Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20130905

202 5853880. Later, we will hear from republicans. President obama took his push for action in syria overseas yesterday on a threeday trip in and the Financial Times has the headline. Obama says the world has to act over syria. The g20 is on the president s agenda. That is where tension remains between him and the leader of russia. She then accused the president ofng on it evidence lying on evidence in syria. He said his credibility is not on the line. Guardian,the leaders trade threats before the summit. Tweeted a picture of the president touching down in that city ahead of the g20 meeting. There it is. The president is going to be meeting with the other g20 leaders later today. Joining us on the phone is david jackson, the White House Reporter with usa today. A series of g 20 things is on the agenda. There will be an arrival ceremony. A workinghere will be dinner. In between all of that, he will have a oneonone meeting with the japanese Prime Minister. Earlier this week, president obama spoke with the Prime Minister by phone. I would expect to hear japanese endorsement of military action in syria. The committee voted 107 to advance the military plan for syria. What does that give the president heading into the leak into the meeting with the other leaders . They were hoping for a bigger margin. It may be notable that the press secretary sent out a statement hailing the senate vote, but we did not hear from the president himself. Him a moment while he tries to prepare himself at the g20. Host yesterday, he said it was not his right ability all credibility on the line, he said it was the International Communitys. Guest the United Nations has been skeptical and taking action and so has nato. That was the notion president obama was isolated on this issue. He is trying to note that we have outlawed chemical weapons there are treaties against the use of chemical weapons. We have proof that syria has done this. He is looking for allies before he takes on a military action that could be risky and have unintended consequences. Sidelines on waits for the next move on syria. Who was he talking to besides japan . Else can give him endorsement on Going Forward in syria . Onst he has two meetings the schedule tomorrow. One is with the president of ideae who has endorsed the of a military strike in syria. It also met with the president of china i think china has been more skeptical. I am not sure he is going to get much help from that court. He is looking for as much help as he can. He got an endorsement from the swedish Prime Minister yesterday. He is looking or as many friends on the International State as he can get. With he is not meeting vladimir peterson putin. Could there be a standoff between the two . Guest they are bound to run into each other. Is the host of this years g 20 summit. They will meet probably on the sideline. I expect them to talk over the next couple of days. I expect syria will be one of the topics. You think there will be awkward moments between the two . Guest it is not a comfortable relationship. There is obviously friction there. There will be awkward moments, but they will have to deal with each other. The family of the swedish diplomat who saved thousands of , hisduring the holocaust family has asked the Obama Administration for russian help to find out what happened to him. That is another issue that is going to be thrown into the fire on u. S. Russian relations. They have a lot to talk about. Attention with other program, the nsa brazil, and mexico upset about reports recently that they are being spied on. Will the president address those concerns with those leaders . Brazil has complained about it as well. They came up yesterday at a News Conference in stockholm. That was the first question he was asked by a swedish reporter. He went to the defense of the nsa Surveillance System saying that we are only looking for possible terrorist links. That said,t of a lot of other countries have complained about the program. Another thing that president otherhas said countries engage in this type of activities am including countries that are protesting the u. S. Activities. This is day two of a dash of the trip for the president. What happens on day three . Will have the meetings with the leaders of france and china. There will be another working session of the g20. There will be a closing ceremony. He will have a post g20 News Conference tomorrow in saint petersburg, russia. I think it is going to be 9 45 eastern time friday morning. A lot of these issues that were talked about will surface again, then. Host do think the president will have something to come home with from the International Community when it comes to syria . Something he can say to help him convince lawmakers up on capitol hill . Guest he is hoping to get as many endorsements from other countries as he can. He may get help from japan, i think the president of france will reaffirm his support of military action. He has help from sweden. I suspect several other countries will weigh in on syria. He is trying to get as many countries as he can to sign off on this. Host thank you for this time today thank you for your time today. Going to starte with you and then we will switch over and hear from republicans. Pat, go ahead. Caller good morning. Astonishing. The United States government which is encountering the greatest level of doubt by the American People are conducting the lee terry exercises are conducting military exercises towards the shores of syria. It is not representing the trust factor to the American People. Here are couple of things that the American People are now finding out. There was an assassination and he disappeared from the world stage to show up in russia. The Russian Diplomats are leaking information that he that hey told putin wanted assad gone. He needed to acquiesce to saudi arabias demand to get out of the way and allow the assad regime to fall. Andrew parasilit Andrew Parasiliti putin basically told him no. It is not the first time that the rebels have been accused of using chemical weapons. The American People are aware of this. Lot in thes a papers today about the chemical weapons. We will get to that. Tom us and upper marlboro, maryland. What are your thoughts . The house is working on a proposal. Caller i would like to make a few points. 1985, the doctrine for the new american. I think all of your listeners should look at that document. Host where did you find that doctrine . Caller online. Point two. Was beingsley clark interviewed by andy goodman he told her a story about visiting the pentagon. He was told by one of his general friends that the pentagon had drawn up plans to attack seven middle Eastern Countries in five years. If you look at the list that he gave andy goodman, you can see the game plan for what is happening now. Host where did you find that . Caller i found that on youtube. Goose creek, go ahead. Caller why are we wasting our resources question mark i dont why are we wasting our resources . I dont think it is a good idea. Host we are hearing from democrats only. For about 50 more minutes. Go ahead, samantha. Caller we have always help the massacred inre terrible circumstances in the past and we need to step up. We are the best and we need to step up and do something about all of the children i am seeing on my television dying in one day. Can do this. I support my president. I am so proud of him. He involved congress. This is something we will have to wade through. Host do you think that includes getting rid of the leader of that country . Caller that is not our responsibility. That is not up that is not what our president is asking of us. He is trying to get rid of the stockpiles of chemicals that assad is going to be using again. He is not going anywhere, anytime soon. This is not what our president is asking for authorization for. He is asking for a different kind of plan. We need to wake up and Pay Attention to what he is asking of us. Host lets show a little bit of what he had to say in his speech in stockholm yesterday. [video clip] i did not set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 of the worlds population said that is ase of chemical weapons forbidden. They passed a treaty. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Set a red line when it that in a piece of titled the syria accountability act that some of the arendt us things that are happening on the ground there need to be answered for. Come in a press conference, that my calculus about what happened in syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons the overwhelming consensus of. Umanity says is wrong that wasnt a thing i made up. I did not pluck it out of thin air. There is a reason for it. That is point number one. Point number two. My credibility is not on the line. The International Communitys credibility is on the line. Congresscredibility is on the line. We give notion that these International Norms are important. Host president obama laying out his argument for why the country needs to strike in syria. Relations foreign such aee approved strategy. A limited his military campaign also yesterday, the Foreign Affairs committee had its own from secretary of state john kerry as well as defense secretary chuck hagel. The Washington Post, some arab states are supporting you u. S. Military strikes. A few u. S. States even offered to pay for the military ought operation after operation. Offered to pay for the military operation. On the senate vote, the miami herald reports this the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 107 vote indicates the deep divisions in the president s qwest to take military action. The Arizona Republic with their headline. They say this. The measure is expected to reach the senate floor next week. The timetable for a vote is uncertain. The support seen in the senate will be harder to find. It is also reviewing obamas request. The timetable is even less certain in the house. Theye Los Angeles Times, report this several senators in both parties predicted the senate would approve it next week. The conflicted views were clear in the vote. Menendez, the democrat from new jersey and chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, and john mccain supported the resolution. Voted with liberal tom udall against it. That is the Los Angeles Times on that boat yesterday. We covered that as well yesterday. Go to our library on cspan. Org. Bill, in missouri. Caller good morning. First of all, i would like to say that i do not believe anything that comes out of my governments mouth. We used chemical weapons in iraq, in falluja. We dropped tons of depleted uranium. Israel used White Phosphorus in gaza. Not ap out of the not a peep out of the world or anyone else. You have the nerve to sit up here and talk about syria . It wasnt the Syrian Government. Goons thatdunes our government sent into syria that are using the weapons of mass destruction. That is my take on it. Host the Washington Post is a fact check on what senator john kerry had to say. He claimed only three tyrants have used to michael weapons. According to the Fact Checkers they say kerrys claim is incomplete. There were at least three more uses of chemical weapons since 1925. Henry, hi there. Seems i find it in 2001, whenat george bush took us into iraq, the main reason was weapons of mass destruction. We didnt find any of those. Issuehe biggest americans had with that is that we never found weapons of mass destruction. If he had found them, the war would have been justified. The losing of our troops would have been justified. We can say the war was wrong your we stand here we stand now going into serious. He is not using the words weapons of mass instruction. Mass destruction. Is trying to seriously impede weapons of to use mass instruction. There is no doubt in anyones reminded that he has them. I know some people are against the iraq war. Cant be a supporter of the iraq war when they were saying there were weapons of mass to rock mass destruction. Now, the president wants to do the same thing where a dictator is actually using weapons of withdestruction and you that he and you think should have nothing to do with it. Host what do you think when he said it is not my red line . Congressid it is the red line . I believe there is a red