Skies. Do you support the president s a i think right now we take care of it. We should have gone in a little bit sooner, but i think we have enough people in there to deal with the situation. But if we useif we have rockets we can take out a whole grid. One other statement i want to show you from senator dianne feinstein, democratic from california, a chair of the Senate Intelligence committee she said it takes an army to defeat an army. I believe we confront isil now or confront a larger enemy in the future. I support action by the administration coordinate efforts with iraq and other allies. Use our military strength and targeting expertise to the extent possible. Bringing members from members of congress. We want to hear from you, our viewers. Lets go to michael waiting on our line for independence. Michael, good morning. Good morning, the cpsan show is a great show. Im a professor in graduate school, and ive been following isis. Its start and its funding. Isis is a sunni group as they were funded by kuwait, who are also sunni. If you want to put pressure on isis, you got to cut off the funding. Really, you know, president obama should go to the saudis and try to redirect this group because ive followed them over the past two years. Thank you so much. Thats michael in new york. We want to show a text in the letter from the white house, the speaker of the house and the president approach him in the senate. The president noting i have directed the actions in iraq which are in the National Security in Foreign Policy interest in the United States pursue santa to my constitutional authority. Im providing this report as part of my effort to keep the congress fully informed, consistent with the war powers resolution. I appreciate support of the congress in this action. Thats president in his letter yesterday. One of the questions that has popped up in the wake of these airstrikes in iraq is how long this is going to last, what the end goal is. Yesterday the questions were asked of white house spokesman josh earnest. The president has not laid out a specific end date. Were going to take this approach in which those kinds of decisions are vaulted regularly and driven by the security situation on the ground. Both as it relates to safety and security of american personnel, but also as it relates to supporting the ongoing efforts of those Kurdish Security force and iraqis. Thats josh earnesest yesterday. Lets go to the line, rick, good morning. Yes, good morning. I just wanted to say that you know everybody has had an opinion about this thing, but you know what, one thing i do know is that the president probably knows something that we dont know. And when people say that he doesnt say anything because sometimes its wise not to say anything. And for anybody to think that the enemy has any disrespect for this president , theyre just a big of fool. Hits best to be quiet than to e a fool and open the mouth. This president knows what it means to send f18 hornets in to get the job done. Thats third in line of the best fighter power planes we have. Dont take this president short if they think he doesnt know what is going on. Theyre making a terrible mistake. Thank you. Here is a picture of one of those f18 fighter planes that was used in the operation thats from the front page of todays Washington Post. And their lead story of what is happening in iraq. Lets go to andre waiting in colorado on that line we have set up for iraq war veterans. Andre, thanks for calling this morning. Good morning. Go ahead, andre. Yes, i would like to begin with the last caller speaking on the president as it regards of actions and pool speaking on him. Its our duty to require this information of the chain if they can make a difference on the battlefield. Its part of counter and insurgency angle. My second point is the efforts of the kurdish how can i say forces. I believe that the callers are correct. We need more efforts for the Kurdish Force misbut we need more effort in teaching the religious beliefs the hadif as theyre called in islam correctly. And i believe many people are uninformed on the religion as far as islam. I had time to learn of islam from shiite militants who were fighting along with us. Its all about the Belief Systems. The six Belief Systems is one, they believe in one god. I think we all use god more than we all can say any other type of god. You have to have belief in angels. If you believe in the devil, he was an angel. You believe in divine books, the curran, thquran, the bible, ant is, you believe in the book for the knowledge it gives you. Where did you serve and what years did you serve in iraq. Oh, i serve in 20062007 with 425 out of alaska or airborne all the way. And andre, are you still in the military . In the reserves now . Im a disabled combat veteran attending school to learn how to more of africaen and middle Eastern Studies on my g. I. Bill. Thats the line for iraq war veterans. Also on that line scott is waiting in arizona. Scott, good morning. Good morning, cspan. Good morning, american. Hi, scott. Yes, you know, wars never rest, only the warriors. Those of us who put on the uniform for our nation, it even means that our commander of chief has made that decision. What is significant about that is our nation has drawn down its military forces at the same time were committed to honor obligations around the globe. A lot of those are either reservist or active forces. Ive been active and ive been reserves. You call them reserve the reser, and they have are you still with us . I think we lost the caller on that line. Well go to greg in South Carolina on our line for democrats. Greg, good morning. Yes, thank you for taking my call. I just thought i would give a call and express a laymans term. Im not that educated in politics. I just know what i observe. Especially when it comes to war and how