s. war planes were in the air along with drones keeping an eye on those isis forces. poised just outside of erbil. you know, which is a key strategic city for the kurdistan area there in the north. when suddenly apparently the isis fighters started lobbing shells in the general direction of some peshmerga fighters. and then we're told the two u.s. navy fa-18 bombers launched each a one guided 500-pound bomb to the target which took out the artillery piece and the truck that towed it. the rationale and the justification for that was not that this artillery piece was aiming its fire at the u.s. consulate or any americans, but the americans and the consulate were within range of any potential artillery shot from those isis rebels. so under the rules of engagement appare apparently, we're told that the order was given and

nbc's jim miklaszewski joins me from the pentagon. do we know anything more about the general who was killed? >> well, we know he was a two-star major general who had just arrived in afghanistan in january. so he was only about seven months into his tour there. but this incident, as you said, occurred at the defense university, and we're told that there was some kind of gathering in which a large number of americans, coalition forces, and afghan military were gathered when suddenly a lone gunman believed to be an afghan soldier opened fire with an automatic weapon, killing the major general, wounding at least eight other americans, and several other coalition forces and afghan forces in that crowd before he was shot and killed. not much more to go on at this point. don't know what the motive is. could have been a single, lone disgruntled gunman. no indication he had any ties to any kind of militant organization such as the taliban, but the experience has been in these lone wolf green-on-blue incidents over the years that many of these

joining us is chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. thanks for taking the time tonight. >> if i can interrupt you for a second. >> go ahead. >> u.s. military officials have told nbc news that those humanitarian air drops have been completed over the sinjar mountains where up to 40,000 of the yazidi members of the small religious sect had to plea from sinjar from the isis rentals. now according to officials, there were c-17s used for the air drops that were escorted by american f-16 fighter jets. we're told the air drops of food, water, medical supplies, has in fact been completed successfully and all u.s. planes are now out of that specific airspace, steve. >> thanks. that's important information. i think it leads to the next question of how the successful completion of this humanitarian portion. >> i would say this phase of it. >> phase. >> who knows how long the cities are going to be stuck up on that mountain. point, unless -- unless isis rebels actually move in and physically threaten those yezidis, those taking refuge on top of th

"the washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson and jim miklaszewski with the latest jim, we made news yesterday. people were talking about the fact that your reporting brought out that generals say if you want to take care of things over there, this is a 15 to 20-year deal. it's not a couple of quick bombing runs. there aren't a lot of good options for the united states, are there, right now? >> not really. certainly not good military options. lieutenant general william mayville yesterday in a briefing here yesterday said, look, as far as the air strikes are concerned so far, we have stopped the advance of isis and turned it back somewhat against the kurds up there near erbil but he said there's no sense whatsoever we are making no claims that we have contained or broken isis and he, himself, suggested they will just take the fight for somewhere else. nobody here -- even intel folks are not suggesting that the u.s. military is going to be directly involved in combat with isis or its ilk for the next 15 to 20 years, but this is a phenomenon that we have yet to see in

. >> let's go to jim miklaszewski. it looks like the train is starting to leave the station. it. >> there's robust planning under way here at the pentagon for possible airstrikes against isis targets inside syria. the question is just how far will those strikes go and for the time being, sources we're talking to indicate not necessarily very far. one official called it pinpricks. one said that they go after some individual targets, a few encampme encampments, some weapons systems, some infrastructure, but not critical infrastructure because they don't want to destroy the entire area while they take down isis. as far as any objection or possible objection from the syrian government, the u.s. points out that, look, that's not even close to any consideration here at the pentagon. and they point out that since 2012, the u.s. has been routinely flying surveillance aircraft over various parts of syria, first in connection with the chemical weapons program and now to keep an eye on those terrorist groups. >> michael ideaer was former director of the national terrorism center in wash

. >> jim miklaszewski, is there consistency between the white house and the pentagon on this? appears to be. mark hit it right on the head. at the time take ground troops to eventually defeat isis both in iraq and syria but the president has vowed numerous times during this current dust-up that no way is he going to put u.s. military boots on the ground during this conflict. and i can tell you that even though the syrian government has demanded that the u.s. coordinate any possible air strike with the syrian government, officials here say that is not just going to happen. they don't see the syrian air defenses as a serious threat to the kind of air strikes that the u.s. would, in fact, launch. so they have dismissed that possibility entirely. >> mick, how much is the united states handicapped by an apparent lack of intelligence on the ground in syria and how much is the pentagon looking towards cairo as potential allies in this continuing fight against isis? >> reporter: all you have to do, mike, is looked that failed hostage attempt in july. the u.s. military intelligence tho

