Preventing isil attacks in the region and beyond including by foreign terrorist fighter who is try to threaten our countries. He went on to describe what the strategy does not entail. The resolution we submitted today does not call for the deployment of u. S. Ground combat forces to iraq or syria. It is not the authorization of another ground war like afghanistan or iraq. So the president is convinced we should not get dragged into another ground war but these generals, defense secretaries and intel officials argue a ground war is the only way were going to win. Theyre not going to be able to be successful against isis strictly from the air. There will be boots on the ground. Doing this through airpower alone without corresponding Ground Forces is a next to impossible task. Unless the coalition is willing to put more Ground Troops into iraq and possibly into syria there is very little dewe how many would it take . I think it would take 100,000. I think it may require a forward deployment of some of our troops. So day nashgs he didnt rule out Ground Troops at all. He just said we wont go with an enduring offensive ground operation. Its its mealey mouthed to me. Go back a couple years. In 2013 president obama gave a speech at the National Defense university in which he said we are ending the conflicts in iraq and afghanistan and i am calling for the withdrawal and repeal of the authorization to use military force that was established in 2001. Now hes actually going to continue to use the authorization to use military force in 2001 and hes adding another one. He is pushing what he thinks he can get through the congress, mostly because democrats are going to give him a hard time not republicans, and its much less than what the generals are saying that need. You saw a compilation of them there. It also continues the ridiculous use of time lines in military actions. It did take away the geographic restrictions, which i think is important because isis doesnt think its just staying in this contained little area. They are spreading around. The bottom line is its not that big a deal. I think this is going to be a little bit of a smorgasbord of policy make ong capitol hill he get will get an authorization to use military force and well continue to have a military and Intelligence Service that does what it needs to do within those parameters. When he says hes asking for a threeyear thing, i think that does the next president of the United States, whoever it is, a disservice. Yes. Because that means the first thing that that president is going to have to do instead of being able to do whatever is necessary, theyre going to have to spend a lot of capital to try to get a new authorization to use military force because lits not kid ourselves, were going to need it. In contract law, you put a term on it, i get that. He wants a threeyear. He went further. This is meant to imply that the u. S. Will end its antiisis operation within three years whether we win or not. This is what he does. Kimberly you hear president obama saying will win at the podium, but were not so sure. Because degrading is not winning. It isnt. And thats the problem. Hes not prepared to do whatever it takes and hes telling them that. If i were sitting there listening and im the leadership of isis im, like, okay, much ado about nothing, this guy. He didnt accomplish anything with this because we already had the authority to be able to do what we need to do right now. All he did was hamstring whoevers going to be his successor with unnecessary verbiage and paperwork right, because he doesnt want any enduring ground force offensive. But thats what you need in order to win. Whose side are you playing for . Are we winning . If you listen to president obama, we are winning, pushing them back, morale is broken, yet 20,000 foreign fighters are joining the fight and as many as 150 americans. 3,400 westerners. I actually dont think he was that bad today. I mean, i thought the hehe actually had more emotion than usual. However, there is no prenup in war. I dont understand, you know, announcing a limited engagement like its some kind of small foreign independent film playing at the marquee down the street. Hes essentially announcing the exit strategy before he even entered, say nothing ground war is like telling your kids theyll never be grounded. There has to be consequences. It goes back to i think what i would call the root cause of all of this issue these issues for him is george bush. When he says he doesnt want to be dragged back into these wars, hes basically still kind of thinking about bush. Its his obsession with bush that prevents him from crushing isis. Its like you had a really bad first marriage and its preventing you from committing again, and i think thats not me. Not me. But the thing is i wish he had as much passion for security as he did for fundraising. Maybe he should look at terrorists as wallets. So greg makes a very good point, bob, that part of the reason we have an isis is because president obama announced the troop drawdowns in advance of drawing down the troops, not as things were getting better. At this date were going to be down to 50000, that the date down to 15,000 at this date were going to be out. If youre a terrorist organization, why not just wait the dates out . Youre assuming that a, there was no isis before that at least maybe knotty bithat name, but theyve been radical islamists are you saying we will not well never completely defeat them. Theres always going to be some fringe edge of the muslim you mean offshoot . Were not going to be able to knock them all down. The other thing is i think what he did for the next president was a good thing. Instead of saying im going to handle it when i leave office, that means you have to go through the whole process now is the new president why not open ended . Why say this is going to end in three years . Why . Because you think the next president of the United States wants to spend any of their time having to worry about passing a new authorization to use military force in their first year . Whoever it is, theyre not going to want