The entire east coast is still dealing with all this snow and frigid weather. People have a lot of time on their hands. Theyre making some pretty funny videos because theyre stuck in the house. Check out this lady calling her cat in from outside. Watch this. Come here. Come here. Well played. Well played. Welcome to morning joe. Great to have you here. You know im looking at all the front pages of the papers donny, and there is a story that youre not going to hear a lot about today, but big, big news. Walmart is giving a pay raise to its employees. I know there are a lot of people out there, this is great for people at walmart, the evil corps. Blah, blah blah. No the wall street journal has it right. Its on the front page of every newspaper. What does this mean . It doesnt mean that walmart woke up yesterday morning and said, you know what we feel bad about ourselves. No, what it means is the market is tightening up. Why am i looking at you. I need to talk to sarah because this is your beast. I mean donnys beat is the hamptons and wearing seersucker. I was socked to see him in gray. I know. You insulted me in ten seconds. Can i finish. You can finish. Look at this. So this headline is great because it talks about how the market is tightening up. Thats not just good news for walmart employees. Its good news for waul orcers. Its not like walmart was the first. Gap did it. Ikea did it. Walmart was late to the party. Realizing in order to maintain employ whether es in the retail profession, they had to raise raises. Not that theyre hugging, cumbayah. It was going to hurt brands. These brands were starting to get effected. The brand of the people everyday low prices. Right. So there is another thing. We have Mark Halperin here as well. Mark you made news yesterday with Rudy Giuliani. Rudy seemed to back down on whether i loved america or not. Interview last night about you and the president loves america. Thank god. I was holding my breath there for a second because we all know, i mean if were all judging how much we love america by what Rudy Giuliani says. Hes got were going to get to that story. Also, very excited to have David Ignatius here. Hes been on a whirlwind tour. I do mean whirlwind tour. Were going to talk to him about a lot of stories including libya, now dealing with a setback in efforts to fight the Islamic State militants. The United States and britain are both rejecting the countrys request to lift a United Nations arm embargo. They see they need a National Unity government in its own country. The United States announced a agreement with turkey. Meanwhile, Senior Pentagon officials are confirming there are major plans for offensive to regain control of the second largest city in iraq. Officials are now saying battle for mosul will likely begin in the spring and involve up to 25,000 iraqi fighters. Here at home 19yearold man from minneapolis has been indicted for allegedly trying to help isis. Hes pulled off a plane in november while trying to fly to turkey. With us now former supreme allied commander at nato retired u. S. Navy admiral james
stravitis, the dean of the Fletcher School of law and diplomacy and live from istanbul turkey richard engel, and as i said we also have David Ignatius. Richard, let me begin with you. Youre there. Weve got a lot of motion but do you see positive Movement Forward over the past couple of weeks a lot of different announcements from the white house talking about sending drones to other country, arming Syrian Rebels now training Syrian Rebels. Arent these the same rebels that have had trouble over the past couple of years making any gains . Well, first on the Syrian Rebels piece. Turkey and the u. S. Finally signed a deal that would allow Syrian Rebels to be trained here in turkey. But were talking about a very small number of rebels. They would also only be given fairly light weapons. Trucks perhaps machine guns mounted on the backs of the
trucks, very little that could actually turn the tide of the battle. This is being perceived by many people including some people who were big advocates of supporting the rebels including the former u. S. Ambassador ambassador ford as far too little, far too late the syrian Rebel Movement has died. That this is not going to change the course of the battle. It could end up complicating things. David ignatius the same thing. Seems that our policy now, were going to arm the Syrian Rebels that were ineffective and were going to rebuild the iraqi army which dissolved as i said earlier this week like sugar in hot water in 1991 in 2003 and again in 2014. Is that really the solution . Well, joe, those are things that are being discussed. What i saw on the trip in the last two weeks was that first, the part of our strategy that involves working with the Kurdish Peshmerga in north iraq
is working powerfully. Peshmerga got off to a rough start when they broke out of mosul. They have really retain a ten territory. Some of their fighters took me around kurdistan and outside mosul. I saw the ground they have taken in the last few weeks. Theyve cut the road between mosul and talafer, the way out of syria. Its possible now to really squeeze mosul. Do you sense that the momentum was on their side . Did they because i saw the story this morning that youre talking about in the post about how the supply routes are being cut off. Do they feel like over time they will be able to strangle isis . They feel they are on the offensive now that isis is on its back heels. You sense that as you see them retreat. They will fire mortars in the distance from where i was, but almost half hearted, were still
