Strikes. U. S. Fighter jets and drones struck several isis to defend trapped on the mountain. Nbc news Foreign CorrespondentKeira Simmons is on the ground in iraq. He filed this report this morning. Kurdish forces are battling with isis on the outskirts of this city embolden by the usairstrikes to take out some of that isis equipment that was so threatening. This city under threat, a bill that prompted president obama to act. Now, there are blood curdling stories from iraqs human rights minister saying that 500 members of the community have been killed saying that he believes 300 women have been kidnapped and even telling terrible stories about some people being married alive by isis. Little wonder that the civilians are so frightened that so many of them flee and there is such a sense that this city has to be protected. The question, of course, is if those battles between the kurds and isis combined with the air strikes do not push isis back what does the west do then . That was keir simmons in erbil, iraq. A glimpse into the thinking of the commander in chief when president obama spoke to reporters at length about his decision to involve the United States, again, in iraq. Via air strikes and humil teumhn aid. One question seemed to put the president on the defensive. Last question. President , do you have any second thoughts about pulling all Ground Troops out of iraq and does it give you pause as a u. S. , doing the same thing in afghanistan . Yeah. You know what i just find interesting is the degree to which this issue keeps on coming up, as if this was my decision. The president was responding to criticism from the right that the exit of the last u. S. Combat troops from iraq in 2011 directly caused the current outbreak of violence in iraq. The criticism has comes from people like former Vice President dick cheney and senator john mccain. They blame the president for the violence and the rise of isis. President obama argued that he could not have left any troops in iraq because the sovereign Iraqi Government would not allow the troops to stay and made sure to mention it was the previous administration, not his own, that handed control of iraq over to the Iraqi Government. With meed to, amy goodman, host and producer of democracy now and jake jacobs honor recipient. Thanks to both of you for being here. The press conference happened live while we were on the air and that moment when the president begins to respond to that last question, amy, i felt a shift in his mood and tone. When he said, this keeps coming up as though that was my decision and, hasnt he sort of repeatedly told us that this was his decision . Well, first of all, i think he should abide by what he initially felt about the war in iraq, when he was a state senator. And that is oppose it. And oppose it, again. He says, yes, the decision to pull out now is ultimately, actually, because of the bush administration. And the end agreement that was reached. And that if he kept soldiers on the ground they could be tried in iraqi courts. We have to ask questions about should some soldiers and particularly mercenary Companies Like what was formally known as black water be try in iraqi courts for what was done there. Right now president obama should abide by what he originally thought about the war in iraq. This can do no one knany good. Both president obama in 2000 maev making the pledge to remove troops and also in 2011 tr trumpeting his capacity to pull troops out. I can promise you this. If we ehave not gotten our troops out by the time i am president , it is not the first thing i will do. We will bring our troops home. You can take that to the bank. As a candidate for president , i pledge to bring the war in iraq to a responsible end. Today, i can say that our troops in iraq will definitely be home for the holidays. So colonel jacobs, given he has taken this position. I understand the combat troops are different than the residual forces that could have been left, but given sort of the long history of president obama taking that position, is it, in fact, a bogus question as he described it to ask him whether or not working harder to have a status of forces agreement and leave residual troops in iraq would have made a difference here . Its not a bogus question. Its a responsible question to ask. If you want to hear the continuity of the conversations ark from the very beginning that you just showed until now, i think its important to ask that question so we can renew the investigation. Theres plenty of blame to go around. Sure. The original sin is going there in the first place. But it was compounded by the decision to put an insufficient number of troops there to secure the objectiuobjective. It always takes more resources to hold on to amilitary objectie than it does in the first place. Anybody including petraeus and mcchrystal, any person with military experience would say the same thing. It would have taken 200 to 300,000 troops for a decade to make sure that whatever gains we have made in iraq were secured and secured for a long period of time. By the way, the most surprise in the world when we went into iraq in the first place was Saddam Hussein. Given our long relationship with them. As i was listen to the president , hereser for me as a progressive as a chicagoen living in hyde park and opposed the war. That original sin of going in and then once that sin is committed, do we bear a special responsibility because part of what i heard the president say yesterday as we now as a nation own the yazidi problem. We absolutely bear a responsible responsibility. The u. S. Has bombed the u. S. Civilization back to the cradle and all havoc has broken loose right now. This is not a surprise. Im sitting here with isis in the new sunni uprising. There is a book on this . This goes to root causes. You go around the world and when isis was taking over eastern syria, the world was focused on what was happening in gaza. We cannot forget this. Now, look what president obama said when he announced the attack, the usair