Take zzzquil and sleep like. You havent seen your bed in days. No, like you havent seen a bed in weeks zzzquil. The non habit forming sleepaid that helps you sleep easily and wake refreshed. Because sleep is a beautiful thing. Good job still running in the morning . Yeah. Getting your vegetables every day . When i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] couldve had a v8. Two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. The oscar goes to who gave this son of [ bleep ] his green card . Birdman. They want me to talk because im the worstspeaking english guy here . Maybe next year the government will inflict some immigration rules to academy . This has been a tremendous experience. This guy is as bold as bold can be and it was just a tremendous
honor for me to look its great to be here. Who am i kidding . This is just a great time. That is good stuff. 6 00 on the east coast. Mark halperin john heilemann. Willie is back. Good morning, team. Welcome back man. Where have you been . Over there, over here up here down there, doing a little this or that. Crazy, man. Were back . Center. I agree with that. Back with a wealth of experience now. Even better willie geist. You need to come home willie. Here i am. You came back. Did you watch last night in . A lot of it. Not a lot. I was kind of falling off once i heard everything is awesome. Thats all i wanted to hear anyway. That was cute. It was great. It kind of went as predicted. I dont think there were any huge surprises. Have you seen birdman . Yes. I thought boyhood. Had such a blast watching it but the had that birdman was shot
as a single cut movie and the boyhood shot over 12 years, cool making. Mika your highlight, Patricia Arquette . Im usually like stay out of politics when they are winning ans a kor oscar and go off in a different direction but this was timely and applicable to things we have heard out of hollywood lately. I thought her speech was amazing. It really was. Lets get to the news. Well have much more on the oscars later including lewis perspective. He was there. He instagramed himself. I was thinking all night, why watch this show. I wonder what lewis thinks. He was thinking hard. I think it hurt. We can only get him to weigh in on isis next. Lets get to that. We start this morning over sea wheres the search is under way for three british schoolgirls who may be attempting to join isis. Two are 15 years old. One is 16 the they left their
home on tuesday and flew to turkey. At this hour that is where British Police are search for them. Surveillance footage released by Scotland Yard shows the three girls traveling to the at the airport. Their families are pleading with them to return home. She didnt take anything with her. Clinging on to the bits that we have and we just want them to come home. If you watch this baby please come home. Mom needs you. Youre a baby. And this really comes right along wall streets lead story this morning talking about any jihadists are slipping the european net. Its a mystery to an extent. I know people can point to why young people are drawn, but i still think theres a bigger mystery behind the recruiting. My brother was talking about that at the chamber of commerce the other day. People are still trying to figure out how this evil empire can draw in young people. Theyre doing it. It comes amid a new propaganda video that appears to show the militants training Young Children. Isis calls them quote, cub fighters. Criticism to launch recapture mosul. A kurdish commander says he doubts the u. S. Will be able to train 25,000 iraqi forces in two months. And iraqs defense minister is stunned the pentagon is showing its hand to the enemy by announcing the timeline. But a senior military official tells the Washington Post the u. S. Hopes many isis fighters will leave iraqs second largest city before the offensive begins. Lets bring in nbc news chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel live from istanbul and bill neely. Richard, lets start with you. Whats the latest in the proposed mosul offensive that seems to be shocking everybody from generals in baghdad, the announcement of it at least, to
john mccain in washington, d. C. . I think were seeing a lot of confusion, frankly. Centcom had a series of leaks telling reporters that this offensive was going to come that it could come in april, maybe even before april. That it would involve 25,000 troops and that Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were going to work hand in glove with the iraqi army and that maybe some american Ground Troops would be involved and think would dislodge isis from the city of mosul, which is the sighsisis capitol. When ive been speaking to many military official, retired and current, theyre expressing a lot of doubts. How are you going to do this why are you announcing it ahead of time what happens to the city of mosul . Its very likely they say that isis will keep the people in the city as human shields and that there could be an enormous number of casualties. There are doubts the iraqi army is ready, doubts the kurdish
forces are willing to work with the iraqi army. Im hearing a lot of skepticism about this. Can the u. S. Military force the Iraqi Military to get in their jeeps and go to mosul . Yes. But then what and what happens to the city . Bill neely, it almost sounds like variation of the shock and awe approach except shock and awe by words and not bombs. Isis does not seem to be the type of fighting outfit that would dissolve in the night. May we see perhaps a longrunning siege through the summer . Yes. I mean the u. S. Strategy the western strategy against isis really is a, far from clear and its success is far from clear. Clearly kobani was a success. The last time i was there the kurdish fighters were telling me that all the air strikes were doing were effectively holding isis in check, in place. The idea of pushing them back