line for the world. Somethingtator does host i think we lost you. The wall street journal editorial takes up president obama saying it is not his red line. Harry truman, please call president obama. Harry truman saying, the buck stops with him. Personal leadership responsibility, tell the members of congress that they are responsible for whatever happens if they fail to pass his resolution. Mr. Obama still hasnt figured out after five years in office that america is the only enforcer of world order. There is no substitute for the president of the United States. He cannot default to the International Community, much less in congress. He has to lead. If he loses in syria come it will become it will be because he didnt. Obama faces a barrier in his own party when it comes to syria. The state of the resolution rests with nancy pelosi. She has not faced a bigger test from the president since she helped push his Health Care Overhaul through the house in 2010. Her efforts come as the white house is taking additional steps to convert democrats. Calldnesday, a conference on the house progressive caucus. Democrats turnal up the heat. They have this chart for you. Taking it to congress. Lawmakers role in Major Military actions. You can see which ones brought their requests to congress and which ones did not. The Foreign Affairs committee had a meeting with president obamas top security advisers. This is what Brian Higgins had to say he was saying he was arguing against action in serious. In syria. [video clip] solve and cannot should not try to solve this conflict. It is not a fight for freedom and democracy. There is no Democracy Movement in syria. There is no unifying vision or social contract, or even a preamble of was syria wants to become. This is a fight between two secretary and factions. Militiasix of islamic thousand to be about a with no air power. It is a conflict between a andal, murderous dictator whos best fighters are represented by al qaeda. Ffiliates there are no good options for the United States in syria. Civil wars have to be fought internally. Clinical reconciliation cannot come from without. It has to come from within. That cannot be imposed by outside influences. About those military options, the front page of the wall street journal says the agon is preparing to initially, pentagon lehner said they did not intend to use aircraft in their strikes. That is the front page of the wall street journal. We are talking to democrats for a couple more phone calls. Frank, go ahead. On the i am discouraged president making his move. The president talks about a red line, but there is a line running deep in america. Alabamaa big fight in about obamacare. We have thousands of kids dying in the streets each day. If they have to save kids in get seriousneed to about saving lives in the United States. He needs to hope i think [indiscernible] on president needs to focus gun laws and obamacare here in america. Host would you support the president if this happens . Caller no. I will be like the last person in the senate that was opposed to the invasion of iran and all of that. I dont understand how john and these obama will war obama wars shame on john kerry. Against these wars when he was a candidate for president and i dont understand his backsliding. The republicans are beating these drums. , am saying to the president concentrate on gun laws here in america. Concentrate on obamacare. He shouldthe issues be focused on in the United States. Host we will move onto randy, in iowa. I think first and foremost, we need to stop killing women and children with Collateral Damage from our missiles. To create a larger catastrophe would be a mistake. The other thing i would like to point out is that under this we are stillgram making Cruise Missiles and cutting food stamps and head start. I would like to suggest renaming to the foodissiles stamp missiles or maybe we could put the names of a million children who are doing without a meal here in america before they go to school or during their School Lunches for every Cruise Missile that is going to be launch in this area. Have a great day. We are going to switch to republicans for the last 25 minutes. Jim, in bay city michigan is our first republican caller. Jim, go ahead. Has never taken the obama has never taken responsibility for anything he has ever said. He has blamed everybody, just like his red line bit. He said it. The man has never taken responsibility in his life. Host do you question the intelligence about chemical weapons . No, but he is the one that drew the line. He made the red line statement. Aside, do you think that there should be military strikes . No, we are not the Police Department of the world. Hear fromill republicans only here for the remainder of the first part of the washington journal. The New York Times reports on chemical weapons. The secretary of state told congress in hearings that they believe the military was responsible for the attack. Controls syrian chemical weapons. Was done by the Massachusetts Institute of technology. They based their investigation on scores of online videos and photographs posted since the attacks. In interviews and reports, the two weapons specialists said their analysis suggested that the warheads carried toxic payloads of about 13 gallons, iters previouslyeader estimated. Expert said war if the estimate was correct, only the government could have achieved such a large volume of production. Next to that, a story that saysthe Human Rights Watch that the government has used and had documented dozens of locations where they had been fired over the past year. We will go back to phones. I love your show. Host what are your thoughts this morning . Caller i was watching the coverage this morning and it is ironic that a president that made his career out of not , they are go to war now beating the drums. We have no business in someone elses war. They will continue to kill each other after we leave. This is a story exclusive to politico this morning that robert gates, the former defense secretary backed obama. Does that carry weight with you . Did not do things right when he was in power. Party tired ofme vietnam and the same party that cut support for the military to force nixon to finally pull the troops out. That is written in stone cold blackandwhite. Former secretary gates gave a two sentence statement, the endorsement is the highest level official to straddle the two administrations will be helpful as the white house makes its case to lawmakers. Greg and ohio. Caller i love your show. Outnted to throw the word there that i am very in the way that our country has been represented by the gentleman, especially kerry. Just the way he presented himself. Did not seem to know the answers. I dont know. I am very disappointed. You are watching tuesdays hearings and yesterdays hearings . Caller for three or four hours. Go ahead, finish your thought. Caller i am very disappointed in the way we were represented as a country. If i was another country watching that program, i would be laughing my tail off. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 107 to advance the military plan for action in syria. We will show you what the senator had to say after he cast his vote. Happens why what that is why i have urged the president to pursue a more robust engagement. Replace assad with a stable and secular government. I have never supported the use theilitary force in conflict and i still dont. I remain unconvinced that it will work. The only thing that will prevent him from using weapons is for the people to remove him from power. Believe the u. S. Military might prove to be counterproductive. Host yesterday after he voted a to move forward on resolution for military action in syria. On the Heritage Action in washington dc. The group came out against president obamas proposal, putting the group at odds with john boehner and other gop leaders that backed the strikes. Says thefrom usa today house panel appears divided. Panel is populated by some of the more vocal opponents of the military effort includingt and right the democrat from florida who is whipping opposition and a faction of conservative freshman lawmakers that have announced their opposition as well. Hi, michael. Vietnam veteran and i would like to congratulate cspan. What i wanted to talk about is iran are and around allies of russia. Russia were to do is weacked israel or england should keep our hands off. Caller how would we take on host how would we take on russia . With boots on the ground or maybe nuclear. We need to stay out of syria and iran. Vladimir putin admits early contact with Edward Snowden. Contacted Russian Diplomats to no agreement was reached shelter him. He decided on his own to come to russia. He had previously said his arrival on june 23 was a surprise. Back to the situation in congress and whether or not president obama has the votes to go forward with military action. A story by a Longtime National security reporter, the chairman of the House Armed Services that they will seek to subvert sequestration. That is this morning. And there is this from the New York Times that the serious debate is crowding other issues on my calendar. Calendar. With the budget and debt crisis foring, it has narrowed immigration, Energy Efficiency and surveillance laws. It remains unclear how long the syrian debate will take. They expect it to drag out into the third week of september, that will scramble the calendar. Theproblem is striking in house that will barely be in session this month. The senate is scheduled to work for five straight weeks. Taking ninell be work days off during that stretch. Tohael, we are talking republicans only to get your partys take on action in syria. Go ahead. Caller i was saying my thing earlier about attacking the allies of russia and escalating conflict. I have no shortterm memory and did not realize you were still there. I was calling to say that i agree with president obama and the military strike on syria. Onlythey have done is not unhumanitarian, but it affects all of us. In order for us to stay protected, as a country, we need. O stand together we need to prevent further attacks which will happen if we do not act now. If Vladimir Putin doesnt like it, he cant bully the United States. Caller the vast majority of calls this morning against this action, there is merit to the case for action. But there seems to be such disarray. The government looks like monty pythons flying circus. Together do need to be. Previous actions in the middle east, this is completely off the charts. I cant see authorizing this to do anything in the middle east. Host james, what are your thoughts . We lost you. For ag from republicans little over five minutes here. The president looking for approval from congress. This picture is a bit graphic. They stand over captured soldiers while the commander recited a verse before they were shot dead. The scene smuggled out by a former rebel disgusted by the that some ofgusted the rebels have adopted the same ruthless tactics as the regime they are trying to overthrow. Video shot in april joins a growing body of evidence of an increasingly criminal environment populated by killers. Jerry . Like to say that back in the day, during world war ii, the United States said they would never let anything like in germany happen ever again. They would never let anybody kill people like adolf hitler did. It absolutely would not happen. Obama and everybody else was right on target with the serious deal. The affects of the gas, you cant go there. We said back in world war ii, once we found out about it. I wanted to let everybody to know that. We are talking to republicans only for five more minutes, reading the story about the rebels. John kerry said yesterday that rebels are not all bad guys. The map ofncludes the military buildup. This includes syria, iran, russia, hezbollah. Robin in indiana. You . R hi, how are i would like to give all the listening, democrats and republicans and independents, i want to give them context for of their individual state. I went to the library and they helped me with it. Online thing is called contacting the congress. It will give you the names of your congressman and your sorry,ntatives from im nervous. Representatives from your district . Caller it gives the names of thesenators and it gives