to have to do that. They already have to fix all of his other mistakes like obamacare. Busy. Like teddy cruz, hell want to increase the number of troops. Not necessarily. Depends on the situation on the ground. Whats your problem with its irrelevant. They can pass whatever they want po pass. Yet to justify an argument why he did it. Another piece of news that came out earlier today which i kind of find it shocking. Iran, tehran, has said they will train iraqi forces. Now, does anyone here let me start with you, bob, youre familiar with iran. Does this pose a problem when a u. S. Military people are going to be arm in arm with iraqi with iranians that train iraqis . This doesnt sound like a problem to you . Sounds like a very big problem to you. I also dont quite understand, were supposed to be training these guys for a very long time and havent done a very good job, obviously. If the iranians come, in i think its demeaning to us, plus the fact the potential of having iranians running around with guns all over iraq. They already are. Yeah, but not in an organized fashion. I think we need theres theres a desire in some places in washington mostly at the white house and some people that support them that have this notion that iran really is actually on its heels, that rouhani is a moderate, that they dont really want to get a Nuclear Weapon and just want a deal because the sanctions have been so hard. Then you talk to people that are experts that look at this and say, actually iran is flexing muscle in every part of the middle east, including bahrain, yemen, one of the points about the whole piece about the jordanian pilot being burned alive was they wanted to draw jordan into a conflict so they could actually be the powerbroker of the middle east. And we are continuing to shelter this idea that we could have talks with iran and then everything is going to be okay. I think whats really foolhardy is and we are hearing leaks that there are a lot more dealings going on with iran than were being told, a lot of backdoor dealings. I hate to say it but you sort of wish for Saddam Hussein to be around to keep the check. And gas more zpurds. There are those who say keep your dictators in place because they keep things calmer in syria, maybe other parts of the middle east. Can i do this . Yeah, sure. Over the past few days the Obama Administration has been clear that with respect to Isis Al Qaeda theyre both supposedly on the run. Listen. Are we actually winning our goal of diminishing and eventually destroying isis . Well, i believe we are on the road to, yes. I absolutely do. And i think the evidence is not in my saying it but in the facts of what is happening. Were destroying their fighting positions. Were taking out their commanders, their fighter and their leaders. Weve seen reports of sinking morale among isil fighters as they realize the futility of their cause. What do we do . Were hearing from the administration saying were win baugh lot of reports, the additional foreign fighters coming over, maybe were not winning. This is the importance of espionage espionage, infiltration, spying. Theyre done in secret to find out the secrets, what theyre doing, and that must be embraced. We went through the last couple years jekting it through the antics of snowden and manning and assange, but we need to know what sooefl up to. America has been lucky. Weve benefited from oceans and distance. But today seeing president obama up there refutes any remaining shred that america can get up and leave the table to go watch espn in their underwear. Never. Whenever we leave, evil breeds. This is a guy that didnt want to go to war and now hes back there. He is the poster child for american intervention. But thats what happens when you get a rapidfire education from Community Organizer to commander in chief. And he should recall he was so quick to krit cit size his predecessors, and now look where he stands. If he had acted more quickly, we wouldnt be in the position were in. What do we do with the 150 or so americans with american passports now fighting for isis . This is one of the issues you brought up a while ago. I think first and foremost you have to figure out how to track them if they want to return to the United States. They have a passport so, the most important thing is to be able to track them and if theres some reason to apprehend them, i think maybe i dont know all the legal requirements, but if theres a reason to hold them and interrogate, i think that would be responsible thing to do. I said yesterday, you have to create the terror magnets. When this Police Departments send out you want a free camper and all the people show up and you arrest them you create magnets for these people whether you insult them through a magazine or set up a recruiting thing, set them up they come and then you kill them. K. G. . Hi. The lord giveth the lord taketh away. Handle over the passport. And kill them. Isnt that treasonous . The very definition . I have no problem with, you know, killing people who commit treason against the United States. So, you know, you know where i stand. Automatically break the law by going over and engaging with the enemy. You bring them in and you arrest them and you charge them. Its going to take an act of terrorism here in the United States by one of these guys and then were going to act on it. But you cant take them up when they come back over. We should be able to. The hope is you catch them. Before they do something, but the bottom line is were not going to be able to catch all of them because its too loose. Were too busy apologizing and worrying about peoples, you know feelings. We got to leave that. Coming up, a sixmonth suspension for a 12yearlonglie. Nbc delivers its punishment to Brian Williams. Was it harsh enough . Can williams really trourn the anchor december this can summer . How did nbc address that decision on air today . Seriously . Where do you think youre going . To work, with you. Its taco tuesday. Youre not coming. I took mucinex to help get rid of my mucusy congestion. Oh, right then ill swing by in like 4 hours. Forget the tacos