they want more. >> all right, tracy shelton. thank you for your time. be safe. >> let's bring in jim mcdermott and former democratic congressman patrick murphy, the first iraq war vet elected to congress. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> congressman mcdermott, do you support the president's actions so far? >> yes, i do, al. i watched the seahawks last night and they lost. everybody on monday morning, there are quarterbacks who know what should have happened. the president has been sitting there and keeping us out of war in all kinds of different situations. when he finally decided to do something, i think he made a decision that's limited and can be executed with success. i'm sure what was in his mind is i stood back to bill clinton when he have he was apologizing to people in rwanda because we didn't do anything then. we had genocide then. i know it's got to be in the president's mind as he was making these decisions. >> i went to rwanda. i was part of those trying to force clinton to deal with the issue. these reports, congressman, of women

. >> tracy shelton is a 34-year-old freelance journalist from australia who heads to libya to cover theit began with protests, as in many of the arab countries, inspired by egypt and tunisia. people started protesting for more freedom. but the reaction from the gadhafi regime was to shoot protesters, to try and stop these protests with violence. >> the violence that gadhafi unleashed on them was a violence of another order altogether. we're not talking now mubarak's security forces. we're talking about mercenaries. we're talking about jets. we're talking about tanks. so with the libyan revolution the idea of non-violence had to be laid to rest for the sake of libyans. >> the war rages for months. in late august 2011 the rebels, with the help of nato forces, gain the upper hand and advance on tripoli, libya's capital. >> tripoli just fell. within three days they had control of the entire city, which no one had expected. and gadhafi and his whole family fled. there was a lot of excitement in the country because it seemed like it was over. >> but it isn't over. not while gadhafi and his so

. >> tracy shelton is a senior correspondent for global post. she joins me on the phone from irbil, iraq, the capital of the kurdish region and a frontline in the battle with isis. what's been the reaction there to the u.s. air strikes? >> well, people are still skeptical. there's been a lot of talk, but they haven't seen a lot of action in the past. they're happy there is some action that's going to be taken, but they're waiting to see how much it's going to be, how effective it's going to be, how prolonged. so yeah, people are very scared. but they're happy about the initial strikes at least. >> and tracy, they're very scared, but what's the status of the refugees on that mountain? >> i was with a young man this afternoon. his father is one of the people trapped up there. he called to him today. they're all sick. many of them have died already from dehydration, from lack of food. they have nothing. they're out there in the elements. yeah, they can't last very long. >> and tracy, one last question. how close are the isis fighters to irbil now?

tracy shelton from "the global post" right now reporting from erbil. tracy, thanks very much for your report. we're going to continue our coverage now. the u.s. back in iraq, some limited air strikes have begun. you heard what the very limited mission is for now. of course there's going to be a big political debate and policy debate about whether the united states waited too long to act when it comes to dealing with isis, but you heard what the mission is. for now to give the kurds the space so that they can see if they can take the fight. the best fighting force there is in iraq of any of these ethnic groups are the kurds. will they be able to hold isis back? you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc and our continuing coverage of new air strikes in iraq. we'll be right back. shingles affected me tremendously as a pilot. the pain in my scalp area and down the back of my neck was intense. it would have been virtually impossible in that confined space to move to change radio frequencies. i mean it hurt. i couldn't even get up and drive let alone teac

i want to bring on the phone, correspondent for global post, tracy shelton, and kevin sut cliff. you're in the region. if you can give us your assessment of how effective these air strikes have been? is there any sense that isis has been incapacitated in any way? >> not yet, i think it's a little early to tell as well especially from here because there are reports we're getting back may take a little time. but yes, i think it is going to take longer. the air strikes are just the beginning. it needs a ground force to take back any of this territory. we're waiting for them to mobilize and move in there before we can evaluate how effective it's been. >> kevin, you've done great reporting with vice on the subject of isis, a lot has been discussed about the kurdish fighting forces. do you think the assessment they were this great bull work is an accurate one and the fact that isis has been able to penetrate them in some ways shocking. was that a surprise to you? what have you seen from them in terms of their capabilities? >> i think all of it has taken everyone by surprise, the speed

joining me now by phone senior correspondent tracy shelton in erbil, iraq. for joining us. i know, you posted the video we're going to put up from inside a refugee camp of 2500 iraqis who have fled the militants there. some said they were afraid for their lives. can you describe some of the people that you encountered and some of the stories they were sharing with you? >> yes, well, many of these families fled. many of these families have been displaced again and again. they come from one village and ran from another. they are constantly under threat. even the area where the camp is, it's almost right on the border now. it's -- the families are going to have to move out. >> it's a big concern for them. i want to ask you this, as we learn about the strikes today how much of the new u.s. intervention will actually make a difference for them in your eyes? >> well, people are skeptical because they've heard a lot of talks but haven't seen a lot of action. over the past week they have seen the islamic state start to make a push forward. it seems to be the opposit

tracy shelton is a global post senior correspondent who covers the middle east, including iraq and syria. she joins me by phone from the kurdish capital of erbil. tracy, what's the latest on the ground there after a few days of u.s. air strikes and seemingly the return of some semblance of calm? >> reporter: i couldn't quite hear the last part of the question? >> i said what's this feeling on the ground after a few days of u.s. air strikes and a semblance of calm from reports we have in the region? >> reporter: oh, yes. yeah, well, things are improving. about a week ago there was a huge panic here in erbil, even among the kurdish people, that they were going to continue pushing forward here. now that the front lines have stopped and the peshmerga forces seem to be making some progress, people have become much more calm here. of course the minority groups are still very uncertain about their future because most of them are still living as displaced families here. even some still sleeping in the streets and in the churches here. many of the yezidi families still have no place to go because