we run our wars that we get ourselves into. If were going to obtain abe kind of end game when it comes to fighting, especially the islamic extremist states we have to lead by example. And its just been observation that wer we are setting a poor example to the rest of the world coming to any end game when it comes to dealing with the islamic extremists. So any way. Its my opinion that if were going to get it done we should really put our military in full strength to give them all the support possible, and show the extremists that were not going to mess around and have them run the world, which is exactly what their agenda is. Its obvious what theyre doing to the christians, and this is a sad day. I just thought that thisi have this opinion that it seems to be very much the opinion that i have experienced from the majority of the people that ive talked to, and its quite aa a. It may be politically incorrect, but the muslims are out to beat us up pretty bad. Among others opinions this morning is the Financial TimesEditorial Board. Their lead editorial obama is right to take a risk in iraq. There is a real danger of humanitarian catastrophe combined with a strategic disaster. A new jihadist stand in the corridor to the mediterranean. Isis is on the march and has to be stopped. Only the u. S. Has the wherewithal to halt its advance. Thats the Editorial Board of the fiscal times. Sylvester is up next in new york on our line for independence. Sylvester, good morning. Good morning. My comment is this. America is a very good nation. One thing that makes america is great nation is that america is one. And for years america has been the world power. I see america as the world police. Now, what for the past ten years or the past maybe eight years is this america is slowly becoming or deteriorate because of politics. We have the president , and we voted him into power. He has the support. In all these things that is going on whatever hes doing we have to give him our support because together we can take this isis people out of whatever they are doing. One i would like to tell americans is this. One stick is easily broken but together it is not easily brok broken. Thats sylvester in california. Well be take area calls on this in just a second. I want to show you other headlines going around the country on the front page of todays Washington Post. Bradys death is ruled a homicide. James brady has been ruled a homicide from a gunshot wound he suffered three decades ago. Its no word if the shooter who is being treated at the Psychiatric Hospital will be facing new charges. One other Foreign Policy story to show you this morning. Rockets from gaza mark the end of the ceasefire there. Gaza based militants fired a barrage of rockets into vole prompts israel to resume its Bombing Campaign in themonthold war. One more story the majority leader at the hill up in House Majority leader Kevin Mccarthy has told his members to expect bills when they return from the august recess. The house plans to repackage the socalled jobs bills that has passed in this session of congress and consolidate them in larger passages including limiting various regulations and regnawing tax breaks such as research and kennedy tax credit. Those are some of the story going on around the country. Back to the story of new u. S. Airstrikes well continue to take your questions this morning. Were joined by pentagon reporter for the wall street journal. We appreciate you coming on. We want to get your impression of the strikes that weve seen in the last few days. How would you characterize these hits . Are they seen more as a warning shot or prelude to something much larger. I think warning shots is a good way to look at them initially. Weve seen three strikes so far. The first one was on artillery unit, a piece that was moving away. That was by jet fighter. And then the predator drone to hit a mortar position, and then they hit a sevencar convoy, that was the third hit that we know of so far. And what the administration has said is essentially theyre drawing a line in the sand saying that the Islamic State cannot advance any further on to the capitol, the kurdish capitol. And so i think right now what theyre trying to do is see if they can hold the line and if theyll push back and if they can prevent them from getting closer to the capitol and assess what the Islamic State is going to do. Today out of the region is that the Islamic State is not advancing on, but trying to consolidate the gains theyve made in the kurdish region which is what they did in mosul. That was a su president does not believe that it would be in the National Security interest of the United States of america. The president does in the believe that would be the best interest of the United States military. Theres a fundamental disagreement about that but i would admit that the vast majority of the public would be on the side of the president in reaching the conclusion that the situation in iraq, the situation that is best resolved by the iraqi people, about an inclusive Iraqi Government, and by a capable Iraq Security force, that has the ability to represent and protect the interest in iraq. The president does not believe it would be in the interest of the United States of america for tens of thousands of he american combat troops to be on the Ground Fighting isil right now. Thats an honest disagreement that exists between the president and his critics on capitol hill, many who are in the republican party. Josh ernest talking about the disagreements that have come up since the strikes began. There are two components. There is the military component that we would better off if we had more on the ground advising. The argument on the other side is a political fight. The problem is weve got a Prime Minister in iraq Nouri Almaliki who does not represent the sunni minority in