New Jersey Governor Chris Christie travels to illinois to attend events for the Governors Association and for the states republican nominee for governor. Thats it for way too early. Morning joe starts right now. Welcome to morning joe. Its the top of the hour, tuesday, september 23rd. Look who we have with us. Miss superstar. Arent you something . Cohost of the view. This is huge. So awesome. We read in page six. Where is it . Has she compared you to donald trump yet . You are the biggest trouble
make er in the world. I am. Everybody says shes a wonderful person. School of International Public affairs dairon warren. We have a lot of news to cover. We will get into the view and how its going. Can i get to the top story . I think, im sorry, i think women fighting each other on the the view is more important than syria and iraq. Maybe thats just me. What were the kids talking about this morning as we were getting the ladle and dipping them more porridge at the orphanage . Rosie, rosie, whoopee, nicole. Are you having fun . Its very cool. Smart, smart, women. Im really happy for you. It never would have happened with the opportunity to sit here at this table. Seriously, it is. Lets get to the news. There was a new phase underway with an assault on isis with airstrikes hitting targets in syria. We have live coverage from the pentagon and overseas. First, the latest breaking news on americas newest battle fr t front. Just hours ago, the u. S. And five arab allies launched their first airstrikes against Islamic State militants in syria. They include tomahawk cruise missiles and Fighter Aircraft np video where large explosions appears to show the aftermath of one of the first airstrikes. Nbc news has not been able to authenticate the video. Many strikes on isiss selfdeclared cap al. 20 members of isis were kill ed. Some trikes targeted the front. Nbc news learned the focus of the operation includes isis headquarters, command centers,
training sites and weapons facilities. Isis is vowing to retaliate and blaming saudi arabia for allowing the attacks to occur. Syrias Foreign Ministry says the United States told its ambassador to the United Nations that military action was imminent. Well talk about that coming up. President obama arrives later today in new york for the u. N. General assembly. Hes expected to use his speech tomorrow to urge other countries to support his plans to defeat isis. Lets go to ayman in london. A lot of americans dont want to even get involved in this unless a lot of arab nations who face a much closer threat are involved. We understand that some may have been involved in the air strike last night. What can you tell us . Thats correct. Nbc was able to confirm that several arab countries all involved in those operations
last night. Now according to a senior gulf diplomat, the word that he used was operational. Thats how these countries are being or the role of the countries are playing. Not yet clear what that means whether or not they had any of their own fighter jets in the skies above syria, but nonetheless, it is right now a very welcome sign by the u. S. That the countries are playing a role. We do expect some comments to come out. What about the politics in the region though . What does that do when you have five arab states getting involved in attacking an islamic well, what we would call islamic extremists, but what many in the middle east think as liberators . I think its important. Symbolically these countries are important. Tactically not yet clear. Theres no doubt that the role these countries are playing is going to send an Important Message across the region. Also keep in mind not necessarily all the countries that are supporting this campaign are involved. Some countries are welcoming the the operation against isis and are talking about it being part of a larger effort. This is an attempt by the governments to come out of this and say to the people, this will not be tolerated. But theres going to be some criticism about what these governments are doing in their own countries. Lets go to the pentagon. This is interesting. This is one of the first times we have actually had an operation going on in the middle east where we didnt have moderate sunni governments whispering to us, go ahead, and then publishing that were imperialist dogs. It seems like we crossed a very important line here and that is that other arab statings are joining in and fighting against extremists. Sl thats exactly right, joe. Depending on what level of participation there was, its still not clear u. S. Officials are not explaining exactly. It was thought that the saudis perhaps would have flown some
air missions following the strikes from the u. S. , but not clear they dropped any weapons. What is clear this morning is that the u. S. Has its work ahead of it in terms of bomb Damage Assessment because there are no boots on the ground. It may be difficult to figure out how successful these airstrikes were. And it was several weeks ago when the u. S. First started launching airstrikes in iraq that here on morning joe, i called that the opening sal vo in what would be a longrunning war in iraq. Last night that war just got longer. You certainly did. I remember you saying it. And nicole, a lot of people have been critical of president obama. Republicans a lot have been critical saying hes taken too long. He has held back a little bit. We have arab states on board because of it. Not just republicans, but his two former secretaries of