d. C. Phone number, fax number, and computer contacts to talk to these senators. This,ter how you feel on it seems to me that the congress totallysenate are ignoring the people they represent because they are not looking at the poll numbers. We will have to leave it there and i want to give folks some other headlines. The is the New York Times, governor of rhode island will not run again. This effectively end his political career and narrows the democratic primary field to popular democrats that surprised him in the polls. The governor in virginia, his legal bills are mounting. Including an initial 54,000 that the firm builds. The bill is mounting for the taxpayers in virginia. Obama has dispatched ex president s to drum up support. You can find it there. Living in states that recognize such unions. Last phone call hearing from a republican in michigan on whether or not the president should go forward and congress should go forward after the Relations Committee yesterday advanced the military plan. Caller i think they should put the power back in the Un Security Council and just have the council arrest or apprehend assad. What about the effort to block the movement by the u. N. . The whole world would participate instead of, depending on the u. S. Instead of depending on the u. S. Time and again. Host we will continue the on syria. On on syria asjoin us well as the potential fallout. And later, we will discuss top impact ofcluding the syria on wall street and the economy. We will be right back. The ringing of this bell announces the opening on thanksgiving day of the 22nd annual sale. It was such a shame when we wenthere, and when to columbia, the president ial palace. It. Y piece of furniture in as mothers, we are concerned. World that of the pledge to do all that is possible to stop this. Looking in the public and private lives of women that served as first lady in their own words. Roosevelt at edith 9 00 eastern. The science doesnt tell us what to do. Willlls us what we think happen and we have to make choices on that. The implications is that the earth is always changing and societies can change and adapt in many ways. It might be something that we . Can adapt to, but if you take the idea that society can adapt, ofleaves us with a question if this is the world we want to live in. We carethings that about our endangered and we have a choice. Can human ingenuity save the planet . 9 00, part oft book tv on cspan two. This town. See what other viewers are saying. Want to welcome the editor and chief executive officer of almonitor. Com. He is also the former policy advisor to chuck hagel. Yesterday, the Foreign Relations Committee Approved a resolution to strike syria 107. What do you make of the resolution . Guest it was an interesting the Foreign Relations committee narrowed the scope of authorization. It was not limited to degrade the weapons capability. It reflected a mood that your callers pick up on about a doesrn that this operation not extend much beyond that. You also saw the initiative by senator mccain to introduce a ,tatement of policy that reads changing momentum on the battlefield as one of the objectives of u. S. Policy. Ande are some in the senate in the congress that would like to see a more assertive policy regarding the use of force for the chemical ability of the government in order to strengthen the rebels. Statement of that policy is not binding to the degree of authorization. Host is anything binding . It is a resolution and not a bill. Something thats the president believes will strengthen his hand given the country has been divided on syria and he would get some congressional support. The president will, at times, go to congress for authorization. Senator paul introduced ideas about revisiting that. Authorityent has the to use force. Caller you heard senator chris murphy who voted no along with thisor tom udall link which complicates the situation even more in the house. They are elected every two years and they tend to be more sensitive to popular opinion. Only 29 of americans support a military strike. A new poll indicates 70 do not support aid to the syrian rebels. Opposedtry is very much to engagement in syria. What did you make of the time limit to this resolution . 60 90 days . 90 days . They want to make sure that the policy is not open ended. They have made it continue over time, congress is sensitive given the popular opposition to a strike that the resolution did not lead to anything more than narrow authority for a strike. Host what happens on day 91 . Guest that is a good question. He can come back for 30 days after a certain contingency, then he has to go back to congress. The house has to do its bit with the resolution. There is a call to articulate a serious strategy. And put forward exactly what is the strategy. It is not in isolation of a Broader Vision of what the u. S. Is doing in syria. Ground andots on the this conflict cannot go outside this. Borders. Borders. Rian guest right. Members are continually returning to the issue of no boots on the ground. The secretary made it clear that is not being anticipated. You wrote that syria is going from bad to worse. And nimble statecraft intense diplomacy, there could be an opportunity to initiate a strategy to end the war. Do you still believe that . Yes, i do believe that. That syria is going from bad to worse. Strike, the chemical weapons attack that killed 1400 is the latest terrible event in a war that has taken the lives of over 100,000 people. There are over 2 million registered refugees. The crisis gets worse every day for the people of syria and the region. Influence,t terrorism there. Car bombs are going off all over baghdad. This is related to syria. This is what is happening. Not to mention lebanon of or jordan. Lebanon or jordan. Our allies are under great stress by this. Whatever we do in terms of limited military strikes, the consequence of that will likely be that the war goes on and more people die. The war will most likely be ended through a Diplomatic Initiative that gets us to a political solution. Hat includes engagement news ingone over the terms of u. S. Russia relations. It might be harder as a consequence of the strike but it is still necessary. Host is it a civil war . Guest it is a civil war and a regional war. There were uprisings against the government, people challenging the authoritarian rule. It has changed into something more than that. It still continues. But it is also now the frontline battlefield for global jihadists. And a sectarian war backing assad on one side, backing oppositionists on the other side. Complicated. Re no one is pure on either side of this. It really complicates u. S. Policy options. Host tell our viewers what al monitor. Com is. Do what we do trending while covering the news. Every day, we have original coverage throughout the region. Our attention to exceptional reporting and exceptional analysis. We have been watching this issue very carefully. Tracking whateen is happening in egypt. Covering the egyptian situation. Syria, then hopeication of those that for positive change in syria. They talk about dealing day in and day out with the regime and forces. Islamicist you have been doing translating from arabic to english . One thing that we believe most peopled , we focused ond translatey to quickly articles. Many of them right in their original language. Where do you get your funding . And owner isunder president and ceo of crest investment. Committed and that has been essential in this type of site. As ceo of the company, i have been looking at Digital Media it is anue models. Charitable enterprise. Host he is the editor and chief executive officer. You are up first. Caller there are no consequences for using these chemical weapons, there will be in the production and distribution. [indiscernible] and the same way that drugs come in every day. What about not doing something to rid the country of chemical weapons . Guest there is the consequence of an action. Case, will it be a that they could be used elsewhere in e that is what the administration is making. Larger policy question here. And not just president obama. Questioned why not take this to the Security Council . Through that type of channel. They have faced challenges from the russian position. They seem to be supportive of action in syria. I think he is trying to rally the allies for an international consensus. We will see how it goes. What sort of power does russia have . Guest the power to veto. Putin said that he would consider a response in syria if he was presented Persuasive Evidence and if it was taken to the Security Council. President has said he has not received that evidence and it would be interesting to see what, if anything president when they to putin encounter each other. Weighing in on what president putin has said, truth serum is the title of the editorial. He can easily find out more about chemical weapons. They should investigate this atrocity. A horrible crime was committed and given russias past, he cant look the other way. Before the republican colorways and, does this have any efluence, the editorial in does i . Does it matter in the debate . What matters is the understanding on syria. Den,use of the issue on snow relations are not good right now. They have invested in a policy of reset. You are seeing frustration that the u. S. Is not being more about the evidence on chemical weapons. Given that it could facilitate. He rise of jihadist host thanks for holding. Dear . how are you, i was curious, if we decide to drop bombs on syria and muslims here, willihad over that put us in a pretty precarious situation . I hear controversy that oman the be part of the Muslim Brotherhood and 8 billion has gone to the brotherhood. A couple of weeks later, we hear about a chemical attack. Related . Ering, is this here . Used as a pawn i dont think we are being used as a pond and i dont see any relationship between president obama and the Muslim Brotherhood. What they are trying to do is manage a very difficult situation in syria. It has evolved from an uprising against the government two years ago to a regional sectarian war where the sides are not clear. Perhaps it was a mistake and mistakent about statement about a red line. President is cautious about the use of force and he campaigned on getting u. S. Troops out of her rack. Of iraq. Host get us out of the middle east altogether. Independent caller from california. I wanted to ask how political you think that vote was yesterday from the senators . Barbara boxer voted for this. Would they vote for a strike . That is a good question. As the caller indicates, there is a strong opposition to the use of force. Other thing that makes it quite difficult is that the president has put himself out there. There is the issue of the u. S. Needing to do something and the president asking congress for. Upport will also members feel that they need to support the president. Political divisions and political unity need to end at the waters edge. Whatnk that is exactly many members are wrestling with. Supporting the president with credibility and popular opposition for military engagement. How prone are moderate middle Eastern States like the uae, qatar, oman to unrest like syria . Hard to say. Guest we are seeing a time of turbulence in the middle east. They seemed well fed in terms of the leadership. See challenges in the rain bahrain. This is a regional phenomenon. Frustration,ght be but it is out there and it makes policy guidance that much more difficult. The guest comment on what more the u. S. Can be doing to help refugees . Guest the u. S. Has been a leader in terms of the refugees. The picture shown by one of the members of the house, the refugee crisis is overwhelming. Piece right now, there is the possibility it could double or appreciably increase. Small states that already have their own government challenges, it is hard to imagine how much more they can take. Support needsher to be accelerated. Caller the president campaigned that he would not engage us in any kind of act of war. As far as i am concerned, this is. I feel that we cant keep doing this. The thing that would be credible as if we could take a more peaceful stance. I feel that right now, we need to take a different stand and it should be more about peace. I think the caller reflects a