here. The question is how youre going to finish the job. I have little worried when i see stories saying that mosul will be retaken this spring in a few months. And the reason is that the people who would retake it will be iraqi army and probably iraqi Shiite Militia men and thats precisely what scares the sunnis in iraq. Theres one theme i kept encounters sunnis saying were not sure even now that the government or Prime Minister abadi is prepared to give sunnis power to create real militias. Thats job one for u. S. Trainer, military official diplomats in the region. Help the sunnis to feel they really got skin in the game. Lets go to the admiral now. Its very early in the morning. I dont know why im having so much trouble pronouncing your name which ive pronounced many times before. Admiral, americans woke up a couple days ago reading news that isis now could be going into italy. Obviously a lot of people shaken up by that news. Is that more hype or is that a possibility . No, i think its real unfortunately. As we know this is an aspiration for isis. They talk a lot about fighting back against the crusades going all the way to rome putting the black banner across st. Peters square. Thats not realistic. What is realist isistic is they infiltrate from the mounts libyan coast across cuba. This is quite the revenge of geography. I think the italians have something to worry about. Admiral, you helped lead the air strikes against libya a few years ago. Looking back any regrets about how it turned out . No in the long throw, i think libya is going to work. Its got oil. Its got an educated population. It has enviable geography along the mediterranean. Theyve got challenges obviously right now but if you look at the nature of almost any revolution, the two, three, four years
afterward, think the french revolution, 1789 think our own revolution, these things take a little bit of time. Im back on syria. I think the key is both david and richard had said is the put isis under three axis pressure from a military perspective. Thats peshmerga from the north. Get the Iraqi Security sources firing up from the south. Bam in the west. Get the jordanians on the ground in the game. Richard engel, let me bring you back in. Had john mccain on yesterday. He was talking about how terrible it was that iran was involved and obviously davids exactly right. He knows as well as anybody, you and he do that the sunnis obviously terrified by the prospects of moving through the country, but arent we actually gaining an awful lot right now by the iranians stepping in and stopping isis from moving into baghdad . Something that policymakers in washington would not want to
admit . Were gaining and were also losing at the same time because if you look at the strategy the strategy that the u. S. Military is leaking out to some reporters that theres going to be this major offensive against mosul involving 20,000 iraqi troops and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters the way its supposed to work. And david i guess nashsz isgnatius is right. Kurdish fighters are holding their ground in the outskirts of mosul, kurdistan. The iraqi army which is now fighting hand in glove with the Iranian Military and that shouldnt be you cant hide the fact that the Iranian Military is deeply involved with the Iraqi Military. The Iraqi Military according to plan, is supposed to sweep up from the south and thats going to pressure squeeze isis in mosul with the kurds above them and then the iraqi troops moving in from the south. But as you just said the iraqis are working with the iranians and the people of mosul dont
really want to be liberated by Iranianbacked Shia troops. So you have to also ask what comes after isis. Does assad get to stay in syria . Does the government of iraq fall apart . Does the do the kurds establish independence . All of these are very open questions. So when you talk about having an offensive to take territory, a lot of iraqis and other people in the region are asking who is actually going to take the New Territory if isis is pushed out . David ignatius obviously you have spent an awful lot of time in Northern Iraq over the past few weeks. Maybe you can answer the question a lot of us have been asking onset from the safety of our manhattan studios. Why dont we tell turkey if theyre not going to be an ktive partner, willing partner, a positive partner, that were going to support kurdistan, that were going to support the kurds taking care of the northern part of iraq and we actually may see
something that i dont usually say, that joe biden was right, that iraq is not one country, its three and we should allow the shia to have their part the kurds to have their part shs and the sunnis to have their part. Joe, the deal actually i think is working slightly differently. Kurdish desires for independence were stronger when they had more confidence in turkey as their protector. And they were in effect choosing turkey over baghdad. And whats happened in the last six months or a year as turkeys done nothing to help the kurds is they begun to look back toward baghdad. Theres in new Prime Minister. Hes more reasonable. Working with the u. S. When i ask kurds how soon are you going to be an independent country, they say, oh, of course, some day, some day its really important. But for now clearly theyre a part of iraq. Thats in part because of disenchantment with turkey. Let me mention one final thing i saw on this trip because in the long run it may be the most important. We always complain in america and rightly so that the muslim arabs who are being op pressed, slaughtered by the terrorists dont speak up and take the fight themselves. In the last few weeks theyre actually beginning to do that. The jordanians are still enraged by the horrific burning to death of their pilot. In egypt the fact the Egyptian Air Force flew missions to avenge egyptian Coptic Christians saying youre christians but youre egyptian. Those are new things in the arab world. What they say is people are more willing to fight back. Thats really the most important variable. I think its more important than how many boots on the ground and the timing of the offensive and its is there a will to make this their fight. And im seeing more of that. That is the important question. Admiral, thank you so much for being with us. Greatly appreciate it. Hope you will come back. Richard, thank you as well. We appreciate you coming back as