defense have been critical as well. And hillary clinton. His entire cabinet has come out and been pretty critical. Republicans and obamas cabinet. If we launched right in, we wouldnt have had these arab states. It might have been what we saw this summer. We watched egypt and jordan stay pretty quiet as israel carried out its raids against gaza. They have picked their moments of choosing. You have to take a stand. Youre either with us or against us. President obama has in a way that everyone should feel heartened by, who has been able to rally these countries if they werent so terrified of the extremists in their own country. Richard angengel said they announced strategy a couple
weeks ago. He wrote, told isis had time to move into civilian areas. Hide weapons. Now they on the move. Expect followup from all sides. He went on to write, isis has had weeks to prepare. Several u. S. Military officials asked me why u. S. Didnt strike immediately unannounced. He tweeted, danger issist u. S. Had time to prepare a response to this. Age agencies should be on alert. What about that from richard . Isis had time to prepare. The other question is of the Syrian Government, did Bashar Al Assad know these strikes were coming . If so, we heard so much about his air defenses, supposedly the strongest in the middle east. Why didnt he respond . Ever since the first bombs dropped in iraq, isis was preparing for a long sustained air war from the u. S. Military. Just started taking their black flags off their truks. And moving many of their forces and equipment into crowded neighborhoods in some of those
towns in iraq. Thats exactly what they did here. And whats really key about this last nights strike is that u. S. Officials acknowledged they did not go after any of the isis leadership because quite frankly with no boots on the ground, no good intelligence, they dont know where these isis leaders are at any given time. So again, we get back to this issue of the president declaring we will not put any boots on the fwround, and i can tell you there are many military leaders here in the pentagon that say, look, you dont announce youre taking options off the table before you start a war. Thats exactly what officials here feel the president had done. And if youre running a war, you dont want options taken away. So thats not surprising that the general will say that. Not surprising but theres one issue we should be aware of. And well be watch iing the president address the u. N. Security council. Was this illegal these airstrikes in terms of invading syria without permission of their government as well as without permission from the u. N. Security council . Thats a question we should all be asking in terms of how the president will justify this. Its going to be interesting today. He will be talking about that. You bring up and a lot of people are saying im sorry, im just going to say the same thing. The president said its just going to be humanitarian. In iraq when the people were there. And i said and a lot of people thought he might be opening the door. The next thing we were arming the kurds. Its led to all of this. Everybody in the pentagon concerned that it hes taken the option off the table of boots on the ground. Woodrow wilson said we werent going to go into world war i. Were debate something thats going to take off without us if it needs to. Does everybody expect they
attack the president when the president reveals what hes doing. He shouldnt reveal strategy and he shouldnt reveal top secret information. And then they are angry if he doesnt say anything. I want a president who lies. I want a president who lies. Im just trying to help the kids. Boom. Put the boots on the ground question aside. General dempsey did testify that he did feel he could go back to the president. But are you uncomfortable with what Richard Engel is tweeting about. He gave this speech, waited two weeks to strike . No, after the past 12 years of shooting first and asking questions later, no, we can take time. Take time to let the enemy know were coming. Richard engel is not one to shill for the other side. I have to get to another story. Im not like the president to give a speech and we start raining missiles down all over the place. The point i was going to say is it also comes down to what happened next in terms of how they fill that void on the ground. Youre talking about troops on the ground, talking about whether the airstrikes were known to isis fighters in advance. It was known to the world that this was coming. Its not a surprise. The question really now thats going to test the u. S. Foreign policy strategy and whether or not leads to getting boots on the ground is what do the modern forces that are being trained in jordan, being equipped with authorization from congress, what are they going to do on the ground . Thats going to be the real test to this overall strategy. Not just the airstrikes chrks a lot of people would say are not going to tip the tide one way or the other. But what happens on the ground in that void. I was just going to say i think its pretty remarkable that one year ago we were discussing whether or not we should go after Bashar Al Assad himself when he crossed the redline using chemical weapons and one year later we have gone back to the group that helped him. The world you know what, in the words of the great english philosopher, time keeps on slipping. Im so glad you interrupted me for that. Its constantly moving. You take the world as you find it. You take the enemy as you find it. You know what, well see what happens. I dont want the president just sitting there and telegraphing everything. Remember what the quote is today . I want a president who lies to our enemies. How about that . Thats the quote of the day. Take that to the view. I dont think the president