view that is out there. Options that the administration can pursue in addition to contemplation of military strikes. , time and again, has made it clear that there is compelling evidence. Were might be a point where can show more of that evidence to the International Community. The Washington Post reporter said to show more of the evidence to defer or deflect some of the skepticism that may be out there. The Un Security Council is one option. The diplomatic track that includes real intensification of our engagement. Difficulty with Foreign Policy but you have to talk to adversaries. They have the most influence with the assad regime. A big question ahead of syria attack. Leaders not unified on their response. You see an interesting debate, though that may be the wrong word. A diversity of views coming out of a random out of iran. We have an iran pulse. We have reportings in persian. Here are careful statements iran supports syria and is opposed to a military strike, but they also have an experience with chemical weapons. Iran was the victim of chemical weapons during the iraniraq war. Thousands died as a result of regime in thes world looked the other way. This is a bit of principle and Foreign Policy. , and it couldthis be an opportunity if iran sees a common interest that it could be an opening or a bridge. Year, thef this iranian minister used the term redline. We shouldthing that continue to watch carefully. Host louisiana, republican caller. Go ahead. What should have been done with a good leader like august,on the 22nd of we should have made the palace a dirty ashtray. Knocked out his control, runways, air force one day later instead of announcing it to everyone now. , if we the chemicals could have invaded through the turkey, we wouldve stopped those flow of chemicals. They keep bashing bush. The weapons of mass destruction were there, they were sent to syria. A couple of issues that the caller raises. One is timing. Which wecal attack knew about as it was happening, as i understand. That was august 21. We are over two weeks from that attack. So as Congress Gets through with their business. The military is aware of this. They might have lost some targets but they are gaining targets by monitoring what is moving around. There is a question of timing and how this is all played out. Pincussd to walter piece today. President desert fox, clintons military strike on Saddam Hussein. What happened there, those strikes were significant in deg rading iraqs wmd capabilities. After 2003reports that the weapons of mass destruction may have gone to syria. I dont know if that has been proven or documented. But there were reports that it may have happened. Edward from fort washington, maryland. Turn that television down and go ahead. Caller how are you doing today . Ask, istion i want to hear about the war in syria and the chemicals they use. Service, iin the remember using chemicals in vietnam when they killed trees. They are still dying there today. Use chemicals, there was nothing but chemicals. Why dont people tell the truth . Yes, the documented use of napalm is wellknown and has been the subject of controversy. Let me answer that this way. Of theticism administration in this case has been, why not wait for the u n inspectors report . They press the government of syria to allow a you and Inspection Team a u. N. Inspection team. August, inspectors were granted access in syria. The august 21 attack occurred while the inspectors were in syria. In that was shocking. Say though they will not who did it, the information about the type of chemical weapon and the amount of chemical weapons used you cited a report earlier today utilizing video about how much may have been used in the attack. That type of information can be helpful even if it is not pointing a finger at the regime or the rebels. It can be helpful making the case about the type and amount of chemicals used. Many question the timing of this. If we are waiting for congressional authority, why did we not wait for the u. N. Report . Host two weeks in, we have all the evidence we need. Days, we know all about who used the chemical weapons. Lewis . Caller i have an idea. Level,t we, at the u. N. Assetsate all of syrias worldwide and put a total embargo on any of their exports, a combinedervices as conglomeration of Countries Worldwide . Why is nobody talking about doing that instead of honoring instead of bombing . Camps can support refugee with medical personnel. International sanctions are, and should be, part of what is happening to syria. Accountability act which imposes a number of sanctions on the Syrian Government. The u. S. Has implemented specific, targeted sanctions within the Syrian Government. They are probably in terms of economic effort, there is more that can be done. What Mutual Aid Agreements are in place with neighboring countries . League has been critical of what syria has been doing. They have held back from recording a military response. It is rhetorical support for some reaction to what took place in syria. What came out in the hearings the uniteds that arab emirates and turkey had a key base for operatiosns there. U. S. Has a close relationship with israel. They are affected on the front lines. We had a couple of fantastic reports about their reaction and the governments pause. Intensively engaging allies in the region for whatever action will be taken. Host what if the u. N. Evidence shows that it came from libya and might have been used by the rebels . Guest it is a good question. The evidence could be helpful if not determinative. It is important to keep in mind what the inspectors are trying to do. If there is Detailed Analysis of. He samples it happened, let me tell you about the use of it and what we if it was sarin used. Learn some information when that report comes in. Host one of the headlines is that the white house has dismissed intelligence on chemical weapons saying that they are far more ahead of the game than the un. It remains to be seen. I am not privy to the classified information or what the inspectors might turn out. Something about what the u. N. Is going to i am thinking of a political advantage that comes from having evidence produced by the team as part of a u. S. Case about chemical weapons use. And colinwith iraq powells presentation to make the case against Saddam Hussein and the weapons of mass destruction capability, much of the evidence presented at that time has proven to be false. That still hangs over this debate. That is whatever the extent of what the ui and inspectors could find the political advantage might benefit the administration to not dismiss it. Host one last phone call, emily, republican. Would like to address the gentleman that call about the vietnam war. What i would like to know is, no one is talking about it i lost so many friends in the military from side effects of agent orange. Us, notry striked on country attacked us. It was Chemical Warfare. People suffered because of it. I do not know how anyone can have a conscience even though it is horrendous to use Chemical Warfare on the kurds, the syrians, we were never attacked in vietnam. No one is talking about it. I do not understand why. The use of chemical weapons or chemical agents in vietnam is a historical case that one might keep in mind. It is not a distinguished part of our military history in vietnam. On the other hand, this case, the use of chemical weapons, the alleged use of chemical weapons in syria, there is an argument that the prohibition on these as they as horrific are, needs to be enforced. That is the case the administration is making. In general, most people understand and believe that. The question is the means of enforcement does that involve a u. S. Unilateral strike on syria . Perhaps with support. Route through the International Community to reinforce this International Norm on the prohibition of chemical weapons. Only the u. S. Can lead on this has made the decision it is going to enforce that through military strike. It is now looking for that type of support. This is exactly the question and the debate that you are raising. Caller editor and ceo of and ceo of al motter. Com will stop we will talk to cnbcs larry kudlow. We will talk about the effect on the debt ceiling. Later, jeffrey mann will give us jeffrey mankoff. 8 33 a. M. Politico reports that the house and maybe even the senate would not approve the military strike if the film were held today. The top leader in each chamber is doing little to overcome surprisingly unconvincing private briefings by the white house, state department, and pentagon. There is word of a possible Oval Office Address on syria from calico from politico. A speech of some kind is under in that under consideration. This quote from House Minority whip in the next two months, the most unpopular institution in america the house will decide the fate of a president s power, the budget, health care implementation, the Federal Reserve chairmanship, and illegal immigrants. He goes onto say that in 33 years we have never come back from a summer break with the number of important issues that we will confront over the next 90 to 120 days. Next monday,rns september 9, watch live house coverage on cspan. The senate on cspan two. Those are the latest headlines on cspan radio. A continuous argument among lincoln among scholars. Is he with the radicals or the moderates . There is strong evidence on both sides. It is not just that he played both sides. It is also that he felt the pull of both sides argument. He was with the radicals as far as ends. He was aware of the temptation of being swept away by those ends. Speech aboutyceum other than the temptation of being swept away . A tamingin his mind commitmentween his to this worldly means legalist means. He did not say i can abolish slavery because god told me to. There was always something illegal about the way lincoln works. How president lincolns use of language convey the issues in the civil war. At 7 30 p. M. Eastern, part of American History tv every weekend on cspan 3. Washington journal continues. Cnbcs hostkudlow, of the kudlow report. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to advance a plan to go forward in syria. What is your personal take . Syrian terms of the the possible syrian attack, i favor it as long as it is tough enough to do some good and take off take out the air force, assads air force. Good rebels, the moderate rebels. Those can be done i will be an favor of it. I liked the mccain amendment yesterday, they moved us in the right direction. We will have a much tougher military operation than a lot of people believe, that is my view. I am not a Foreign Affairs expert. It looks like this thing is moving in a much tougher way then it was even a week ago. Host it appears that the difficulty for the president to get approval from congress resides in the house and with the divisions within the republican party. Bit of thatttle yesterday in the senate as well. What would you say to tea party republicans, those opposed to getting involved . Guest it is going to be a tough vote. Services Armed Services chairman on become a thet last night on last night. T he is undecided, that is how tough it is. The credibility of the u. S. Is on the line, we cannot stand by and let wrote dictators let rogue dictators use weapons of mass destruction. It is an argument that transcend it isrrent president about the u. S. , an argument about the institution of the presidency and the willingness of the u. S. To try to keep a more civilized world. That is my take. Hard things to do, ive noticed that. To go in there with one hand tied behind our back. Muchission has to be a more muscular mission than the one initially described by the a weeknt and his people ago. I thought secretary kerry did a great job last friday. Unfortunately, they walk that back. We will see. You have got the libertarian paulsf the gop, the rand who did not want involvement whatsoever. I do not agree with them. The u. S. Has to be involved. It has to be done in a meaningful, effective way. Host is there an economic argument for getting involved . No. T not a direct economic argument. This is about mustard gas, dictatorships, killing harmless civilians and their children. Gas how manyustard years ago . After worldagain war ii. I do not think this is an economic issue. It