Reach safety and helped save many innocent lives. Now, the situation remains dire for iraqis suggest to isils terror throughout the country, and this includes minorities like yazidis and christians, also including many sunnis, shia, and kurds. Welcome to the journal editorial report. Im paul gigot. That was president obama announcing thursday that u. S. Led air strikes have broken the siege by islamic militants against religious minorities who are trapped on a mountain in northern iraq. But acknowledging that the situation remains desperate for millions of iraqis as the terror Group Continues its advances. So is the administration willing to do what it takes to defeat the isis threat . Lets ask wall street Foreign Affairs columnist bret stephens. Bret, the president says no boots on the ground, were not going back to war. But arent we at war right now . Were dropping bombs on isis. Were just not doing it in a way that is going to be effective and really turn back their advances or much less defeat this terrorist caliphate state. Have we made progress in the last week . Because the yazidi siege seems to have been broken. Thats what the president says. Thats not what the yazidis say. Theres no longer 40,000. Some of the kurds are taking them off of that mountain. Weve seen the threat immediate threat to erbil territories diminish. We have Prime MinisterNuri Al Malaki giving a new government a chance to 0 get together. Arent we better off this week than last . That remains to be seen. The president is using sort of minimal means plus keeping his fingers crossed and hoping every break goes his way. We do have the end of the malaki ear 0 ra, eightyear era, but we dont know 0 if the new Prime Minister, Prime Minister abadi will be able to form a government. He has 30 days. Will it be competent . Is he going to be able to organize the iraqi army . Are the kurds going to get the military assistance they need to meaningfully defeat isis . How would you answer those questions . Start with with the kurds. The french are arming them. We seem to be giving them more weapons. Thats progress. Yes. But remember when isis took over mon mosul, they seized six divisions worth of military equipment. Maybe some of it ended up in kurdish hands but most of it they seized. So its a heck of a gamble to say, paul, lets hope that the french assistance to the kurds is just sufficient for them to at least maintain their grip on the kurdish autonomous region. Also, remember, paul, our strategic goal isnt simply to secure the kurdish homeland, simply to prevent baghdad from falling into the isis hands, its to defeat isis. Many people, ryan crocker, our former ambassador, jim jones, National Security adviser to the president in our own page is saying the existence of isis, the existence of this terrorist state in the heart of the middle east is a threat to american National Security. But if the president doesnt want to put boots on the ground, well, we already have close to 1,000 there as virz advisers, w going to have to reconstitute and reenergize the iraqi military. Would you agree with that . Its essential. But its very hard to see this mission being accomplished in any serious way without much more substantial American Military support. And one of the very disheartening things about whats happened is we have promised the iraqis all kinds of military equipment, two squadrons of f16s, maintenance on their m1 tanks, attack helicopters, a rebuilt airstrip at ba laud airfield. And in point after point we are failing to meet our most basic commitments, just to 0 give you an example. Of those f16s, only one of them and maybe two has now been delivered and iraqi pilots are training somewhere in arizona. What about those who say, look, we know we can kill them from the air. Our air force is dominant over there. But it wont defeat isis. So if we get in and escalate that way, what is going to happen is isis will adapt as the enemy always does, theyll find saingtsaries and go back into syria and move their equipment as they already are and were going to end up actually being at war with them in a low level way without accomplishing anything. First off, air power can accomplish a lot. This is open ground. Were not talking about the jungles of northern vietnee vie. Its gone from a Guerilla Movement to 0 an army. You can do a lot to create openings for the iraqi army, for the Kurdish Peshmerga to provide divisive value to reverse what isis is making. Are american troops, im talking 5,000, 10,000 of them, go okay to have to go back to, as part of this effort, if we want to defeat isis . Yes, i think they do. Frankly, 5,0000 or 10,000 american troops should have always been maintained in iraq. That is the tragic mistake that this administration made, which amusingly president obama now blames on his predecessor, president bush, by not getting out of iraq. Sooner or later, there will be thousands of american troops back on the ground. Very briefly, you think thats right . I think there should be, but i dont think this president will do it. Well, i think he may get there. He may not have any choice. When we come back, she is distancing herself from the Foreign Policy blunders of the obama administration. But will Hillary Clintons hawkish makeover work, or leave her more vulnerable in 2016 . Fan negatively impact good bacteria . Even if youre healthy and active. Phillips Digestive Health support is a duoprobiotic that helps supplement good bacteria found in two parts of your digestive tract. Im doubly impressed phillips Digestive Health. A daily probiotic. We agree we are committed to the values and the interests of the security of our country together. We have disagreements, as any partners and friends, as we might very well have, but im proud that i served with him and for him. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Marthas Vineyard this week attempting to make nice with president obama after publicly criticizing his Foreign Policy. In a recent interview with the atlantic, clinton claimed the president s failure to help the Syrian Rebels early on led to the rise of isis. The likely 2016 contender also took a shot at the administrations overall Foreign Policy, saying, quote, great nations need organizing principles and dont do stupid stuff is not an organizing principle. Were back with bret stephens. Wall street potomac watch kim strassel and jason rile 0ly also joining us. Kim, did Hillary Clinton achieve her goal of distancing herself from the president s Foreign Policy . Well, she certainly made it clear that she is critical of it, and you can see why shes doing that, maneuvering for 2016. The polls show the public do not approve of whats happening in the president s Foreign Policy. I think the problem that Hillary Clinton has is shes yet to explain her own role in it, as his secretary of state, or to explain to the American Public what her actual vision is. Its one thing to be critical. Its another to define your own views. Shes been very careful not to do that yet. One of the points shes making, jason, is it aes triangulating to borrow a word from the 90s, shes saying im not barack obama but im also not george w. Bush. Shes trying to go into the middle. How credible is that . She wants to sort of attract his critics without alienating his supporters. Its a very tall order because as kim said she had a role in shaping this socalled light footprint strategy that has made the globe much more dangerous than the one that barack obama inherited from george w. Bush. She can say, i wanted to arm the rebels in syria, but she was there at the time and when that uprising began, she refused to call for assads ouster, for example. She can say, i oppose a nuclear iran, but shes the one whos gone, pushed for the diplomatic route. Bret, how credible can she be, in this hawkish role . What shes going to be saying is that privately i was giving the president that hawkish advice, that we should be arming the syrians, more muscular policy toward iran. Theres some partial validity to it, especially when it comes to syria. But remember she was the most outspoken proponent of the russian reset, the outreach to the prkremlin, the results we s in the contempt russia shows the u. S. And the United States over ukraine and many other issues. Ultimately she stood behind the president s policy. Just remember that kind of maude lynn interview she did with barack obama with steve crofts of 60 minutes, how close she was, how closely they worked together. She owns that relationship, those words. What about the risk this positi positioning, kim, makes for her president ial run if i mean, is it inviting a challenge from the democratic left, the base is still pretty liberal. Oh, i think its inviting challenges both from the democratic left, right. Who their complaint about barack obama is that hes done more than they would have even wanted him to do. So she certainly is inviting a challenge from that side, and theyve got plenty of reasons to one, theyre already talking about putting their own candidates forward. Theyre not necessarily happy with her. But shes also inviting a challenge i think from the right because you are beginning to see republicans who have been a bit quiet ever since the bush years on Foreign Policy look at whats happening in the world and its time to reassert their own views on Foreign Policy again. You see a lot of 2016 republican candidates out there talking a lot more about Foreign Policy, and theyre definitely going to be pushing her to have to explain what her views are and whether the limitss her own philosophy. Where is the heart of the democratic partry on foreign po policy of doing as little as possible, or more with Hillary Clinton right now . I think the polls show that the American People dont want troops on the ground in a lot of these places. So theyre with barack obama. But they also dont like to see what they see in the world. These flareups all over the world. They hold the u. S. President responsible for that, even if they dont want troops on the ground. What about the Democratic Party . Youre talking about the general polls. But the Democratic Party, the people who vote in primary, where are they on this, with barack obama or Hillary Clinton . Theyre probably with obama. They tend to be more liberal. Even obama is getting more hawkish. This could open up a challenge for Hillary Clinton from the left. It could. And what hillary is also going to get is the press. Because shes essentially clear the field until she decides whether to run, the press to secondguess everything obama does. It will be very interesting too see how she handles that. Bret, how does this go with hill accredit sizing the brez. Does this give them a chance to find their voice . This gives them a real opening when the Presumptive Democratic mom knee is already criticizing or at least mildly criticizing the president to reassert their republican conservative international bona fides to point out what a disaster this administration has been with relationships all over the world and to make a case for a muscular international United States that doesnt tip over into the utopian one might accuse the Bush Administration of. Rand paul may have Something Different to say about that. Thats a different show. When we come back, hes being