It brings us closer to community polici policing, community, police trust and credibility on both sides. We must have solutions. We cannot stay where we are. Thanks for watching. Im al sharpton. Hardball starts right now. Another american beheaded. This is hardball. Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. Let me start tonight with a horror that appears to have no ending. The Islamic State has beheaded another american, Steven Sotloff. This is not a bit of news to absorb, move on and forget. It is a zsadistic assault on ou
countrys pride, barack obama, the American People, on the country we love. Cutting off the head of one of us is a taunt, a humiliation. It debases us this the eyes of syrians, iraqi, our countrymen. The American Intelligence Community is working to confirm the latest video that shows him being executed in the video. Mr. Sotloff is in an orange jump suit saying hes paying the price for president obamas intervention in iraq. It was obviously scripted. This comes two weeks after the beheading of james foley. In this plea for his life from his mother. As a mother i ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over. I ask you to use your authority to spare his life and to follow the example set by the prophet mohamed who protected people of the book. I want what every mother
wants to live to see her childrens children. I plead with you to grant me this. Bobby gaush from quartz. I want to start with you, bobby. This looks like it will go on. This will be a battle of nerves and whatever else in our visceral reality. This is personal between the president of the United States and baghdadi leading the Islamic State. Yes. They have already said they will execute a british prisoner next. They have other prisoners. Its worth remembering here they have been executing prisoners of other nationalities for weeks and months now. Syrians, other arab nationals. They have been doing it for a while. They clearly take a great deal of enjoyment from this the. For political reasons and perverse personal reason ares they will do it a lot. It ees sadism. Absolutely. This is beyond a political message. This is people taking a perverse pleasure in slaughter. These are not the only examples. There have been lots of videos they posted online of atrocities. Its hard to say at this moment, but atrocities worse than dozens, scores, hundreds of people being lined up and killed. We have been seeing reports from amnesty international, other International Bodies and people who survived. Reports of women and children taken prisoner, sexual slavery, depravity of a kind that we shouldnt really be mentioning on a show like this. It gets to our guts, a sense of self, vulnerability, someone doing this to us. These are just americans not guilty of any particular behavior. They were just picked at because they got their hands on them. They are going to keep doing this. Thats the message the president will be confronted with. He goes to bed tonight and as cool a customer as he can b he puts his head on the pillow thinking about they are beheading our guys over there. He goes to bed tonight as the president who said a few days ago when you come African Americans we come after you. Hes already answered this challenge rhetorically. Now this increase it is pressure on him to do something more. The big question and the huge problem for him is what. What can he do thats effective . We like to think we are high tech. We can bomb a country with immunity, make a statement and they cant touch us because we dont put people on the ground. To me the message is they have our people on the ground. There are people within the reach of this organization and others simply because they are there doing their jobs. Journalists in this case, but also aide workers, businessmen, diplomats. People there not because the United States government sent them as soldiers but they are
there doing some other job. A few days ago the president said and people jumped all over him for saying he doesnt have a strategy yet. Put together this. They are going to continue doing this obviously. They made it clear. They are going to keep looking for americans, missionaries, business people, tourists, the average backpacker they can get lost shr. They will keep looking for americans to behead. As i said, during his News Conference last week with president obama made this blunt admission which will flow through the air for the next several days. I dont want to put the cart before the horse. We dont have a strategy yet. We dont have a strategy yet. Today rear admiral john are kirby said we have a strategy. The pentagon says it does. Absolutely there is a strategy for our approach to the middle east. I can only speak from a military perspective and for the
pentagon. But we have been consistently going after the terrorist threat in that part of the world. Military strategy with respect to the middle east has been clear. Its not just something we just started doing. We have been going after terrorist networks in that part of the world for more than a decade. With very good success. Doesnt mean its been eliminated. We have been active, energetic and the objectives have been clear. Thats an absurd statement. We went into iraq, blew the country apart, created the opportunity for isis to grow. It was nothing. Anything we faced from hussein. The idea that we have been winning this war against terrorism is ludicrous. We are facing a new danger now going after our people there, threatening to become a country. No one seems willing to take it on in the region. How can you say we are winning