could have economic repercussions. I think that is a distant issue right now. Up issue of oil always comes with middle eastern unrest. Itfar as the price of oil, has been in a narrow trading 107 a barrel. No explosion. A lot of experts have told me q isng on our show that ira the key, there is a pipeline from kirkuk that runs through the mediterranean. There is a second pipeline area. The basra if those were stopped or damage, that could cause a jump in oil prices. It has not happened so far. Uk, the northern pipeline, is about one Million Barrels a day. Basra is more. If you cut those off, you could 150 oil. G that would be a disaster for the u. S. World economy. That is a longshot, i do not think anybody expects that to happen. Thus far, we have not seen any palpable consequences. Timesfinancial reporting with the headline attack may lead to oil release. A strike is not expected to have any direct effect. A release from oil reserves would be used to counter any disruption. On that point i have not seen it but that sounds right. Upped theire have production, close to 10 Million Barrels a day. Very much ine favor of what the u. S. Is doing. They have offered to finance our operations. Itself, is self, through fracking of oil and gas, we are producing a lot more oil than we used to. We have the Strategic Petroleum reserves that can be released in emergency. I am hopeful that oil would not be a factor. Host what about the impact on the stock market in general, how is the market reacting to what the president said last week . Now, as this unfolds, with congress coming back next week. Guest that is a good question. A hard question, so many factors in the stock market. Trading yesterday, i will do it day by day. Yesterday was very good. The dow is up almost 100 points, the price of oil fell. The price of gold, and inflation barometer, also fell. It looked like we were moving in the senate that the resolution was going to pass. Living in a direction of launching a military operation. On the other hand, before labor stocks solday off maybe 100 points. On manyet is trading different variables what the Federal Reserve is going to do, the economic, profits out for outlook. I dont think the stock market has made its mind up yet. Be good forit Defense Companies and their stock prices . Guest Defense Companies have had a good run. Raytheon,eport on their stock is soaring, one of the manufacturers of the tomahawk Cruise Mission Cruise Missiles. The Defense Sector has had a very good run. It had a good run longer than syria. Gene in ohio tweet in this doesnt the military Industrial Complex supply syria, egypt, iran, and russia . That is thet think case in syria. It is not the case in iran, we had a boycott on iran. A morestion of egypt complicated question. Yes, going back to the israeli egyptian palestine agreements of years ago, the u. S. Provides for aio foreign aid to both israel and egypt. I am not an expert. The u. S. Is very unhappy with the morsi regime, the Muslim Brotherhood. In a. S. Has, in eight anned theway, b egyptian military. We are continuing to meet our financial commitments to egypt. There is a debate about that. Michael, massachusetts, democratic caller. Go ahead. You or other newsmakers working for nbc ever considered how many lives could have been saved in the last 12 years if you have used had used your National Platforms to inform people of building 7 on 9 11 or any of the other evidence proving that explosives were used to bring down building 7 and the twin towers . Guest i cannot speak for nbc news. Cnbc news is a financial and business station. As far as i know, we have not gotten involved, that has not been a story that we covered. I may be wrong. So far as i know, we have not covered that story. C has talked about that, i cannot say. Is an organized effort out there by a group who believes that the government was involved in what happened on and askcall our show our guests about that. We have addressed it, we will move on. Gloria, las vegas, republican. Caller hi. Wanted to ask you, why is it 93 ofarry americans say no. Soldiers say no. Say no. Itizens nobody wants to go to celia. Everybody is backing syria. Host mr kudlow . I if you are referring assume these assumptions are made on the basis of polls. S thatare a lot of poll had measure different angles. It is not fair to say that the American Public wants us to look the other way on the syrian weapons of mass destruction, the chemical weapons. I do agree that the public does not want an active military presence on the ground. Boots on the ground. I agree with that, all the polls show that. On the other hand, has a lot of analysts have said, once you rephrase the question and you make it clear that we are talking about using air force wanting bombing, and that there will be no ground involvement, all of the sudden the numbers change. As many as 60 , something as 50 are willing to go after syria as long as we do it on a naval, air force, Bombing Mission rather than army or in thetree or infantry on ground. Americans understand the dangers of weapons of mass destruction. Assad rstand that because he was losing the suburbs of damascus, decided to release the gas and kill 1400 some people in a suburb, including 400 young kids. I think americans are both sympathetic and hardheaded about these things. A rogue state like syria has to be dealt with. We do not want to get involved in a way that we were involved with iraq or afghanistan. I think polls are mixed. I will stick with the number 50 , from the nbc wall street journal poll. People are willing to go along with these attacks. Host here is twitter. What do you think of a tense to s tove the dod attempt remove the dod from the sequester as a requirement of support . Is a great report. I heard that last night from a house member from california who is the chairman of the House Armed Services committee, which has the appropriations oversight for that. Interview,sions an he said that sequestration must be altered, and that the military is short of funds. His argument was that the government is asking the military to do more while giving it fewer resources. I am a guy who wants a smaller government. I believe we should be reducing spending. That the waylso the sequester was put together half of the numbers came out of the pentagon. Here we are asking the Defense Department to do more. They have a very good point. Be somey have to modifications to sequestration. Whether that is part of a final authority to the administration for this military action, i dont know. It may be a companion bill, vote. We have a continuing resolution coming up the fiscal year ends september 30. October 1, there has to be a Discretionary Spending cr. That includes defense, the debt ceiling may come later. I expect the Defense Budget to be reexamined. Host what do you think will happen with the debt ceiling debate . That is a great question. If i had to guess right now, i think the debt ceiling will be increased. I think it will go rather smoothly. My contacts in both local parties, more on the republicans that both political parties, particularly the republican side does not want to shut the government down and risk a default on american treasury bills and bonds. I think that is a tough vote. Speaker john boehner and others believe that if you raise the debt ceiling, you have to cut the source of the debt, which is overspending. That is a point of view that i generally agree with. They might want to do it in a compromise, where there was some entitlement reform involved. They do not want to do it with any tax increase. They have made that very clear. We have already had a double whammy tax hike in 2013. The top end of the bush tax cuts were raised, and then the obamacare hikes are kicking in. It is going to be tough. I do not think the president will get his wish, which is a clean debt ceiling. Over. Days are there will be some spending negotiations that could include the very positive entitlement reform. That might be a good thing. A toughing to be battle. I think that people have to be alert this is a market issue. You asked about Financial Markets. Nobody in the Financial Markets once a debt default, that is a default, thatt would be very damaging. Everybody is worried that the timeframe is so short, the continuing resolution has to be done by october 1. According to jack lew, we may run out of Borrowing Capacity by midoctober. That is only two weeks. We may be fighting a war with security at the same time. Host in the span of two months, House Republicans the tea will, libertarian wing potentially vote to approve military strikes in syria, raise the debt ceiling, and possibly do away with sequestration for the paragon the pentagon. Do you think that is possible . Guest it is a hell of an agenda. I would not characterize the gop as all tea party republicans. I am quite synthetic to their goals of limited Constitutional Government sympathetic to their goals of limited Constitutional Government. I am a reagan republican, a freemarket capitalist, a Ronald Reagan tax cutter. As you may know. I went to see a toughminded approach to the government and to borrowing. Now he key point right you could walk through all of these potential crises, i appreciate your questions the economy has to be allowed or incentivized to grow. We are really growing about 2 . That is not good. It is a very slow recovery. It is the slowest recovery in the postwar. Postwar period. There are a lot of reasons for that. We do not want to increase the governments burden on the economy. Measures like spending reform or tax reform particularly tax reform, i cannot emphasize that enough. How important and useful it would be to have corporate and Business Tax Reform that would rid ofhe rates and get the polls. That is the single best, most progrowth incentive we could provide. Let the money overseas be u. S. , it isinto the like free money, over 1 trillion. It would help a lot for investment and job creation. We have to think in terms of Economic Growth, that is the overriding issue. Unemployment has come down, that is great. I studied some of these numbers much of the employment we are getting is parttime. That is not great. Much of that is coming in low Wage Industries retail, faceted that is not great. And earnings among nonsupervisory workers are very slow. Hours worked are coming down. Some of this is a function of the regulations and obamacare. Some of this is a function of general caution by this and says. By businesses. Many people have dropped out of the labor force. One measure of unemployment is close to 14 . Job creation, investment, those are the thing Going Forward. When you measure it these fiscal issues that you have raised the continuing resolution, the sequestration we have to think about growth. How to get the American Economy growing at about 4 to make up for lost time. How to get the almost 20 Million People who are either not working or discouraged or underemployed how to get them back, functioning, and productive so this American Economy can really lead the world again. Those are the things that i think about when these policy questions,. Come up. About 20 minutes left with larry kudlow, host of the kudlow report. Any limited strike is just stoking the fire when it comes to serial. To syria. Rick, tennessee, independent. Caller i wanted to speak on the International Law that was orms, ourhe n credibility, stuff like that. As International Law and norms goes, we have broken a few of those with our torture and invading iraq without a reason. Our credibility is shot anyway. Everybody is talking about the International Norms. I did not hear people crying when bush was torturing people, when we went into iraq without a reason. It was a false reason. Host mr. Kudlow . Guest i do not agree with anything the cakke the caller said. This country, the u. S. , which is still the worlds later wor , has never used weapons of mass destruction. To lump the u. S. Into that verbal mess that i just heard is poppycock. In. tweeting increases his deployment of Chemical Warfare, how do we respond . Boots on the ground . I agree that that is a risk. I cannot answer that, i am not a military expert. I agree that that is a risk. If you read todays paper the front page of the wall street journal, the u. S. Military the greatest in the world is ramping up