well. Lets now talk about american politics and, boy, what a mess in new york city. Mark halperin was a part of it yesterday afternoon. Well tell you why in a second. But former new york mayor Rudy Giuliani now seeking to clarify controversial remarks he made about president obama but in doing so many believe that hes only made things worse. It started wednesday night at rye investigate event for Governor Scott walker in new york. And thats where giuliani reportedly said, quote i do not believe, and i know this is a horrible thing to say when you say i know this is a horrible thing to say, stop period, end of sentence. But he continued. But i do not believe the president loves america. He doesnt love you and he doesnt love me. He wasnt brought up the way you and i were brought up through love of this country. Heres what giuliani said yesterday, though. During multiple media appearances. Hes a patriot, im sure. What im saying is that in his
rhetoric i very rarely hear him say the things that i used to hear Ronald Reagan say, the things i used to hear bill clinton say about how much he loves america. I do hear him criticize america much more often than other american president s. I dont also believe he expresses the love of western civilization that he should or an understanding of western civilization or what western civilization has brought to the world. Im not saying it out of context. It wasnt. But the reality is i am at a stage, as i told you personally i think last night, of real real worry for my country. You dont want to live through. 9 11 again. You were on the front lines. You dont want to see this happen and it very well you know president obama didnt live through september 11th. I did. President obama didnt almost, you know, have a building fall on him. Myself and my Police Commissioner and my Fire Commissioner did. I lost ten of my very Close Friends. And now ive lost about 100 Close Friends who have become so
friendly with many of the families. So excuse me its a little bit emotional for me. But its also real. Mr. Mayor, do you want to apologize for your comment . Not at all. I want to repeat it. The reality is i, from all that i can see of this president , all that ive heard of him, he apologizes for america, he criticizes america, he talks about the crusades and how the christians were barbarians. Leaves out the second half of the sentence that the muslims were barbarians also. He sees christians slaughtered and doesnt stand up and hold a press Conference Although he holds a press conference for the situation in ferguson. And then in an interview with the New York TimesRudy Giuliani said this. Hes merely describing the outlook on the world in which the president was raised. He said, quote, some people thought it was racist. I thought that was a joke since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of what he learned was from white people. This isnt racism. This is socialism or possibly
anticolonialism. How deep can that hole go . I was just going to say, just stop already. He did fortunately call in to our good friends Mark Halperin and John Heilemann on their bloomberg show, with all due respect, before his appearance with meghan kelly and he said this. I should say that the president does or does not love anything or anyone. I dont know. Im not a psychiatrist and he doesnt have one and he doesnt need one. Mark halperin you seem to get him to back off it a bit. A little bit but then he veered back. Then he veered back. He never hears the president say he loves america. Hes not a psychiatrist some people said after that interview maybe he should seek help from one because this is just not helpful rhetoric. He said it at this event. Whats interesting to me is that scott walker didnt repeed yat what he said. Bobby jindal embraced what he said to some extent. The Republican Party really is almost got this obsession with talking about the president rather than at this time even coming close to rallying around him. Mayor giuliani is not going to run for president but he is someone who has a pretty good feel for where his party is. And its saying something that strikes a chord with a lot of republicans that is not helpful to the country. Donny deutsch, you are a liberal but you are a liberal who also have been critical of barack obama. And said actually said a couple weeks ago you would have voted for mitt romney if mitt romney ran in 16. So youre not quite as liberal as you seem to be when you wear your rich mans suits and have your Upper West Side swagger or Upper East Side swagger. Come on. In all seriousness, im just wondering and i wondered this in 2012, why mitt romney and one of the reasons i was so critical of
mitt romney is when people were going out and saying terrible things and calling the president racist saying he hated all white people and you could go down the list of things that he was a marxist, that he was a communist. I kept waiting for one republican candidate to be smart enough to have that Si