accused of stabbing a fellow republican in the back. So whats really behind new jersey governor Chris Christies refusal to support Andrew Cuomos republican challenger . Female narrator the mattress price wars are on the mattress price wars are on at sleep train. We challenged the manufacturers to offer even lower prices. Now its posturepedic versus beautyrest with big savings of up to 400 off. Serta icomfort and tempurpedic go headtohead with three years interestfree financing. Plus, free sameday delivery, setup, and removal of your old set. When brands compete, you save. Mattress price wars are on now at sleep train. Your ticket to a better nights sleep new Jersey Governor Chris Christie is coming under fire from fellow republicans for his refusal to back the challenger to new york governor reason drew cuomo. Christie, who chairs the Republican Governors Association has been crisscrossing the country this summer raising money for gop candidates but says he wont do the same for rob as terino saying his its a lost cause. Bobby jindal announced last week that hell headline a manhattan fundraiser for satorino and rick perry and scott walker also lending support to his campaign. Were back with jason riley and james freeman. James, how does the head of the Republican Governors Association not support a republican candidate for governor . Its weird. You can understand given cuomo has an enormous lead in the polls and huge money advantage, you can understand christie saying im not going to drop 10 million into that race. But theres no reason to knock as tore reno especially when you have a talented guy. Hes the Westchester County executive. Thats not exactly a republican stronghold. Right. Yet he managed to win in 2010. Twice hes won in a democratic area. Twice hes shown he can get minority support, latino spurt, black support, democratic support. Anyone who gets to know him will hes a formidable communicator with a strong message. Its way too early to write this guy off. How do you explain this christie behavior, jason . Its tough. Hes almost aggressively indifferent. We dont pay for landslides he said to the press. Why . He has a sort of nonaggression pact with Governor Cuomo of new york who is astorinos rival. Its a thank you. Christie is thanking Governor Cuomo for not speaking out against him on the bridgegate scandal that christie has been going through. Thats the thinking. Theyve reached some sort of deal where christie is not going to support the man challenging cuomo 0. Is there a political downside . I think theres a huge downside, paul. Conservatives already have their issues with christie over his hugging obama before the 2012 election and thanks for the sandy support, over gun control, over global warming. And ufd think that christie would sort of make good with some of these cone serve actives by embracing somebody like astorino with the president ial premiers in mind. He hasnt done that. Ken kuch nellie who ran for governor in virginia last year could not get a lot of support from christie. What about his defenders who say, looj, theres a limited supply of money. We cant give everybody everything they want. The polls dont look good for astorino. And cuomo is going to every wall street donor and saying, if you give to him, youre on a list, im going to win, dont come looking to me for favors. Christie says, what can i do . I think some of that cuomo aggressiveness is out of a fear of the challenge that astorino represents. Cuomo has bad facts to run on. He has an economy growing even more slowly than the obama economy nationwide. He has an aboveaverage unemployment rate. He just shut down a Corruption Commission investigating albany because his friends in albany didnt want this commission investigated. There is a very big opportunity here once people get to know astorino. He is a guy who knows how to communicate who can seize the opportunity. So i think again its way too early to decide were not putting money into that race. You think hes basically missing an opportunity for his own political selfinterest . Am i putting that too harshly . I think its almost christie im talking about. I think hes making a bad decision based on the facts on the ground and, as jason says, memories are still fairly fresh of tt embrace that helped obama in the closing weeks against romney. This race is going to be closer than the polls show right now. Its probably low turnout. Astorino will get a lot of support upstate where the economy is horrible. Cuomo opposes fracking upstate. There are issues. The corruption issue has legs. This is not something that will go away anytime soon. This is a race but astorino needs money. So long as christie is say we dont support people who are going to lose in a landslide, it will be hard to raise money. Briefly, is christie still a credible candidate for president in 2016 . Hes shown his ability to raise money, his name i. D. , but he has the same problem andrew cuomo has. They are running slow growing high tax, high regulation states and they have a hard time saying its working. We have to take one more break. When we come back, hits and misses of the week. Time now for hits misses of the week. Kim, lets start with you. Six months ago billionaire activist tom steyer burst onto the National Scene saying hed drum up millions to sell the public on 0 a climate agenda. Since then, hes struggled to raise money, Vulnerable Senate democrats and the public remain firmly in support of pipelines and drilling. This week he all but admitted his great big campaign was going to be pretty tiny. So a hit, i guess, to the billionaire for belatedly acknowledging that the public is not inte