is as weak and stupid. There are new details this morning but the secret service, stupid. Look at this study on the front page of the Washington Post. Its incredible. About the man arrested for allegedly jumping the white house fence with a knife and then entering an unlocked door. The story gets much, much worse. Omar gonzales is being held without bail until october 1st. Prosecutors say hes a danger to the president. Gonzales is facing charges of unlawf unlawfully entering a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Fushls say he had 800 rounds of ammunition in a nearby vehicle when he jumped the ninefoot high fence on friday night. In addition, gonzales allegedly had two hatchets and a machete. Were also learning this is not his first runin with the law. Authorities say gonzales was arrested in july for reckless driving in virginia. They say he had 11 guns in his car and a map with a circle around the white house. And he was stopped last month for walking by the south fence
of the white house. Gonzales had a hatchet in a waistband. Just a few months ago he was arrested in a car with 11 guns, 4 rifles, some e equipped with scopes, hes a sniper by training. A map of washington, d. C. With a line drawn to the white house. He also had had 4 pistols, 3 of them loaded. Last month he was stopped for pacing in front of the white house carrying a hatchet. Secret service didnt do a routine check. He had a line drawn to the white house. What are these guys doing . Youd think after the second time they ran into him, they might arrest him and look into him a little more closely. The question of how they handled this last incident where he got into the white house, which still blows my mind. They said were going to start locking the front door. Whats wrong with them . Its amazing. The other element of this is
hes a veteran of the United States military suffering from terrible ptsd. Suffering from paranoid sitz fren ya. His family is speaking out about the struggles that he faced after serving in iraq where he did two tours. Hes a standup guy. He would never hurt anybody or anything of the sort. Hes losing his mind. Hes suffering from posttraumatic stress. Its hard to see a man like that go down the drain or be thrown up as something hes not. He sacrificed his mind, his family, everything for this country. I dont think this country pays enough attention to our soldiers. Wow. We certainly agree with that. Let me say right after that if somebody scales a fence and starts running for the white house, either dogs need to take him down or an agent needs to take him down. Maybe i watched too many movies, i think that they knew a little bit more about him than
we know. They could have shot him. There are snipers all around the white house and every surrounding building. They saw him on the run. A decision was made not to shoot him i think. Why . I dont know if they knew anything about him, but they could have shot him by the time. If somebody was paying attenti attention. There were snipers watching him jump that fence. If you go to downtown d. C. And look up, youll see them. No sniper should ever allow a guy to run into the white house. I think the president wasnt there. Let me ask you this. What would mrs. Bush say . Would she want them to be shot the second they get over the fence . I think that they had an opportunity to shoot him and for some reason they didnt. You certainly can shoot someone between the time it takes to jump the fence and get to the front door. I believe they had that option and decided not to. I dont know if they knew who he was, he was a vet, he was disturbed, i dont know that. But knowing what i know about him, seeing what his brother said, it reminds me of the book we did thank you for your service. There is such limited access to the kind of care these guys need. We dont want anyone threatening the president. I cant believe are you really going to be careful about someones feelings in the age of isis . You have to treat american vets different than you treat isis. How did they know he was a vet . It sounds like they stopped him a couple times before. I think they could have shot him to kill. I think they are all looking at their Fantasy Football League and saying, i dont think they knew theres no way they wouldnt have released the dogs or shot this guy if somebody had an eye fixed on him from the second he was coming over the
fence. They screwed up. Listen, he should have been in some sort of treatment facility. But i think we have talked a lot about how that isnt readily available to our vets. If he had been shot, that would have been almost worse story. That they shot a United States military veteran. Why did they have to kill him . I dont think its as black and white. Lock the front door. And lock the front door. Still ahead on morning joe, defeating terror and stopping extremist militants abroad. Former Prime Minister tony blair joins us at the top of the 7 00 hour live and former president of israel is our guest in our 8 00 hour live. He wrote one heck of an oped. This is going to be really good. Coming up this it hour willie is not even smiling about helping elect tony blair. Then we moved on to boots on the ground. Are you embarrassed because of the iraqi war . Its going to be a long day. Coming up this hour, ravens owner rejects claims they tried to hide the Domestic Violence case. Who was that senator who told Kirsten Gillibrand to not lose too much weight because he likes his girls chubby . His name may have been revealed. I dont like this argument. Im not buying it. I love kirsten, but we need to name names. And plus an epic sendoff for one reporter. Did you see this . Unbelievable. Two elements today. First, what i just reported. And then this, youre going to want to see this. Were helping you produce. [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman,
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