like the average said . I dont understand that. I guess he has to say that stuff because of his position. Were not winning the war against terrorism there. Certainly not in syria and iraq. Its a bad sign when you have to start by saying our position is clear. If it was then you wouldnt have to say it. Yes, there have been successes in other parts of the world against terrorism. Even this morning we heard of an air strike in somalia. Thats not where the worlds attention is focused, where americans are being killed in this brutal fashion. The president said he will respond. If you kill americans, well come after you. Who is the you here . Is it baghdadi, the leader of the group . Is it all five to seven to 10,000 of the fighters. Thats my question. This isnt a criminal matter. If its a war crime first of all you have to have a war. We are not engaging in a war. At some point you single out, after you have won the war, who are the most egregious betrayers of whats considered acceptable
behavior, even a military campaign. Thats when you get to neuronburg. We are nowhere near that. The idea well have holder there with gmen to find baghdadi, you hit the point there without intentionally doing so. Its absurd to say well go there, grab somebody and put them in on a eichmantype raid like the israelis. Were not a little country. We are a big country. This is furtherering the whacka mole problem. Some part of the organization, related one or fellow travellers pops up this in somalia or throw a dart at the world. There are people in isis now who werent in it two weeks ago. The idea that we can surgically go after pieces parts of that probably wont work. Obama has to articulate larger strategy. He needs a plan, not words. If this latest execution of an
american, Steve Sotloff leads to military action we could be fighting against the same side we threatened to oppose a year ago. The government of bashar al assad. Here is Nbcs Richard Engel on that point. Reporter like it or not, the u. S. May now be forced to take the action against isis, not only in iraq, but also in syria. This, critics say, could mean helping the assad regime which the president said had to go. This is the weerird thing. Its sad. It shows how screwy the situation is. We were going to warren oh one side a year ago. Now the other side. I cant think of a time in history where we switched sides in the middle of a Campaign Like this. Bobby, last word on that. I think thats the quagmire we are in here. If we had been on the side of against this side last year we would be the isis air force now. If we go in now we are assads
air force against isis. We choose sides, friends, take enemies to our side. I have to tell you, it looks like assad is looking more impressive an ally than these people, baghdadis people. I dont think assad is any kind of ally. We are a big country. We should be able to fight on two fronts. We spend enough on the military for that. We can and should be gathering a coalition of countries to do that. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can fight assad and isis tame. There have been successes in iraq recently, in recent days. The murder of sotloff overshadows these things as it should. Iraqi forces with american help managed to drive isis away from one village, about 180 miles from baghdad. We retook that dam near mosul with american help but iraqi boots on the ground. Thats the beginning of an idea, a combination local boots on the ground, americans and
international that will solve the problem. Can any other force join our effort besides iraq . I gather there is a lot of effort to bring in the turks. That would be a good start. The turks face a grave danger. A lot of this is taking place on their border. Turkey has allowed a lot of the fighters to go through their territory into syria. Just like pakistan, turkey is now facing the prospect of people coming back over their territory, bringing with them this poisonous ideology of theirs. What a predicament. Thank you. Coming up, what should president obama do about the isis threat . What can he do . This is a direct, personal humiliation of our country. Americans want action. Its the president who has to act for us. Plus the battle for control of the u. S. Senate. Well look at the four blocks of states and how they look now. In an alarming violation of privacy hackers steal hundreds of private nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other female celebrities n. The digital age what people do in
the privacy of their homes doesnt always stay there. Let me finish with this damned if you do, dal fd you dont situation facing the president. This is hardball, the place for politics. Arp, then you dont know aarp. Our drive to end hunger has donated 29 million meals, and counting. Find more real possibilities at aarp. Org possibilities. Welllllllll, not when your . Travel rewards card makes it so hard to get a seat using your miles. Thats their game. The flights you want are blacked out. Or they ask for some ridiculous number of miles. Honestly, its time to switch to the venture card from capital one. With venture, use your miles on any airline, any flight, any time. No blackout dates. And with every purchase, youll earn unlimited double miles. From now on, no ones taking your seat away. Whats in your wallet . The United StatesJustice Department is in federal court in texas arguing against that states voter i. D. Law. Opening statements began in a lawsuit led by attorney general eric holder. And minority Rights Groups themselves. They say the law is to tamp downturnout by minorities and young people. A ruling isnt expected until after the midterm elections. Well be right back after this. Driver 1 you ready . Yeah go [sfx] roaring altima engine woah ahhhha we told people they were riding nissans most advanced altima race car. We lied. About the race car part. Altima, with 270 horsepower and active