its facilities. It is ramping up all its facilities, both offenses and defensive. I have great confidence in our military. I cannot answer these what ifs, i dont think anyone can. Host javier, mississippi. Caller i am calling in reference to the crisis in syria. Is thecern that i have level of partisanship that was shown yesterday during the capitol hill hearings. Like the republicans were using this as a platform gain alongmpt to partisan lines. They continue to overlook the fact that chemical weapons have been used, that the concern was theconcern was raised about future use of chemical weapons against our men and women abroad. Representative kissinger showed the picture of the syrian children, making mention of the effects of the gas that was used. Do you think the republicans are so consumed with gaining political ground at home that they are completely overlooking the potential, or the negative ramifications of ignoring what is taking place . Guest no. I think thats very unfair. One of the leading backers of the president and his effort to get congressional authorization to undertake this military action is john mccain, president ial candidate in 2008 and leading republican. I could tack on senator Lindsey Graham as well. Vote. A bipartisan i think the level of bipartisanship so far we have seen in these Senate Deliberations we are moving thereo the house now has been a lot of bipartisanship. Mccain has been the president s biggest backer, while at the same time being critical of some of the tactics involved. They are now making an arrangement, a compromise so that we are going to degrade assad and all his military capabilities, and upgrade the Syrian Free Army to the extent that we can get the good guys to change the balance, which is 10th right now towards assad tips tipped right now towards assad. I see this as bipartisan. Some democrats and some republicans will oppose this. But Many Democrats and republicans are in favor of this. Theyre working out the language in both houses to come up with an effective resolution. At the moment, i just cant agree. I dont think this is a partisan operation at all. Host the president meeting with today. 20 leaders it is an economic summit. Syria is on the agenda here. Impact onhave any Economic Security Going Forward, trade between countries, etc. . I preferred to look at it from an economic lens. Im not a foreignpolicy expert. My field is the economy. Meeting is very important, because the world recession,out of mostly, but is not growing nearly to the capacity that it ought to grow. These are very important issues. U. S. Is growing only about 2 . We have some good spots in the economy in the u. S. , such as car sales. On the other hand, Business Investment has been slow and employment has been mixed. May be just coming out of their doubledip recession. There is some evidence to suggest, particularly in the u. K. And germany and i think the netherlands, that they are just beginning to come out of their doubledip recession. Manufacturing numbers, and some of the Business Confidence looks good. China will be at this g20 meeting. Many analysts believe china is stabilizing. We have to be leery. China is a very important player in the World Economy. Other areas among the emerging nations, because of monetary , india is in very difficult condition right now. I would say brazil has problems. They have inflation problems, Economic Growth problems, the socalled bricks. Brazil, russia, india, and china. Russia, outside of the oil and gas sector, where the prices are high, many people who know more about russia than i do say it is a very weak economy. Progress made there is not being shared by the general russian populace. Have themeeting should theme of growth. How can we grow the World Economy . You mentioned trade. Trade is very important. More trade between countries. More competition, better products, consumers and businesses benefit. Will benefit. Jobs will benefit. Trade is terrific. There has been talk about a trade arrangement. Countriesny of these should be looking at lower marginal tax rate reform. All across the world, i would like to see flat tax reform. Lower the rates, which create incentives, and get rid of unnecessary loopholes, crony is loopholes that the government doles out to business. Loopholes that the government doles out to business. Europe has lower Corporate Tax rates than the u. S. That is our bad. The u. S. Has got to be much more competitive on this. Some onident has talked this, but has not spent a lot of time on it. These are things that should be worked out in a bipartisan way with republicans who are prepared to embrace it. We need growth. Need open markets, incentives, growth. Thated to acknowledge after the financial meltdown of 2008, those countries that spend , a most government money traditional keynesian point of view, have not done nearly as well as those countries who are more prudent. You throwing money got to get that money from someplace. re going to raise taxes the imf wants these countries to raise taxes to give the government money to dole it out to x, y, and z. It did not work. In the 1970s, it did not work. We need to let money remain in private hands. Reform,to have flat tax for individuals and corporations. We need to have free and open trade, and steady monetary policy. Some progress has been made in some areas. In other areas, there has been no progress. G 20 is like the World Economic cabinet. The g20 better be thinking about growth. Growth, growth, growth. We are so far behind are potential to grow right now. Host im going to try to getting a few more phone calls right now. Susan, a republican in tupelo, mississippi. Is, i one comment appreciate your discussion about how we need growth, and ways to get it. That more economists would add a patriotic note to americas it is in best interest because america is an exceptional country. We are founded upon particular principles, freedom and liberty. I would like to see that enter the discussion. Host your question . Evidence have we seen that it was actually the Syrian Government that used the nerve gas . How do we know for certain that it was syria . Guest im not an expert. I thought that secretary of state john kerry gave one hell of a great speech last friday. Side of theeagan republican party. John is a democrat. I know john. I have interviewed him through the years. A that speech, he cited number of very important sources. I think we are finding out now , intelligence sources there was a story in the paper about how german intelligence picked up phone calls between hezbollah and assads people in syria about spreading this sarin gas. I think the evidence is piling up now that this was sponsored by the assad regime. That,ot your expert on but from what i gather, it is crystal clear. That is why i believe, to to as ther credibility worlds leader, we must take some strong and muscular action so this doesnt happen again. We must be able to somehow disarm assad and his people from ever using chemical weapons against. Aybe that is pollyannaish that should be one of our goals. Take we want to get your on who should be the next Federal Reserve chairman. Guest the two leading candidates are jennett yellin, vice chair of the board, and Larry Summers, former National Economic advisor to president obama. There may be dark horses in there. Timothy geithner could be a dark horse. Kohn could be a dark horse. Im not privy to the inside discussions. Yellin is a ms. Brilliant economist. I think Larry Summers is a brilliant economist. Neither of them are my cup of tea. I am saying they are both very smart economists, much smarter than i am, much greater academics. Here is my problem. Once the Federal Reserve can get it is all very complicated, but it is unconventional. As the fed moves back towards normalcy, i would like some rules. I would like some clear monetary rules that will maintain the , that wille dollar take a market oriented position regarding interest rates. And, keep the inflation rate low. Something like the taylor rule, named after john taylor, former treasury official and distinguished professor at stanford university. Hadugh the years, we have rules regarding the stability of our money. There are some very smart economists that want something rule, which is a combination of inflation and real gdp. I would like to have some pretty stability and rules in monetary policy. I think we have completely lost that, and it is all ad hoc tinkering and fine tuning. It might have been necessary. I give mr. Bernanke credit for the initial flush of liquidity in 2008 and 2009. Thenitative easing since has been of very limited value. Regarding Larry Summers, jenny jennett yellin, i dont see a lot of rule talk in their work in the past. Rules. Monetary we need budget rules. We need tax rules, predictability, and certainty. Independent caller from florida, last call. Kudlowsegarding mr. Statement about american never using weapons of mass destruction. Like in iraq, i want to mention the atomic bombs dropped on hiroshima. One more quick statement. All wars are bank wars. The constitution says that only congress should coin money. I dont know why we put up with the legal bogus over this money. Thats all i have to say. Host mr. Kudlow. Guest i do like the idea that congress should not only coin money, but value coin the value of money. Assertionshe other made by the caller, i think they are irrelevant or just plain wrong. Wars he did say that all are bank wars. Do you have thoughts on that . Guest i dont know what that means. What does that mean . Wars have to be financed. But banks do not cause wars. Countries cause wars. Bad decisions by policymakers cause wars. Outlaws and rogues and dictators cause wars. The u. S. Has never been a cause of a war, nor have we had any hegemonic goals around the world. We are there to try to keep the peace. That arent has been our mission for time immemorial. Memorial. I believe it was saudi arabia that has offered to finance the entire u. S. Military operation in syria. Itant confirm it or write in the newspaper. I believe john kerry said that at a hearing before the house Foreign Relations committee. I found that very interesting. I find that very positive. Host larry kudlow, host of cnbc s the kudlow report. Coming up next, were going to turn our attention to u. S. Russian relations. We will talk to jeffrey mankoff. First, a news update. Thisemployment numbers in hour show americans applying for benefits fell to 323,000. Nearly the lowest level in five years. The number dropping by 9000 last week shows that employers are laying off fewer and fewer workers. Their survey, shows that american businesses added 176,000 jobs in august. That is roughly in line with the Monthly Average for the gear. As for productivity, that increased at a rate of 2. 3 in the spring. U. S. Workers were more productive from april through june than previously estimated. Syria, the Senate Intelligence Committee Hears classified testimony on syria this morning from the Deputy Director of national intelligence. This afternoon, White House Deputy National Security divisor adviser and others hold their third classified briefing on syria for all members of congress. Cspan cameras are set up outside of the meeting room. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. Cspan. We bring Public Affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, what house events, meetings, and conferences, and offering you complete, gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House. Funded by your local cable or satellite provider. Now you can watch us in hd. Wilson was so intellectual. Most academic, most educated president. He was the only president with a phd. Most of the books that have been written about him have been academic in nature. They have missed the very human side of this man. He was deeply emotional, passionate, a romantic figure. He had two wives. When his first wife died, he married a second time. He wrote thousands of passionate love letters to each of these women. This was a living, breathing human being. I dont think we have seen that about woodrow wilson. A. Scott bergs biography of woodrow wilson. At 8more on sunday night p. M. Want to turn our attention to u. S. Russian relations. Jeffrey mankoff is joining us. Let me begin with the Washington Times headline this morning. Obama saying in stockholm that reset with russia is working. I want to show our viewers what he had to say in his own words. [video clip] in the u. S. Russian relationship was not done on a whim. There were specific u. S. That i believed we could pursue with russia, where interests overlapped, and it would help us on our Longtime National security and economy. We succeeded. We succeeded in passing a new start treaty that reduced Nuclear Stockpiles for both the u. S. And russia. Russia joined the wto, which bound them to a set of International Rules governing trade. It will be good for the russian economy, but also good for its trading partners. And for potential Companies Investing in russia, including u. S. Companies. We Work Together on counterterrorism issues. They have provided us significant assistance in applying our troops supplying our troops in afghanistan. There are a whole host of outcomes from that reset the were valuable to the u. S. There is no doubt that we have kind of hit a wall in terms of additional progress. , the resetey mankoff has succeeded, but they have hit a wall. Guest that is an accurate way to characterize it. The decision taken by the Obama Administration early on to try and get the relationship with russia back on track was designed to achieve a series of concrete u. S. Interests, which you heard the president described right there. In terms of achieving those interests, it was largely successful. Because the is, u. S. And russia have exhausted a lot of the items on the bilateral agenda and the relationship has sort of hit a wall, where does that leave us . That is the question we are still trying to answer. Host is it tense between the two . Guest yes. Actions,eir bilateral president obama and president to talk analysts love about their body language. That putinbama said acted like a schoolboy when they were interacting. The Syrian Crisis has really exposed vastly different approaches. The two sides still have a lot of interests in common, but syria is taking up all the oxygen in the room. Is getting20 underway in st. Petersburg, russia. Cnn is showing president obama getting out of his car, delivering a handshake to Vladimir Putin and then entering into the g20. Syria is on the agenda. This set duration situation, how does this go down in a public setting such as the g20 summit . Russia had hopes for being able to set the agenda. Now it will be overshadowed by syria. That is an Unwelcome Development from the russian perspective. It means theyre not going to get the attention devoted to Economic Development and trade and the type of things they wanted to discuss. Russiansyrianhe alliance. Hand, there isne an alliance between the russian and Syrian Government. 1970s,s back to the and that government became a major client for the soviet defense industry. The middlen ally in east struggles, with the israeliarab question. The secular arab dictatorships have disappeared. Syria is one of the few regimes left in that part of the world that still has a close tie to moscow. Few,se it has one of the its value is magnified for russia. Is still an important customer for the defense industry. Russia has a naval facility in syria. At the same time, there is another aspect, which is how russia looks at the Broader Development of the arab spring. In the u. S. , the narrative we is part of athis messy process of democratization. Its not going to be clearcut or immediate. Eventually we will see the arab world moving from dictatorship to democracy. That is a narrative that russia not just the putin administration, but most russians a political stripes object. They see a process going from imposed authoritarian stability spilling over into chaos. They look at what is happened in some of the other countries that have experienced political transitions, whether that is libya or egypt or even to me via. The old that when dictatorships fell, they were replaced by civil war and chaos. They made the world less safe rather than more. If the choice is between supporting a political transition in syria that could lead to spreading in the violence of the violence in and clinging to the Assad Government as a pillar of secularism and international , the russians will go with the latter. Host here is a tweet guest one of the reasons the relationship between putin and obama has been strained is because putin has been trying to push, to see what he can get away with. That is not a new tactic for the russians. Historically, back to the cold war when there is a new leader in the white house, there is an impulse in russia to test whether this government will be amenable to pressure, whether he will stand up for its interests. I dont think rushss should be the main criteria on deciding what we are going to do reaction should be the main criteria on deciding what we are going to do in russia. Syria. Carol is up first in maysville, oklahoma. Independent color. Caller. Caller im behind the president 100 . So Much Negative calls. I cant believe it. We put the president in. We should be behind him. Cry when i want to see what is going on. These people are calling in and they are so negative. We have Chemical Warfare in our own backyard. Shes in the minority, when you look at the polls. That factor in diplomatic conversations between the u. S. And russia, russia says, the American People are not behind you. Guest putin has made the case already. He did an interview with the Associated Press where he talked about this. He said not only are their doubts inside the u. S. , there are doubts within the International Community. The United States will be isolated if it decides to act militarily in syria. To the other point that the caller made, one of the things that putin said is that it looks like chemical weapons were used, but we dont know who use them. Maybe this was the rebels. An act of desperation, trying to get sympathy on the side. We need to see more evidence before we can say this was the regime. Host what is happening inside russia with their economy, their people, their government . What is their situation . The economy is stagnating. After several years of rapid theth, in 2008, 2009, crisis hit. Russia fell quite significantly during that. Period. Maybeear, growth will be 2 , probably a little bit less than that. You have a government that is very concerned about domestic stability. You have had an uptick in protest activity that really began with the december 2011 parliamentary elections, that were considered there was a lot of evidence that results were falsified. There is not really been a cohesive a position for them as a result of those elections, there is a sense of dissatisfaction with the government. Host can they solve that without the u. S. . Guest i dont think the u. S. Is a major factor in all of this. The trading relationship between the u. S. And russia is pretty small. Only about 2 of russias total trade is with the u. S. Russia ist issue for whether it can liberalize the economy to make it more attractive to Foreign Investment , especially when it comes to natural resources, which continue to dominate the economy but over which the state has a lot of control. Host we have a democratic caller. Theer i want to say that saying on the president is getting a little ridiculous. There is a lot of different groups in syria, and a lot of them are pretty moderate. Ts not all radical islamists if this guy launches another chemical attack, how are we going to feel . Tweet how will the russians react if one of their citizens is killed in these serious attacks we are planning . Guest thats a very good question. The answer would be, quite negatively. Russia has chosen not to evacuate all of their citizens from syria despite the violence going on. They sent a couple of warships into the mediterranean in the last couple of weeks when it appeared that military action was likely. The most trouble reason for that was to be able to evacuate their citizens if a military strike occurs. The question of what would happen if one of their citizens wouldlled the reaction be very negative, and it would be a source of major bilateral tension between the u. S. And russia. I think the u. S. Is going to do its best to avoid that. President obama talks about surgical strikes that are limited. Unforeseen events happen, especially when youre talking about military action. Host shepherdsville, kentucky, tom. Republican caller. Caller good morning. Believe for sure we have to make a strike. Host why is that . Caller i am hearing all your callers. We are the United States. We are supposed to lead, not follow. I dont support a lot of obama pot policies obamas policies, but we are the greatest country there is. We are made to exert our par. We need to show that we stand for something, and thats the way it is. With russia, thats how youre going to get respect. There is kind of a tension in terms of how our policy our response to what is going on in syria the relationship with russia. It is true that when american president s are perceived as weak, russian leaders have had a tendency to try to take advantage of them. American credibility is on the line. President obama made his comment about the use of chemical weapons being a red line. That is important not only vis avis syria, to let assad know this is unacceptable, to let know that ises unacceptable, and to let other powers know that the u. S. Is going to enforce these International Norms. When something is a red line, its going to stand up for it. A the other hand, there is hippocratic oath of military intervention, which is do no harm. This isss of whether set out as a red line or not, is military action going to make the situation in syria better, or worse . Factors thee administration is trying to way, how important is it to try to defend what the president has said weigh, how important is it to try to defend what the president has said is a red line . Host we have an independent caller. Caller you mentioned president aama calling Vladimir Putin schoolboy. Its not the first time this administration has made juvenile comments towards someone who could be considered a partner and ally. There are the comments someone in his Administration Made regarding the special relationship, saying there is nothing special about the united kingdom. This is not the soviet union anymore. They need to be a partner. The administration has been unnecessarily antagonistic towards them. This administration road rode into power on a wave of nationalism. Russia is usually the scapegoat because of the veto power they have. You still have to make your case. Another thing not being mentioned is the libya deal. We misled russia. They agreed not to veto as long as we agreed to not pursue regime change their. There. I think russia has that in their mind. They cant trust us anymore. How much do you fault the administration for the socalled while we have hit . Should we be going to war just to save face . I dont think we should. Guest thats a very good question. Theres a lot of truth to what the caller said. It was atates real diplomatic coup to get for intervention in russia. The russian response has been, we did not sign up for regime change. In libya. T the russian response has been, we did not sign up for regime change. We did not set up for a nofly zone. Full me once, shame on you. Fully twice, shame on me. You. Ol me once, shame on fool me twice, shame on me. Think the way the administration has characterized russias actions and its opposition to International Invention intervention in syria has made things worse. The schoolboy, to not omment, notg c withstanding, but hillary defensecalled russias of the Assad Government at the u. N. Despicable. Russia haseasons why adopted the position it has adopted. A certain elements of theres a certain element of principle involved. The u. S. Has not made sufficient effort to try and find a Common Ground with russia in addressing this problem. There was talk about hosting the socalled geneva to Conference Geneva 2 conference. The problem with that was that the u. S. Insisted that assads leaving power was necessary. The russians said that was not realistic, and there was no way that assad was going to go into negotiations knowing that the outcome would be his departure. The russian position has been, it is not up to us to decide who will rule syria. It is