of actually achieving battlefield success is something entirely different. We see this as well in the story that you mentioned earlier about isis videos of the girls being lured to syria, possibly to become jihadi brides. We still see isis in a social media sense and in a propaganda sense on the offensive. And it seems that western politicians and either politicians on both sides of the atlantic have been saying this over the weekend that we seem to be failing both on the battlefield and in a social media sense to really push back against isis and stop their advance. Willie . Richard, its willie. I think a big question a lot of people have, especially here in the United States is who exactly are these forces that are going to be fighting in mosul in april or may or whenever it comes . They said 25,000 troops. Are they iraqi troops where do those troops come from are they prepared for this fight . If not, how many u. S. Troops are involved . I think a lot of people probably watching this show are wondering what this means for the United States engagement. It would probably be iraqi troops who are now deeply infiltrated by iranian forces. So theres complications there. There are also shiite militias in the mix. What the u. S. Would likely try to do is use air power, to bomb mosul extensively, and then try and defeat isis to a point that the iraqi army wouldnt have to really do that much fighting. That they could walk into the city and plant their flags and claim victory. Thats theoretically how it might go. But its very hard to dislodge an enemy just with air strikes. There are concerns that mosul would be koob booby trapped. Isis in mosul has been expecting an offensive now, certainly now that its been telegraphed. Even beyond mosul, when i talk to sources in the u. S. Military they say okay weve been focusing on kobani weve been talking about mosul now. But the isis problem is much more global than that. There are now around 2,000 isis militants in libya who are going around to all of the different hardline religious leaders and saying, join us or well kill you. And most of them are joining up. Why the u. S. Is focusing on mosul and other tactical options in iraq the another state seems to be falling to isis. Richard engel and bill neely, thank you very much. Thank you guys. Two more points. Shoppers at malls across the country are at the center of a new Terror Threat this morning because of a new video released by the al shabaab terror group. Theyre calling for attacks at malls in the u. S. Canada and britain. They specifically mentioned three malls, including the mall of america in minnesota. It is largest mall in the United States with more than 500 stores and about 40 million visitors per year. Mall Officials Say security has been increased and local police and the department of Homeland Security say there is no credible threat linked to the mall. Store employees also reported typical customer traffic on sunday. On nbcs meet the press Homeland Security secretary jay johnson urged americans to be vigilant. Im sure that security at this particular mall will be enhanced in ways visible and not visible. But it also involves public vigilance and Public Awareness. If you see something, Say Something. It has to be more than a slogan. At this point youre not telling people not to go to the mall . Im not telling people to not go to the mall. I think there needs to be an awareness. There needs to be vigilance. You know, be careful obviously. Its a new phase. Were in a new phase right now. And that involves public
participation and our efforts. Al shabaab is the same group that claimed responsibility for the 203 siege in a mall in nairobi, kenya. 67 people were killed in that attack. Lets move on to politics now. Expectations are high for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who is said to strayed cpac this week. His answer on a series of questions have some doubting whether he is sfbtly Battle Tested for a run for the white house. When asked over the weekend he told Washington Post reporters he doesnt know if president obama is a christian. He said quote, ive actually never talked about it or i havent read about that. I never asked him that. Youve asked me to make statements about people that i havent had a conversation with about that. How could i say if i know either of you are a christian, walker went on to say. To me this is a classic example of why people hate washington and increasingly they dislike the press. The things they care about dont even remotely come close to what youre asking about. But later a spokesperson told the paper, of course the governor thinks the president is a christian. He thinks hes kinds of gotcha questions distract from what he is doing as governor of wisconsin to make the state better and to make leaf bitter for people in his state. What do you think about that question . I think that you have a great blog in politico talking about how these questions need to be answered, but i am curious about the questions because they are a bit divisive. I mean does the Washington Post looking to scrum up a headline. You think it is a gotcha question . Well, look why would you ask, is barack obama a christian . Reporters job is to ask questions. I guess a question like that could shed light on how someone thinks. At this sage of the game you just why im just curious why you ask that question. Randomly to get a headline to hope that they fail. Scott walker so theres been a huge battle inside the