strikes in iraq. He said talking about the zaz yazidi. We must help them. Here he is saying when we just saw this in gaza, 1,900 palestinians killed and not only did the u. S. Not help, but they provided those that killed them with the ammunition. Ill go further. Ill suggest on our southern border right now we have young people that are fleeing circumstances of certain death and we have partisan agreement on both sides to return those young people as swiftly as possible. Given that, we know it cant solely be about civilians in danger. The president said that. The support for malaki who has created disvd. Many sunnis were not joining because they feel undersiege from the current Prime Minister, but the u. S. Has given tens of billions of dollars to iraq. This goes, colonel jack, to what ask you just said about Saddam Hussein being surprised about the u. S. Intervention shocked in iraq because of our longstanding coalition with him initially, particularly over and against iran. Is that where malaki is right now. As he hears the president of the United States stand there and say isis would not happen if you would have been the Prime Minister . Is he experiencing a certain sense of shock . No. He knows hes an irrehensible crook. Nor what he had promised to do and that is to be inclusive and make sure that iraqs in the position to defend himself. We put up with a tremendous amount of money and weapons and missiles. That isis has. We dont conflate the strategic with the tactical. And i think the president s being disengenwise when he talks about the large scale, the longer ark of the conversation in iraq. His decision to drop bombs on bad guys. By the way, we havent dropped very many bombs. We only had like a dozen which is insufficient really to do the job. Is for two reasons. Protect erbil, which vitally important that we protect erbil. Thousands of americans in that area. And to do what we can to protect the ten of thousand innocent people sitting on top of the mountain. These are not strategic objectives. They have nothing to do with our interest. And i will just say it, the core, i really fundamentally believe we have the right to ask about that, even if it irritates our leaders. Congress should be debating it. Every ones on vacation. Thank you to colonel jack jacobs and amy goodman is going to stick around. The continuing violence in the place that amy just reminded us of. Gaza. Efforts to create a ceasefire. And startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. Thanks to startup ny, businesses can operate tax free for 10 years. No property tax. No business tax. And no sales tax. Which means more growth for your business, and more jobs. Its not just business as usual. See how new york can help your business grow, at startup. Ny. Gov this is charlie. His long day of doing it himself starts with back pain. And a choice. Take 4 advil in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. Honey, you did it baby laughs honey, look i got one to land. Uhhuh announcer theres good more. Honey, look at all these smart rewards points verizon just gave me. Ooh, you got a buddy. Im like a statue. I just signed up and, boom, all these points. And theres notsogood more. Youre a big guy. Huh. Oh no. Get the good more with Verizon Smart rewards and rack up points to use towards the things you really want. Now get 50 off hostilities are continuing in gaza and israel today after a threeday ceasefire came to an end on friday. The death toll has continued to rise since hostilities began last month. More than 9,100 palestinians have been killed, including 450 children. Nearly 10,000 more have been wounded. 67 israelis have been killed in the fighting, including three civilians. Joining us now with the latest from tel aviv is nbc news correspondent Martin Fletcher. Martin, are we any closer to coming to an agreement to end this fighting . Hi, melissa. I think there is movement in cairo, but the israelis are not there taking part in the negotiations. They came back on friday for the sabbath and said theyre not coming back to cairo until the firing stops. Theyre not in cairo negotiating, nevertheless, progress being made there of a kind. It appears, this hasnt been confirmed yet, but it appears they agree to an egyptian proposal for another 72 ceasefire, another threeday humanitarian ceasefire. That has been agreed to, apparently, by the palestinians. Theres been no response specifically to that by israel but this morning after the Cabinet MeetingPrime Minister netanyahu said only in addition to israel not negotiating under fire he also said the military operation is ongoing. Thats the word he used. Ongoing. Still fighting going on. They have to say its pretty halfhearted compared to the way its been. In the last 15hour period 15 rockets fired in gaza. Other militant operations have been doing the fire. 15, thats down from a daily average of 140 rockets a day. Rockets being fired at israel, not many, only one needed to be intercepted by the antimissile rocket system and israel has fired back about 35 times into gaza today killing, a 12yearold boy. Not clear yet what those circumstances were. Still fighting continuing. Its not nearly as intense as it was. Israel has sent home half of the Army Reserves it called up. They sent back 40,000 reserves out of 86,000. Thats another sign that an imminent increase in the fighting is not really on the horizon. What ishorizon, though, progress in that ceasefire talks probably if the palestinians are proposing a 72hour ceasefire israel will come aboard within a day or two. And that ceasefire is intended to provide time and space to end the fighting in the longer term. I would say things are looking good, but not yet there, melissa. Nbc news Martin Fletcher in tel aviv. Thanks for your continued reporting. Up next, the fight over our teachers is now raging coast to coast. And the latest battleground is the courtroom. We needed 30 new hires for our call center. Im spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. Need to hire fast . Go to ziprecruiter. Com and post your job to over 30 of the webs leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. You put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. Makes my job a lot easier. Over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter. Com offer99. Scheck it out. . I just saved 15 on Car Insurance in 15 minutes, so i took a selfie to show everyone how happy i am. Really . Because esurance saved me money in half that time. Can i. . Oh you can be in it no need to photobomb me. Hashbrown. Selfie. Yeah. Thats not how it works. 