. >>> with us, msnbc news chuck todd, nbc news chief and pentagon chief jim miklaszewski.ut dropping food and supplies to desperate people that is going to lead to much more. what are you hearing inside the pentagon? >> reporter: this humanitarian crisis with these ref jiff ugee the top of mountain starving and dying of thirst, a perfect entree for the white house to actually get involved here, and the prospect that this is a humanitarian mission, but officials here were looking very closely at erbil where there's a u.s. consulate, u.s. military forces that are serving as advisers. look, we could have evacuated all of those people, but there's a much larger issue here. over the past week, that isis militant operation that swept across the north and is now like therapy 30 minutes outside of erbil was done with such precision discipline it was such a well-executed and planned operation, that everybody's wakin'ed to the fact that we're dealing with a whole different kind of terrorist force here that presents a very serious threat, not only to iraq but that entire region, and

let's get to the pentagon and jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: at least one high-ranking american military official was killed in in attack, sudden attack at this training base for afghan soldiers in kabul. according to official, the americans along with german allies had gathers with afghans at this base for some kind of event or meeting when suddenly, one of the afghan soldiers, at least somebody dressed like an afghan soldier opened fire with an automatic weapon. as many as 12 were seriously wounded. right now, the death toll stands at one senior high-ranking military official killed. according to officials we're talking about here at the pentagon, some of the wounds are so severe that that death toll is likely to rise. >> i have to ask you. there was a time we were talking about the insider attacks all the time. it seemed like it was a downward trend. this is a disturbing tre ining different direction. >> reporter: there were steps taken to put the americans in a safer position when working side by side with armed afghan soldiers. and that did lower the death toll some what. but, you k

into a long-running war. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. thank yous as always. >>> willie is here with the fallout in ferguson, missouri. >> citing safety concerns, officials in ferguson, missouri, have postponed the first city council meeting since the shooting death of michael brown two weeks ago. thousands of mourners gathered at the st. louis church on monday to pay respects to brown. the 18-year-old teenager shot by a police officer sparking more than a week of sometimes-violent protests. the brown family asked marchers to stay off the streets monday so family and friends could celebrate brown's life in peace. >>> former fbi director louis freeh is recovering from injuries this morning after crashing his suv in vermont. he drove off the road and hit a mailbox and row of shrubs. he was taken to the hospital with a broken leg, cut on his head, and other injuries. >>> life guards ordered everyone out of the water on monday after a great white shark was spotted off a massachusetts beach. they did not tell swimmers why, but word soon got ar

officials here argue that combat forces in a combat zone is a combat mission. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon, thank you. >>> president obama and hillary clinton came together last night for the first time since she publicly criticized her former boss's approach to former policy. did they hug it out as clinton vowed? nbc white house correspondent kristen welker is on martha's vineyard. >> reporter: good morning to you. the white house won't say whether president obama and hillary clinton literally hugged it out. one official tells me their interaction was cordial and friendly. it took place at democratic donor vernon jordan, where 150 guests dined on surf and turf. all the buzz today is about the obama-clinton face-to-face. the highly anticipated party was held at this martha's vineyard golf course with the president and his former secretary of state sitting at the same table. according to the white house a good time was had by all as both sides try to down play any lingering tensions after secretary clinton recently criticized the president's foreign policy. >> great to be back

nbc's jim miklaszewski has been following this story from the pentagon. mik, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. in his first 34 years as a soldier, this was general greene's first combat tour. his death sent shock waves through the army and the pentagon and a strong military family into mourning. outside his home in virginia, general greene's family issued a statement through an army spokeswoman. >> they believe that the army as well as afghanistan and america has lost a true hero today. he really believed in what he was doing over there. >> reporter: general greene's mission was to train afghan soldiers, but it was one of those soldiers who shot and killed him. greene led a group of american and coalition forces to this afghan military academy outside kabul. they were gathered in a courtyard inspecting a new water tank when an afghan soldier concealed in a nearby barracks opened fire with a machine gun. general greene was cut down and killed. eight other americans were wounded. the assailant was killed by return fire. u.s. helicopters flew in