conservative movement this weekend on whether scott walker should have answered the questions or not, whether hes being set up whether he should play by the rules in Mainstream Media. What do you think . I think he has to play by the rules because they are the rules that exist and you can do media criticism but theres been a period of time for the six years the president has been in office where a substantial chunk of the Republican Party has believed hes not american and a substantial chunk of the Republican Party who believes hes not a christian despite the fact that he has a birth certificate of the United States. Its fascinating. See that column yesterday where 41 of democrats say they dont know whether hes a christian or not. I thought that was fascinating thats become more ambiguous. I agree. Its not just republicans. Its not just republicanss. As you know theres been a train strain of this in the Republican Party and in 2012 that led to problems for an eventual nominee and other parties. So to ask the question in the light of the Rudy Giuliani thing which im much more concerned about. When we talked to giuliani on the show the other day i was almost going to ask him because these are dog whistles to some on the right and you want to ask the question is the party trying to moderate itself and get back to the center or stray off on the far right again like that. Its a reasonable question to ask and has a reasonable answer is the president says hes a christian, i take him at his word. Rudy giuliani is apologizing a bit this morning in the wall street journal. Not really. Kind of. No. Scott walker is asked what rudy thinks hes seen his failing at cnbc there, the evolution question that was brought up before too. Does this have any impact in the republican primaries . It wont be voters but what about with donors . Scott walker is going for shortterm gain. I think creating a problem for him. No other republican is answering the question the way he did. Hes right the press has double standard for republicans on this kind of stuff. Hes right the base really likes the position hes taking. He sent out a fundraising email on it yesterday. And hes right that these are kind of not gotcha questions but questions that arent about the economy or jobs or health care. What hes wrong about is you cant answer like that and expect donors and voters who care about general election electability to like that kind of answer. Thats a bigger problem, willie, right now. Hes made headlines. The base may feel good about it. The donors are going to start scratching their heads going, come on, these are softballs. The answer willie says hes a christian. Dont you believe him . Right. Ask that of the reporter. Then after the interview, the stairlt is of course he believes. Of course the president loves america. Why couldnt you say that in the moment. Doesnt mean the question was a good one but there is an easy asp. Lets bring in matt lewis, senior contributor columnist for the week. You lit up twitter for the piece, scott walkers terrible horrible, no good very bad answer. Subtle headline there. For a people who didnt get a chance to read it, why was it bad . It was bad for other reasons we mentioned earlier. Softball question. The president is a christian. Take him at his word. Horrible president. I have heard from some folks who are donors attached to big donors who say, marco rubio had a question about Rudy Giulianis comments and he knocked it out of the ballpark. He said that, of course, you know rubio basically said number one, why dont you ask democrats about all of the stupid things joe biden says but he says of course i believe that president obama loves this country. He just happens to be a bad president. Thats how you answer that question. And right now you have people who are the hope was that scott walker could be the bridge between the grass roots conservative base and the establishment. Hes beginning to erode that support from the establishment and theyre saying maybe marco rubio has the better answers to these tough questions. Hot air adds more said he
shouldnt answer the questions, and they think youre a left wing pinko for saying he should. These guys should call each other and say were not going to go there. Lets make a deal were not going to go there. What do you say to conservatives who say dont play their game . Look you know you can either win the argument and try to take down the liberal media. And lets be honest there is a double standard. There is a liberal media. Or get ahead and win. By the way, lets look at i think this is consistent with conservative ethos. Lets say youre a poor person. You have a choice. You can either complain about being a victim and you can rail against the machine and the man and say the game is rigged or you can work hard and get ahead. Most conservatives would say you should work hard and get ahead. Think of apply that logic to the liberal media. You can either complain and whine about the liberal media or work hard and get ahead. You can be a great communicator
like reagan. What im arguing is yeah its great for all of us in the media, you know sort of center right media, watchdog groups to talk about the liberal media but if youre scott walker and youre trying to win the election, you cant be stupid. You have to answer these questions effectively. You know what, this is the big leagues. President ial candidates the not stumble that want to win, do not stumble over these questions. All right. I think thats a great point. And these elections are shaped whether we conservatives like it or not. Matt on fox news and shows like morning joe are where you have other conservative hosts. Theyre shaped in the Mainstream Media and you should be smart enough to answer questions like this. Much worse than scott walker former new york city mayor Rudy Giuliani was busy last week making a number of media appearances, doubling down on statements regarding president obamas upbringing even remarking the president doesnt love america. This morning in a new oped for the wall street journal
giuliani attempts again to clarify his controversial comments and he doesnt. He does. No, he calls it my blunt language. What is blunt language mean . If he would perhaps say, my inappropriate and untrue language. What does he say . Then he would be backing off. Suggesting the president doesnt love america notwithstanding i didnt intend to question president obamas motives or the content of his heart. My intended focus really was the effect of his words and his actions have on the morale of the country and how that may effect how that effect may damage his performance. Still, the former gop president ial candidate went on to criticize obama for his