understeer control. How did you . What i dont even, im speechless. Innovation that excites. When folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. Another gruesome kpe cushion of an american at the hand s of the Islamic State. The terrorist groups slaughter of u. S. Journalist Steven Sotloff is part of a message for president obama. It could be summed up like this. If american missiles continue to strike our people thats them well continue to strike yours. Were going to show a very short portion of the video in order to hear in this case the accent of the executioner. Im back, obama. Im back because of thats all we got. Two other americans are believed to be held by the group and waiting for more of the mayhem. Something this terrible goes beyond politics obviously. This is about president ial leadership in the world, strength, who will lead our country out of this humiliation. Michael steele was rnc chair and Eugene Robinson was with the Washington Post. Both msnbc political analysts. You guys are seasoned in thinking about these things. If youre president of the United States i dont know what you think. Its clear they are taunting him, humiliating the president with the bodies and the heads of americans. This is tribal. Right. This is probably the most primitive people on the planet
used to to. The thing obama faces thats difficult is he cant appear to be reactionary. The other side of the coin is you cant appear to be distantly removed as well. You have to figure out a way, that thin slice to connect yourself so the American People understand so he under mined the effort at the press conference when he said we dont have a plan. This is something that crept up in the last few weeks. The beheadings raises this to a level of visceral reaction. Most americans like me call murder. Get those guys. Exactly. He didnt want to do it last week. Right. Its theatrical in this vilest and most despicable sense. Bring out all the adjectives you want. The adjectives dont take you far. President obamas general m. O. Is dont get mad, get even. So i think he has to communicate that to the American People that we are not going to let this lie. We are going to respond to this. But we are going to respond to it this a way that we think will be effective, not just react. We have to do something. I always have been the one with the itchy trigger finger. When he was 20 points behind Hillary Clinton in fall of 2007 i said, lets get going here. He did have a plan to win the delegates. There is a price to be paid for his deliberation. Thats the difference. Thats the problem. There are at least 26 other americans that are known to be held by the Islamic State, so the question becomes if this video, as it noted, this is because of you that we are doing this. How did the president respond . The early steps of bringing the community into this are partnering. Those with as much of an interest as we do, getting them out in front. You begin to create a wall to go after them. Its not just about american air strikes. Its really communicating globally. This is the line that no one is allowed to cross. The Global Community when the president leading against israel in 46, 67, 73. When do they attack . There is a confluence of interests in the region, clearly. An attitude in con fluent interests against isis. How do you get them to act in concert . Thats not easy. Youre right. It doesnt happen often. There is a lot of diplomatic ground work done on that score. My colleague covered a lot of that in a column today the
actually. There is a lot more yet to do. One thing you could do, and i think the administration is probably trying to do is you could take one shot at the guy. If you have a sense of where that guy is. I think you could do that and the United States. The United States could do that. Do you think a decapitation would work . That would achieve something . Well, what it would achieve is, i think, giving you and me and michael the sense that, yeah, you cant do this. We did have to respond to this. If you behead americans on Television Like that but bu thats essentially a lucky shot. Who know ifs they know exactly where that guy is. We couldnt get Saddam Hussein and he was the head of the country. We couldnt find the head of the country. That wasnt easy to do. Hypothetically, if you had a shot, you would take it. I think the president is good
at the partisan stuff. President obama is facing renewed pressure led by hawks like senator graham who put out this statement about the killing. Condemnation is not enough to deal with the surge. It is time to act against isil wherever it resides. When american air power has been employed in coordination with reliable partners on the ground isil has been devastated. It should be pursued in syria and iraq. Mr. President , if you cant come up with a strategy at least tell us what the goal is regarding isil. The problem is hes confronted by a direct challenge from the head of the Islamic State that if you keep bombing me i will keep beheading americans. Thats the problem. The president has to work out and unfortunately has to work it out publically. We will be as much a part of the decisionmaking process as anyone, the American People. The problem is the president doesnt have a safe harbor. He cant look at rhetoric from the right and think, oh, we are going the to push this some
dems say the Republican Congress needs to step in and lead on some of this. How would that work . In other words, that they could reauthorize the president that would put him in a worse situation. It would. The president has to clearly define what this Mission Objective will be and what the goals will be once the objective is reached. What does it look like once we are done . Do we leave an