15 minutes for a quote isnt how it works anymore. Start with a quote from esurance and you could save money on Car Insurance in half the time. Welcome to the modern world. Esurance. Backed by allstate. Click or call. Fill their bowl with the meaty tastes theyre looking for, with friskies grillers. Tender meaty pieces and crunchy bites. In delicious chicken, beef, turkey, and garden veggie flavors. Friskies grillers. New york state is the latest target for efforts to end teacher tenure. Education reform has won a major victory in june when the teacher tenure statutes were unconstitutional. Two lawsuits filed in new york state. One is being funded and coordinated by david welchs group, students matter. That group led the california case. Also, former cnn and nbc news anchor Campbell Brown has been leading media efforts for the second lawsuit. She joined Msnbcs Chris Matthews on monday and shared a key talking point against tenure laws. How were getting rid of tenure laws make education for the average kid better. We have a lot of challenges we need to address. This is one of them. The goal of getting an effective teacher in front of every child. What tenure laws have become is permanent lifetime employment. Permanent lifetime employment. Now, that is what Supreme Court justices have. But its not an accurate description of teacher tenure. Policies differ by state, but generally tenure is best understood as due process. Massachusetts a state ranked first in the nation in k through 12 educational outcomes. Massachusetts law provides that teachers receive professional teacher status after three years of service and a teacher with professional teacher status pursuant to section 41 shall not be dismissed, except for inefficiency, incapacity and conduct on becoming a teacher or failure on the part of the teacher to satisfy teacher performance standards pursuant to section 38 this chapter or other just cause. I mean, you start reading law. The statute also spells out due process available for those educators with professional teacher status, including review of a dismissal decision within 30 days after receiving notice of the dismissal. And in arbitration, the School District shall have the burden of proof in determining whether consistent with this section. Consider the best interest in the pupils in the district and the need for elevation of performance standards. Why are such highprofile efforts with little no expertise drawing such support . Perhaps its because we increasingly framed education reform as a choice between what is good for teachers and what is good for students. Accountability, longer school days, longer school years, tenyears, charters, magnets. Have we lost sight of what teaching and learning actually look like . Joining me now is amy goodman, host and executive producer of democracy now. Staff writer at the marshal project and author of the teacher wars. Randy winegarden American Federation of teachers and executive director of new York Campaign for achievement now. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having us. Let me start, dana, because i wonder if i have the history wrong. This feels so new to me. It feels to me like i grew up in the 70s and 80s when the common belief is that teachers are underpaid and good folks doing the best they can and we may have problems in schools, the teachers arent the problems, generally the solution versus what feels like now a general consensus, not absolute, that teachers are a serious part of our educational underperformance. Is that older than i think . Is it new . Maybe it feels older. Thats one of the things that surprised me so much when i was researching and writing this book about the history of teaching. We had this idea around since the early 19th century that if we get rid of the people that are teaching now and replace them with a new group of teachers that we can really improve our schools. And weve done that a couple different times. Teaching was originally a male profession in the early 1800s and changed it to a female profession and we tried all these different ways to get people in a new profession. We fired teachers for getting pregnant unmarried. I mean, i dont mean to be, that is part of why these laws grew up. Tenure actually dates back to 1909. New jersey was the first state to institute it. And at the time, it was something that a lot of reformers and teachers actually agreed about. We saw teachers getting fired for a lot of ridiculous reasons back then because they were pregnant, perhaps they were africanamerican or for so many Different Reasons or they just didnt get along with the mayor. At that time everyone agreed this is messed up and lets create a stronger set of laws. Tenures created a lot of the laws we have today. Given that, that could be an argument against teacher tenure. That could be an argument that says, all right, this was about 1909 and this was about us not having the kinds of civil rights protections that we have against identity and you cant fire someone for those purposes and lets shed teacher tenure because it is redundant. That isnt typically the way i hear the argument. I hear it framed as tenure provides lifetime employment for bad teachers. Honestly, as i look at the statutes, i dont see, for the most part that that is what tenure does. Its, obviously, much more nuanced and i will agree with you, i, too, grew up in the 70s and 80s. There is a difference between the idea of the intellectual and professiona