what is the goal of the united states? will we hear that from the president tonight? is it punitive? is it humanitarian? is it because we want to be playing a long game in the middle east? we do not understand what the purpose would be behind any attacks at this point. >> all right. we now have confirmed the president will be speaking tonight at 9:00. he'll be addressing the nation in a brief address. we expect it to be about five minutes. colonel jack, obviously there are many u.s. service members in syria right now and in iraq as well and close to the border. what are your concerns about blowback? >> well, of course, assad doesn't need any excuse to go after our people. we have relatively few people there. they've been there a long time, and they can be withdrawn fairly quickly. the question earlier about what the objective is is a very important one.