that reporting courtesy of nbc news' jim miklaszewski at the pentagon.ssociated press is reporting a spokesman for iraq's human rights ministry says hundreds of women from the y yezidi have been taken hostage by the group we're calling isil. that is central to this whole united states intervention here, what the president is casting in terms of a humanitarian intervention to protect that minority group, many members of which are trappeded on the top of the mountains and surrounded by hostile isil forces. we'll have to wait and see what this military strike was all about, whether they hit their targets and whether these strikes continue throughout the afternoon and evening, bill. >> does it rule out these atax were basically at the base of mt. sinjar? >> the attacks by the united states occurred on a target northwest of erbil today. one of the things the president has laid out is the united states would move in militarily with strikes to protect erbil with the isil forces moving in that direction. this would appear to be related to that effort separate fr

>> that was defense secretary chuck hagel on thursday telling our own pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewskihe threat posed by isis may actually surpass the threat once posed by al qaeda. hagel made it clear deefgt isis in iraq means also defeating it in syria. when president obama first announced he was authorizing air strikes in northern iraq earlier this month he referred to it as a strictly limited mission. the president said he would, quote, not allow the u.s. to be dragged into fighting another war in iraq. that was before the killing this week of an american journalist by those islamic militants. the journalist who was captured in syria. that was before the national security adviser ben rhodes said isis is much stronger now than just six months ago. he added the u.s. was prepared to carry out strikes inside syria against isis targets. now before the defense secretary compared isis to al qaeda, with isis emerging as the biggest threat. so is a strictly limited mission still in the cards or have the goal posts moved? joining me to talk about this congresswoman barbara lee of california

let's bring in jim miklaszewski. jim, thank you so much for being with us. so help us out here., netanyahu's chief spokesperson, who denies "wall street journal" report, which is pretty stunning. tell us, what are you hearing inside the pentagon? >> reporter: where this entire issue arose, people here at the pentagon were discussing it openly because, at the time, it was considered a pro forma exchange. these missions are forward located in a stockpile in israeli that are under the control of the u.s. government so that in an emergency, if the israeli government needs munitions in a hurry, it's there. >> but, jim, doesn't the commander in chief need to define what an emergency is and what an emergency is not doing? i mean, i'm surprised that somebody at the pentagon, in a situation this political, you and i both know that the more stars are on a general's shoulders, the more political they are, the more politically astute most of them are. i'm stunned they wouldn't pick up the phone saying, hey, we got this request from israeli. >> if that happened, personally, i don't know that

joining us now is msnbc chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski with the latest. jim? >> reporter: mika, what is interesting this is the kurds are celebrating but they didn't do it by themselves. they were actually fighting in conjunction with iraqi security forces and, of course, all that massive air power, all those bombs and rockets that u.s. fighter bombers and those armed drones were raining down on the enemy forces. it's interesting, you know, because there was some concern about mission creek that the president had to notify congress again because this is, in fact, an element of mission because originally u.s. military forces there were to see how they could support the protection of u.s. personnel in the country and for humanitarian reasons. in this case the reason for launching those air strikes was to support those kurdish and iraqi forces attempting to go back and seize the dam. i believe this is the opening volley of an actual ground war against isis, not by the u.s., but an aggressive effort by kurdish and iraqi forces with that massive kind of air power s

jim miklaszewski has more. mick, this is how u.s.ct? >> absolutely. they see very little combat these days but are always working side b

and nbc's jim miklaszewski joins us now from washington. mik, how you doing?m doing well, joe, thanks. >> i need to talk to you at the end of this. >> okay. >> to pick your brain about the whole thing. because have you ever seen anything like this? am i wrong to think this is kind of strange that the way this came out? >> the information about this attempted hostage rescue? indeed it is. it appeared to be a well engineered and executed mass leak, and apparently by the white house. but i can tell you, there was serious concern for the safety of those hostages when last july there was intelligence that james foley, that journalist who was executed on camera, and other hostages, were in danger. so the u.s. launched this mission, delta force commandos lowered from stealth helicopters, at a site in syria, quickly engaged the enemy, they killed an unknown number of isis terrorists. but then found the hostages were not there. they were there apparently, and had been moved a short time before that. the delta force commandos left immediately. in a fierce firefight, onl