up to the syrians. The u. S. Has not been flexible enough in terms of what kind of outcomes it is willing to accept. Has not only made finding a negotiated solution in syria more difficult, but found itself in a more difficult position with russia as well. Also Opposition Forces are reluctant to go into those talks as well. Succeed,r the talks to there has to be a stalemate, where neither side believes it is on the course of winning. Over the last couple of months, it has looked like the Assad Government has started to gain the upper hand. That means the government is less inclined to negotiate, because they think they can win. For a whole variety of reasons, the prospects of this geneva 2 conference materializing, and if in materializing, producing and except double outcome is much slimmer now than a couple months ago. Host a tweet overall, im not sure. With syria, the u. S. Does not sell weapons to syria. That is one of the reasons they have become a major client of russia. Apart from energy, military equipment, arms are one of russias Major International exports. The markets where russia does the most business are where the u. S. Cant or wont sell. China, some of the regimes in the middle east, and others. There is not really a commercial competition here, simply because the United States hasnt and isnt selling weapons to syria. Are u. S. Russian relationships beyond repair at this point . Guest no. Ofyou look at the history the relationship, there have been these ups and downs. Every administration has experienced them. A new administration comes into power, and there is a host of issues they want to address with russia. You had this in the clinton administration. You had this in the bush administration. And you have it with the Obama Administration now. That agenda gets addressed. Some new issues come up, where approaches diverge and cooperation becomes more difficult. We are in one of those periods today. If you compare where we are now to where we were in 2008 and the ,ftermath of the war in georgia there are still a lot of areas where the u. S. And russia are cooperating. We are still more or less on the same page. For example, in iran. Even though there is divergence of tactics, certainly in afghanistan, terrorism. Nonproliferation is another area. Counter narcotics efforts. Both sides are trying to find ways to deepen the economic relationship. There is still a lot of areas where u. S. Russian cooperation is happening. In the last year or so, both for , and reasonssons that have to do with domestic russia, theand governments decision to tactically promote anti with thesm to cope growing Political Uncertainty that has developed in russia, has led to a stalling in relations. Theres no immediate prospect for that stalling to be reversed. Over the longer term, we are an erao tack back to where both moscow and washington realize they have a host of issues where it is important for them to cooperate. A twitter comment, is russia afraid of getting dragged into defending syria . Guest i dont know if its afraid. Has said that russias position is not to support the Assad Government, per se. Context thatt the the russian government has had with the Syrian Opposition contact that the russian government has had with the Syrian Opposition, russia is hedging its bets. s interviewto putin from the other day, he said that under certain circumstances, russia might be persuaded to support military intervention. It is clear that the russians are hedging their bets. Concrete these interests with the Assad Government. About trying to support a certain conception of International Law, which is that you can only use force against another state with the approval of the Security Council. Not thatm that, its they have any special reference inconcern for assad as such that, whatever the Syrian People decide for themselves, russia is willing to support. I do not think the russians are going to take big risks for themselves or their own personnel for their International Reputation to support the Assad Government. Host a caller on our line for republicans. I really dont buy it. All this stuff going on is a smokescreen to get people to look the other way while things other things are happening. It doesnt make sense. You have russia out there, on the syrian side. You have iran. Iran, theyything to are going to bomb israel. Why are you going to purposely cause a war . It doesnt make any sense. Guest iran is a variable at this point. Iran has been staunchly behind the Assad Government. Syria has helped iran in its efforts to supply hezbollah in lebanon, in efforts to keep the pressure up on the israelis. You have a new leader in iran who will be coming to the u. S. To speak at the u. N. General assembly. You have hopes in the Obama Administration for getting diplomatic process on the Iranian Nuclear issue. A potential strike on syria is something the administration has to be concerned about. Whether you can have progress time the, at the same u. S. Is carrying out strikes against their most important regional ally. A tweet im kind of nervous. Can you hear me . Host yes. Caller there are two books. Cia, the secret wars. [indiscernible] to u. S. Was cuddling up iran. Training is [indiscernible] in syria were talking about a limited strike. 200 Cruise Missiles . What if they shoot down one of our missiles . It would be like vietnam allover again. All over again. The fear of escalation is forefront in the mind of president obama and the administration. Theres not a lot of the mystic support for striking Domestic Support for striking syria. One of the ways that president obama is trying to make the case is by saying this will be a limited, surgical strike. Its not going to involve american boots on the ground. If you look at the revolution that came out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, it specifically says there will not be boots on the ground. The administration is doing everything it can to ensure that this kind of escalation like you saw in vietnam does not take place. Theres only so much that we in the u. S. Cant control. One of the things we cannot control is the response of the syrians and their regional allies such as the iranians. If the iranians start launching Cruise Missiles at israel, if the syrians fire at an American Ship in the mediterranean and forit, the prospect escalation is there. Its going to be a challenge for the administration to hold back and limit itself to what it claims it wants to do, which is carrying out these surgical strikes, if you start having these spillover effects. A democratic caller from mississippi. Caller the relationship with russia is frigid at best. If they wanted to do something to help that relationship, they wouldve turned the young man over to us for trial rather than letting him relax there. I dont have all the right answers either, but we keep asking the question about what is going to happen in syria. We ought to turn the question around. What happens if we dont help those people . Lets see what answers we come up with then. Was an Unwelcome Development in the u. S. Russian relationship. The relationship was already fairly tense before Edward Snowden handled up showed up in moscow. There is room to criticize the behavior of both sides. The u. S. Put russia in an impossible position but it they by demanding that turned him over. There have been scandals on both sides going back decades. Neither side has been inclined to turn over the others spies. We had a defect or from the showed up at dulles airport, would we be in a hurry to send him back to the russians . Probably not. By making such a public, sustained demand, the u. S. Escalated this into a bigger diplomatic kerfuffle than it should have been. On the russian side, the timing of the decision to grant asylum to snowden was unfortunate. Ofwas right in the period the planned summit between president obama and putin. The white house made it known that the summit could go ahead. They just kind of let him stay in the transit lounge until after the summit had taken place, things would have gone along as they were. But because russia made the decision to grant him asylum, just shortly before the summit was scheduled to happen, the u. S. Administration felt it had no choice but to cancel. It seemed as if the russians were making a deliberately provocative gesture. T a tweet guest on the georgia question, no. The russians did not go to the Un Security Council. Problem with the arguments they make about the Un Security Council and International Law and use of force. When the shoe was on the other foot, they acted in the way that they always criticize the u. S. For doing. That is one of the reasons that this critique is not taken especially seriously by washington. They see it as a russian diplomatic ruse rather than something that is anchored in principle. What was the other host let me find it. The dynamics, the effects of going to war on the dynamics in the middle east. Guest it is unpredictable. The best laid battle plans never survive First Contact with the enemy. We can only plan for a limited number of developments. If there are spillover effects in lebanon, in terms of iranian attacks or something else, we dont know. Its very unpredictable. That is one of the reasons there is so much concern about these plans surgical strikes. Little elm, texas, republican line. Caller good morning. Great show. I want to talk about the u. S. Russia relationship, and with regards to the trade with not only that country, but other countries. Desecration to the of the u. S. Industrial complex, ever since the wto since the u. S. Became him member of the wto, we have had a degradation neededpowers that certain amounts of currencies from their employees to actually expand their businesses. Sufferedd states never from a trade with other countries prior to that, ever. You there . E . Are host what is the impact of that now . Caller you have the industrials in the United States depleted to such a point that you have the unemployment the way it is. And industrials have moved to other countries. We will go to rachel in texas, independent caller. Intor when we was going iraq, we sent inspectors over theirs. Article of mine read an that was saying that we were sending weapons to syria. I did not want to believe that. It, i believer that hussein did send those weapons into syria. Host is there any evidence of that . Guest not really. If you think back to the discussions about invading iraq, the concern when then was Nuclear Weapons more so than chemical weapons. Despite the efforts of the u. N. Inspectors and u. S. Forces after the invasion, there has not been any evidence that saddam had restarted his Nuclear Program after the first gulf war. Int we are dealing with now syria is a different problem, chemical weapons, something the iraqis had as well but did not serve as a justification for the invasion in 2003. Host a democratic caller. Go ahead. Is there anything going to happen [indiscernible] regarding weapons to assad . Host he said, will anything happen to putin for providing weapons to assad. Host no. The Syrian Government is not under an arms embargo, in part because russia would never support that at the Un Security Council. These contracts are in place. Russia is fulfilling them. Something that the United States and others in the International Community have expressed concern about. From the standpoint of International Law and arms embargoes, there is nothing stopping russia from doing that. , gibby torey mankoff director of the center for strategic and international studies. , director ofkoff the center for strategic and international studies. Thank you for joining us. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] president obama is in st. Petersburg rush yafment hes at the group 20 economic summit sand expected to talk about in syria. It wants to u. N. To present a risk analysis of that scenario. If it gets a formal request it will consider their argument. We talked to a reporter on washington journal about that situation. Whats on the agent da for the president this morning . A formal arrival ceremony. A working meeting of the g 20. And then tonight a working dinner. In between that he will have one on one meeting with japanese Prime Minister. Earlier this week president obama spoke with him by phone and i would expect