the country. The reason why the military wont fight is because they dont have a fate in the government in baghdad. Thats the essential argument. Unless you have a government in baghdad that the military is willing to fight for, then the Islamic State will expand and take over. Thats the heart of it. The president is saying were not going to do any more here until you get a change in leadership in baghdad. Thats another reason why you see this push in kurdistan because there is a difference between kurdistan and baghdad. So with this fight youre able to help the kurds, who are seen more favorable to the americans without necessarily taking the pressure off the Prime Minister in baghdad. Why is the u. S. Doing this alone right now . Are there efforts to get other allies involved militarily. There are of the toss get allies to help with the humanitarian effort. One of the things we have not spoken about yet is the second component which is to try and help the yazidi who is trapped in the mountains. The second component, this is two humanitarian drops to get good and water to women and children who are dying of thirst in those mountains. Part of this is theyve been trying to get help and get other air drops in. They have been talking to neighbors of iraq to see if theyll help here bu. One of the reporters on todays lead story in the wall street journal u. S. Launches airstrikes in iraq. We read that story at the top of the show. Hes joining us now to answer your questions on the operation and whats happening over the past two days. Lets go to james in North Carolina on our line for independent. Good morning. Good morning. I want to say that i voted for the president twice but i totally disagree with this move that hes making now. For two reasons. One is that there is no such thing as a humanitarian Bombing Campaign. Number two, there is no difference between what isis is doing to the kurds and what israel is doing in the gaza strip. To the palestinians. Can you imagine what we would be doing if the palestinians had done in the past few weeks. Everybody would be coming down on the palestinians. Stick to iraq. And how much of an effort does the president have to do to sell this to the American Public . There is a story in the watt post talking about polls on u. S. Action in iraq. A june washington poll found 45 , fewer than half americans supported airstrikes. And 30 supported ground troops. The majority say that the stews doeunitedstates does not have te responsibility to stop violence in that country. The president has to sell it himself. Hes relunthey were reluctant tt people on the ground. We have several hundred people there who have been assessing the situation. This group at the pentagon has not even made former recommendations of how to handle this, and the thought was they were going to wait until there was change of leadership in baghdad, which has not happened. You have the president himself who has been very reluctant to carry out this air campaign and wants to keep it limited. He does not want to get back in a ground war in iraq. He said there are not going to be troops on the ground. Thats where it starts. Hes not even that interested in doing this, trying to keep it limited. When you start there, i think you have a ways to go to sell it to the American Public. On twitter we have a question about what comes next. Even if you stop isil. Wont there be another group to develop. You cant fight religious ideology with bombs. Certainly the president said this is not going to be solved by a military solution alone. There has to be a political solution. This is incredibly complicated because isis is a group that stretches across iraq into syr syria, and they have essentially a capitol in syria where theyre carrying out very hard line governance. So youve got a lot of problems. It stretches across border and syria is an even more complicated problem for the world that hasthat doesnt have a military solution for the u. S. To get involved in. Very messy. From wyoming, waiting on the line for republicans. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for cspan. Thanks, georgi gentlemen, for yr service. Im wondering if some weapons should be dropped to those poor folks in that mountaintop in northwestern iraq. Some 72 bundles of supplies and three different drops from c17 and two c130s have made drops on that mountain, and were talking about the sinjar mountains where that humanitarian crisis was taking place. So what youve got there are civilians. Dropping weapons to them is not really going to help. They probably wouldnt know how to use them. Theyre refugees who just have the clothes on their backs essentially. But what they would like to do because theyre surrounded in these mountains by these Islamic State forces is create a humanitarian corridor to get them out. The idea is to break the siege and this is maybe what we might see as the next part of this air campaign where u. S. Military would do airstrikes to basically break the siege of the Islamic State on that mountain, and allow the refugees to get out. Thats the part of the campaign we may see unfold over the next few days. And where do they go . Do they go to the kurdish region of iraq . The United Nations is there and they would try to get them out. Probably go to a refugee camp in the area, but its unclear where the safe areas are right now. Over and over the destruction has been left in the wake of our metamettling, this is not condue for democracy. Jesse, good morning. Good morning. How are you doing, jesse, go ahead. I got in one time. What im about the iraq war going on. We shouldnt have never went there in the first place. Now the president is in there. He has to do something. Are they going to do a job and fight the war . I was in vietnam. I know what its like. You dont need no boots on the ground. They do the right thin