mr. ashford first. some critics have blamed president obama for the current upheefl in iraq, saying he should have kept american soldiers on the ground in that country. do you agree? 20/20.sight is i think what one could say is had we left troops on the borders of syria, we could have maintained some training mission and some support mission on the border with syria theoretically in and around bag daud and other parts of iraq, that train has left the station at this point. i don't see -- i really don't see us coming back into iraq with that kind of force now or in the future. >> ok. mr. terry. >> well, i agree that hindsight is 20/20. the reality is that foreign policy of the president into not helping with the establishment of the government and pulling our military too quickly so they weren't trained when the government started in essence pun shalling segments of their society and they left to join isil, all of that we should have been much more involved in that to prevent that from happening. if we w

mr. ashford first. some critics have blamed president obama for the current upheefl in iraq, saying he should have kept american soldiers on the ground in that country. do you agree? 20/20.sight is i think what one could say is had we left troops on the borders of syria, we could have maintained some training mission and some support mission on the border with syria theoretically in and around bag daud and other parts of iraq, that train has left the station at this point. i don't see -- i really don't see us coming back into iraq with that kind of force now or in the future. >> ok. mr. terry. >> well, i agree that hindsight is 20/20. the reality is that foreign policy of the president into not helping with the establishment of the government and pulling our military too quickly so they weren't trained when the government started in essence pun shalling segments of their society and they left to join isil, all of that we should have been much more involved in that to prevent that from happening. if we w

mr. ashford, you're up. at the heart of the immigration debate is how to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in this country. we know both of you think more work needs to be done to secure the border but after that would you support a pathway to citizenship and if so, why? >> the state of nebraska has to pay the freight for the lack of action by the congress. we passed a bill on benefits and employer verification. we have to pay the cost of foster care. all of these things are state responsibilities and costs because congress -- this is a federal responsibility. the immigration system is a federal constitutional system that has to be amended or reformed by congress. every time we get to a debate it's all about the borders. i think we should take the senate bill which was passed in a bipartisan manner by the senate, republicans and democrats alike passed the bill. it provides significantly more money for border security. obviously border security is the number one -- >> and then it ha

mr. ashford first. s critics blamed president obama for the current people in iraq saying he should have kept the soldiers on the ground in the country. do you agree? ashford: hindsight is 20/20. one could say that having left troops on the border with syria we could have maintained some training mission in support of motion on the border with syria theoretically and in and around baghdad and other parts of iraq. that train has left the station at this point and i don't see -- i really don't see us coming back into iraq with that kind of force now or in the future. >> moderator: mr. terry? terry: i agree that hindsight is 20/20. the reality is the foreign policy is not helping with the establishment of the government and pulling the military out too quickly so they were not trained in when the government started in essence punishing segment of the society then they left to join isil. we should have been much more involved than that to prevent that from happening. if we would have been more active we migh

mr. ashford, you get the first question. burrow ining to deeper in foreign policy. first question, what criteria should the u.s. use in determining when to risk american lives on foreign soil? theumber one would be safety and welfare of the citizens of the united states. that is the criteria we use. i support what is going on now with the airstrikes in syria and iraq. isis is clearly a threat to the people of the united states, and building the coalition eyes ache -- i think is the appropriate mechanism at this point. >> thank you. mr. terry? >> it has to be in the national security interests of our nation. so if you are under a threat of attack, then i think you have to respond. theainly, with isil in meetings i have attended, they are a clear threat. >> ok, thank you. the next question goes to mr. terror. the war in afghanistan has gone on for 13 years. it has cost the lives of more than 2200 servicemen and women can and do you think a long-running ground-floor in afghanistan was the right tactic? and andmove the taliban the al qaeda that was stationed and working

mr. ashford. >> thanks. this has been fun. thank you, lee for this discussion. i'm running for congress because i believe congress has failed the american public. it is so polarized, we can't decide immigration issues and fix the health care bill. we don't have an environmental policy. we need a comprehensive energy policy for our country. it's time for a change. it's time to get back to tip o'neal. it's time to do things the way they were done 25 years ago. it's time for a change. here are my promises. number one, i will never ever vote to shut the government down. i will never asked to be paid if and when the government is shut down. i will always put real solutions over political positions. and the day i get elected to congress, i will find 25 friends. i could care less what political party anybody is, i would find 25 friends. with 25 friends we will pick priorities and make change. we will decide real issues. we will pledge that politics has to take a back seat to solutions. that's why i'm running and i respectfully request your vote. thank you very much. >>

mr. ashford, do you agree? >> here's what i think about this.it's impossible for me to know about the vote because i didn't see -- i wasn't briefed. i don't know about the intricacies about that congressional decision. but what i do believe, and i don't understand this, maybe lee can explain it, how congress could have left washington after four days coming back from the summer vacation and had a vote on training syrian moderate rebels without a thorough discussion and debate. and think those questions need to be asked and i think the authority needs to be discussed and debated. what authority do we have in making this move. so i would say stay in washington, debate at least for a couple days. there was only four days of congressional meeting after the summer recess. it should have been debated at least over the weekend after that vote. >> mr. terry, you get a chance to respond. >> and there were several days of discussion and the process was the president asked for congress to make the authority that the president said he wanted it in the conti

mr. brad ashford, do you agree? >> ashford: here is what i think about this. it is impossible for me to know because i did not see, was not briefed. i do not know about the intricacies of that since the congressional decision thought i'd do believe is -- and that ought to understand this. maybe it can be explained how congress could have left washington after four days coming back from the summer vacation and had a vote on training syrian moderate rebels without a thorough discussion and debate about where that was going to go. and i think those questions need to be asked, and i think the authority needs to be discussed and debated, what authority we have been making this move. i would say, stay in washington, debate for a couple of days. only four days of congressional meetings after the summer recess. it should have been thoroughly debated, at least over the weekend after that vote. >> moderator: mr. lee terry, you get a chance to respond. >> terry: and there were several days of discussion. the process was that the president asked for congress to make the a