In this case, those of you hiding in the corner, it was a gun, an uzi that killed. As i said, we start with the murky change of heart and change of allegiance that drives a small but ruthless bunch of haters to join the murderous ranks of isis and other antiamerican islamist terror groups based in syria. Lets get a fix as best we can on who they are and what they are dog screaming for blood in far away land, Richard Engel is chief important to correspondent for nbc news. Evan kohlmann is an nbc analyst. Richard, they arent going away a different way of life, they are going away to kill americans. Yesterday nbc news learned Douglas Mcarthur mccain was killed fighting for isis. Now a second american turn coat killed in the same incident with mccain. Today pentagon Spokesman John Kirby told Andrea Mitchel that the threat from isis in the form of the western recruits is serious. Lets listen. We s and dozens of americans are potentially becoming radicalized and fighting with groups like isil. Thats worrisome enough. When we talk about the potential immediate sift threat of isil, thats one of the factors we are talking about. This idea that foreign fighters could go over there, get radicalized, get trained, then come back it their homeland. Whether it is United States or any other western nation. We cant even decide what to call this thing, isil or isis. These young men from america of different backgrounds have gone over to join it. How do we explain the turning of coat, turning of allegiance, not just to leave our culture but to become american killers. Because this group which doesnt call itself isis or isil, calls itself the Islamic State or caliphate, doesnt see the world in terms of american versus britain versus syria or iraqi. It sees it as muslims, particularly their brand of islam, which is really a death cult. It is rejected by the vast majority of muslims around the world and everybody else. So they are calling on supporters to come and join this little state that they have carved out in collapsed parts of syria and iraq. And to join this Uber NationalUltra National caliphate of theirs. Rejected their nationality, burn their american passports and fight against anyone who is determined to be their enemy. And this is appealing for people. Appealing for a Certain Group of people. Maybe 10 or 20 years ago they would have joined a religious cult. Gone off and joined the foreign legion. People have trouble with the law. They cant find themselves. They are searching for something greater. And in this case, they are joining a death cult that is advertising itself on the internet. And its little safe zone within iraq and syria. Dozens of people are real people, watching the beheading on television, basically, about american webs someone like they were, whats the reaction it being part after cult that does that . They have their hands in this now. Look to 20yearold adam dandage last month, arrested trying to go to isis. He told the fbi he was attempting to join isis. But when asked if he was willing to kill americans, he said openly no the fbi, yes, i would kill americans. Yes, that is part after religious duty. Yes, it is valid. And it is not just isis. You have this young guy from florida who went over and joined al qaedas official branch in syria, and before he left, he recorded a message in which he was shown tearing apart his u. S. Passport, bite awning the bass port, and then issuing a message to barack obama in which he threatened to come back and destroy the United States with bombs and other weapons and said his compatriots would be behind him. That the organization that just released an american hostage. You can imagine what the isis guys are saying. Lets good back to the macro questions. United states becoming syria, becoming isis . I think pretty soon, frankly. United states authorized surveillance flights over syria. Looking for targets. They will find targets. If you ask them to start looking for things, theyll find them. I think of it like if you invite a carpenter or a contractor to your house and you say, i have problems in the basement, you know full well the basement is full of water and you tell them, go down and look in there, he is going to tell you it needs work. Now were doing surveillance flights over there. We are asking them to look for targets. They will find them. So what do we do next . I think they will start bombing them. The irony on all of this, and i know you will love this, since you followed washington in foreign policy, almost exactly one year ago to the day we were talking about bombing sir why. But we were going to be bombing syria in order to become Bashar Alassad and help rebels push him out of power. Now we will bomb isis extremists in order to help Bashar Alassad. In one year, the situation changed 180 degrees. When we were right . Are we right now . Right then . Is this like they used to say about the pope. Hes right, then he changes his mind, hes right. Just religious about my religion, but thats an old joke. If we were right to spend all of our effort getting rid of alassad, which i never understand, i think they were a pain in the butt but a predictable pain in the butt and they were local. Now the isis, danger on the street for years now, that the government is always better than the street. Now we have the street coming at us. So here is the situation. Was it