one pill lasts 12 hours. Im good all day. Wait your loss. I was going to wear a sombrero. Only mucinex has a bilayer tablet that starts fast, and keeps working. Not 4, not 6, but 12 full hours. Start the relief. Ditch the misery. Lets end this. Six months without pay. Thats nbcs punishment for the managing editor and anchor of its nightly newscast for telling false stories about a 2003 trip to iraq. In a statement nbc called Brian Williams actions inexcusable inappropriate, and wrong but left the door open for his return saying he deserves a second chance. Williams colleagues matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie addressed the decision on the today show this morning. This is a very difficult story for us to report on because it is so so personal in so many ways. Most importantly, brian is not only a colleague of ours here but hes a really good friend. We all care a lot about brian. Thats what makes this so hard. We also care a lot about this place. The standards of nbc news. And thats what nbc is trying to balance here. So we can only say we wish the best for brian in this time. We hope the best for nbc as well. And we look forward to brians return. What did you make of that, ben greg . It was like the serengeti out there. She just tore Brian Williams apart. Oh, you know were worried about him but we have these standards. Basically she said hes screwed. I think nbc sensed a cascade of fibbery that was not going to stop, it was going to keep going, like an incontinent dog, got to get him outside before he ruins all the rugs. Remember that . The incontinent dog. But i find it interest interesting that at lot of the defense for Brian Williams and bill oreilly used this, which i think is incorrect, the mob mentality that is going after him, and somehow thats unfair but he did something wrong. It wasnt an opinion. Its like if a group of diners get Food Poisoning in a restaurant, their sickness isnt a mob response. Its response to the guy doing a poor job. And Brian Williams did a poor job. The people that are upset, its not a mob mentality. Its a natural reaction to an incompetence that has to be corrected. Kimberly do you think that a sixmonth suspension was the right call here by nbc . I think its a clever decision because what i think theyre going to do is test it out in the interim. In his absence, theyll see how the ratings go with someone whos his replacement. If it takes theres a strong argument if time passes, people forget, then, okay bring him back. But if somebody comes in knocks it out of the park and maintains or equals, you know, his ratings or even exceeds them, there will be a strong argument for them to move forward and part ways. But the people that i talk to and one of my friends said i love him watched him for year and he would continue to watch him and give him a second chance. There are people who really like him, used to seeing him there, set their clock by it. Do you think a temporary suspension is actual lay permanent one where they just wanted to soften the blow . I do. And also think think about it. If you brought him back, everything he said would be suspect, right . I mean, they go over with it with a fine toothed comb. He didnt make a mistake. He made up news, and that is a big distinction. I think hes toast. Take a look at the pilot who brought attention brought this to everyones attention said that the rpg absolutely did not hit that helicopter. He had a gracious response. I think everybody should be held accountable for their actions. I feel that way about myself but i also appreciate the wisdom that the president of nbc showed in, well, displaying some compassion and some proportion to the punishment that was handled down to him. I hate to see somebody lose their career over making a mistake. Im still confused by that word a mistake. Is it a mistake or a lie . I mean, he for him to say he misremembered, thats a lie. Part of the issue here is that came out this punishment came down pretty swiftly. I think everyones kind of caught by surprise how fast they made a decision to do this because there was going to be an investigation. But as greg points out they probably started the investigation, found so many, they were like uhoh we better we have to stop the bleeding right now. But i think its a mistake to put a time limit on it just like it would be a mistake to put a time limit on beating isis. A temporary suspension well visit this as time goes. Hes going to be eligible everyones doing the sixmonth time limit now, doing the math on it, there are going to be probably 15 or 20 president ial candidates who are announcing within a month of that sixmonth period. You have to say, do you really want Brian Williams right now i mean look, i feel bad that the guy has put himself in this position, but he has. They made him so important, managing editor managing director of the news, that he was able to pick and choose which news that was going to hit the air for them. He got so big that at one point i believe brokaw and the Senior Executive in charge of news said stick to the facts. Stick to the facts brian. Youre varying too far into opinion. Thats where he got himself hurt. You alluded to something earlier. Do you think theres more left to come out . Because new York Magazine today sort soft suggested that. I wouldnt be surprised. I mean, everybody always wants the other persons job. Actors always want to be musicians and musicians want to be painters. He wanted to be letterman. Brian wanted to be letterman, which meant that he wanted to tell stories. He was too charming to do the news. Its not just six months. Thats 5 million or what geraldo pays for waxing. I mean, thats hes going to feel that. Its also really hard for anyone i think at fox to screw up like this, because theres so much hatred for us in the media already that we will never be as comfortable as Brian Williams to actually tell these stories. Listen, the guy you think about this, he got managing editor. That started with waumter, who demanded he be named managing editor. That was a big deal. Everybody got it right . Brokaw wasnt managing editor.