right then or is it right now . Lets take the first example. Thats the most pressing one. We could be doing this in a few days. In the situation is untenable. You have militant, as evan was saying, not just from isis but thousands of incredibly dangerous people who are very well armed. They are collect taxes, imposing their own kind of sharia law. They are seizing weapons from the iraqi army. They are taking over the air base. They are a danger to anyone, including the United States, right now. Can i understand why the United States would want to attack right now. Richard, we have to be somewhat consistent. Assad was never a threat to the United States. Then i go back to the other example. A year ago when we were talking about bombing the syrians, it was in order to back a moderate opposition and in order to overthrow assad. We never did that. So we didnt do one, which i understand. Assad was never a clear and present danger like these militant groups are, certainly. But once again we are talking about bombing and what im pointing out is we are talking about bombing first time against bashar and now with bashar. And it shows how inconsistent our look at syria has been. As the situation changes. One consistency is the national interest. We call it the Defense Department to defend our country. Here an interesting column written today. In syria it might be necessary to choose the lesser equal and work with Bashar Alassad to detain isis. This may mean for the foreseeable future a regime that committed war crimes, supported by iran and russia. Which the west has considerable strategic differences. Change would be costly but not as costly as scenario in which isis could use syrian territory from which to mount attacks from the region and beyond. Assad government may be able but is lesser evil than isis and a local one. Ive been reading a lot about world war ii again, evan and richard, we all think about world war 2 all the time. We join sides with stalin. Stalin, because we thought hitler was a more immediately and frightening threat to the world at that point. I understand that look, im not exactly a friend of the assad regime. I think what theyve done to the Syrian People is horrific. Awful. But i think at a certain point u. S. Foreign policy has to focus on certain priorities. One of those priorities is u. S. National security. Who is clear and present danger. Hezbollah is not a clear and present danger to the politics of the United States or homeland to the United States. It is not an active terrorist threat us to. Alassad is not. His Defense Network is done. He is not a let it to anyone in the region right now. Im not suggesting we should back the regime of Bashar Alassad, but i think we have to understand that in terms of the actors in this area of the world that are actually a threat us to, the one that is a threat to us is isis. No doubt about that. No doubt. Can i tell you, chris, how i think this sort of plays out . Sure, richard. If the u. S. Starts bombing isis in northern in syria, mostly northern syria, and eastern syria. But across a broad part of sir why out of governments control, we start bombing them, what does that mean . It means alassad gets a pass. We are effectively helping him because we are neutralizing an enemy force. By the way, alassad was happy to have isis flourish in his country for the last several months. He never attacked them because isis was busy fighting other rebels and new that they have become such a ferocious threat to him and to us, he is quite happy it seems to have the United States come in and clean up a mess that he was very happy to see ferment in his country. Aside from that, if we start doing this, start bombing isis, we give assad a pass. He goats stay, but probably control a smaller state. There will be a Bombing Campaign in this area of nomans land. In that band outside of damascus. That is isis stand, if you will. And this continues for a long time. This become a nomans land, dangerous place. Controlled by air strikes while Bashar Alassad stays, rehabilitated and gets to keep a somewhat reduced country. Thats not an outlook, an sustained longterm plan. Thats geo politics. I think a lot of americans are bleeding emotionally at the sight of what happened to james poly. We worry about our hostages. Our focus is on us. Thank you Richard Engel. Thank you evan for your expertise. Coming up. Wanting to put a boeing shirt on the back of everyone running in 2014. Can Mitch Mcconnell and scott brown convince their opponent, male or female, are really the president in some costume. Plus, calling for a boycott of burger king after the fastfood giant announced it was buying a Canadian Company and relocating headquarters up north. Critics say it is a gimmick to avoid paying american taxes, and it sure looks like it. Horror at the gun range. 9yearold girl firing an uzi, thats an automatic rifle, accidentally killed her instructor after losing control of the rifle. Wait until you see the pictures. Why was this little girl allowed to use such a weapon . Where is the nra right now . I wonder why. They must be embarrass in their awful silence. The stinky hamburger deal, skipping out on money and the hamburger deal, while think avoid paying taxes. This is hardball, a place for politics. You make a great team. Its been that way since the day you met. But your erectile dysfunction it could be a question of blood flow. Cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moments right. You can be more confident in your ability to be ready. And the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph like needing to go frequently or urgently. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. 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Jindal also has his own score board which i wants backed enthusiastically. Could be politics at work here. Well be right back. Welcome back to hardball. Gop strategy to take back the senate in 2014 is clear now. Turn your democratic opponent, whoever he or she is, into president obama. Republican senate chalers and incumbents alike are running to be the unobama this year. Will it work in Mitch Mcconnell said in martins upcoming piece, quote, my favorite year is 1994. Took a cardboard cutout of bill clinton on to the stage and defied the democrat to have their make tour take went with it. Mcconnell saw his tv ad with an opponent and he lost that fall. Secretary of state grimes is turned into a caricature of the current democratic president , barack obama. By my standard barack obama has been a disaster for our country. Thats what you get for electing someone with no experience. He was only two years into his first job when he started campaigning for the next one. Sound familiar . Pretty sarcastic. Republicans win in november by putting an obama boeing shirt, if you will, on the back of every democrat . Author of this great piece this weekend, jonathan, i was going to call you when i read it on line. Fabulous, fabulous reporting. Really. It is the kind of things that makes politics enjoyable it read. Host of the joy reid report. Lets talk about what we just showed a tape of. He is the old crusty guy who has been there. All of the assets of office but no one really likes him. Will he run almost like isis and syria . He thinks voters will choose him as the less of two evils, jonathan . His strategy has been, basically, get the other person to dislike sorry, have voters dislike the other candidate more than they do me. But thats not just this year. Thats been mcconnells m. O. For 30 years, thats how he wins. If you talk to folks that know him well, they will stay candidly, thats part of the reason hes that popular at home and why he is facing a tough race at this point in his career. He never established a positive image. Now mcconnell would say, yes, but i won. He told me over and over again. Im 80, 80. Never lost a race. But the way he wins isnt pretty and thats why he is in the predicament he is in today. His campaign is a onenote campaign. Trying to equate his opponent with president obama who is deeply unpopular figure in carol costello. And her campaign is to make the race about one thing too, Mitch Mcconnell. So you have two candidates making the race about Something Else and about somebody else. Can you argue, the only thing worse than doing anything Mitch Mcconnell is to be, i just lost Mitch Mcconnell. I watched Strom Thurmond become an acceptable figure because he changed over the race of bid. But he survived. People like survivors. At the end of november, Election Night when were all covering it, if Mitch Mcconnell wins, he will find himself slapping on the back and saying good work there, mitch. You did it again. If he loses, he is a loser. I think thats what drives that guy. And a lot of these people in politics, you win, you win. You lose, you lose. The thing with Mitch Mcconnell, which struck me about the clip you played, he said his favorite year is 94. But the more appropriate analogy is 1998. Unfortunately for the Republican Party what happened in that election is that their unpopularity measured against bill clinton and at that time they were trying to impeach clinton which is highly unpopular and right now, yes, president obama is incredibly unpopular in kentucky. He is trying to use it to his best advantage but partly because of the mcconnell strategy. He has made it really difficult for Republican Senate candidates to run saying their opponent would rubber stamp the obama agenda. The obama agenda is dead in the water for two years. He hasnt been able to pass anything major. The last huge piece of legislation that they nationalize the election on is health care. They backed off because in part in lost its salience and in particular in kentucky, the kentucky version is popular. The third part is if he is running against a brand, and alice grimes has a family brand which in a sense trumps any attempt to paste obama on to her an she resisted doing it as have most southern democrats that are in good shape. I tried to get Michelle Nunn if she would support health care and she wouldnt tell me. Democrats in the south arent allowing themselves to be attached to president obama. You are betting on her . I think that Allison Grimes has a very good chance. I think the only problem she will have is that democrats in general are more demoralized and less likely to turn out regardless of their candidate. I agree with everything you said. I think they will run against obama the face, the man. They dont want to talk about obama care, because it is doing well in kentucky. Kentucky isnt the only senate race with a gop. Republicans are trying to paint all of the democratic candidate as obama. Scott brown is in this race now. Tying New Hamp