This is not americas fight alone. It is a fight you cannot opt out of. Last nights strikes were only the beginning. Only the beginning. That is the word from the pentagon on last nights air strikes in syria. Today, military leaders presented documentary evidence of damage done to isis targets like this isis compound strike, part of 160 munitions that were fired. Briefing reporters on this expansive new action, Lieutenant GeneralWilliam Mayville said the mission is just getting started. You are seeing the beginnings of a sustained campaign, and strikes like this in the future can be expected. Asked about how long such a sustained campaign might take, mayville said to think in terms of years. The country also learned today that the mission overnight included eight u. S. Only air strikes. Ship launched tomahawk missiles fired against a little known group known as khorasan. Pentagon and white house Officials Say that was aimed as disrupt ago terror plot involving europe or the u. S. It was close to the execution stage. President obama is in new york today for the United NationsGeneral Assembly in a role that might best be described as Coalition Builder in chief. Any minute, the president is expected to have a meeting with the nations that participated in last nights air strikes. Before departing the white house, the president offered their participation as proof that unlike previous wars in the middle east, america is not acting on its own. America is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these nations on behalf of our common security. The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not americas fight alone. Above all, the people in governments in the middle east are rejecting isil. Joining me now, editor in chief of vox. Com, ezra klein, and Investigative Reporter for reuters, david rhodes. Just today alone, we have seen what could be dramatic shifts in allegiances and enemy lines if you will. We have news that david cameron, head of the u. K. , will meet with irans rowhani for talks on the fringes of the u. N. General assembly. President erdogan says turkey will give necessary support to the operation that could be military or logistical. How meaningful do you think these syrian air strikes will be in terms of reconfiguring the Political Landscape of the middle east . Well, they could be very meaningful, but to be blunt, this is the easy part for the Obama Administration, this is the first stage of this. It is the least risky time in terms of air strikes. The question was whether this promise from turkey, turkey is a key player here, will it evolve into real action on the ground. Earlier in the intro talked about there has to be an arab force on the ground that dislodges the Islamic State. Thats the key, it is a good start, thats what we need to get to, whats going to happen on the ground. Vox had interesting things analyzing how this plays out. One of the things is obama told isis in advance he was going to launch air strikes in syria. Was that a mistake, question mark. Senior Administration Official got a phone Call Briefing with reporters, they were asked the same question, unsurprisingly said it wasnt a mistake. The president announced he was going to conduct air strikes in iraq and syria and is doing so with efficiency. And theres also an argument about ways in which you want to do with some mercy so civilians can get out of areas. I think this goes to a broader point. Youre not going to decapitate isis with air strikes, youre not going to do it, doesnt matter if you launch by surprise or with warning. The only thing that can do it, if anything can do it at all, is going to be a serious, sustained ground invasion, probably by arab troops. And it is not at all clear what the extent of americas commitment to this mission is. So far president obama has begun more recently talking about the need to destroy isis, but hes not committed anything near the kind of American Research that would be to do so. There would be significant question of what exactly is the end game here. When do we see it playing out, what do we want to achieve. What would count for us as failure. Thats not been well defined either. Thats where questions of mission or unclear objectives come in. David, the introduction of khorasan into the national vernacular is to ezras point, not only is there a lack of i think agreed upon definition in terms of what constitutes failure or success, the enemy is constantly changing here. I mean, we were told today that operatives in khorasan were near to the execution phase of a terrorist plot that would have effected u. S. Or european civilians. How feasible is it that we were that close and yet theres been no discussion publicly about this group until really the last 24 to 48 hours. Frankly, it is very strange. I was on that same Conference Call with white house officials earlier today. They said there was an imminent planning for an attack, that this was something they had to address urgently. And youre right. I mean, James Clapper was asked about this last week and he said they might be a threat to the United States, now were told theyre an immediate threat, that the u. S. Had to act. So at best the administration hasnt handled this well. Why are they suddenly bringing this group out of nowhere, and this all started, it was about stopping genocide on a mountain in iraq. Now theres a group in syria on the verge of carrying out attacks in the u. S. So again, their messaging, communications from the white house is a little bit off. Lets also talk about you make the point about what is going to be effective in terms of decapitating isis and that ground operations are going to be necessary. The New York Times has a disturbing headline about the efficacy of air strikes in iraq and saying look, the u. S. Has been bombing the he double hockey sticks out of iraq and isis hasnt slowed down. The situation there is ever more complex. If you look at models here, thats a disconcerting model the day before we launch air strikes in syria. It has been like this a long time. If you go back a year ago today, year and two weeks ago roughly that president obama comes on National Television and said we need to do limited strikes against Bashar Al Assad because of use of chemical weapons, and the the New York Times runs a piece around the same time, the reason the Obama Administration doesnt want to intervene in the Syrian Civil War more fully is rebel groups, some of them are very dangerous. They talk about one trying to build an Islamic State on the border. Fast forward a year. We are bombing that group, on the side of bashar alassad. Isis is his enemy. We are now supporting a murderous dictator whose ouster we are publicly committed to, we want to see step down, and we are doing so in a not effective way. We know that we are not going to end isis this way. So the question is can we muddle through this way, keep isis from getting stronger, keep them off balance, keep trying to weaken their abilities, and in the meantime, something changes, either sunnis tire of them in iraq and try to overthrow them or gulf states and arab states come together and take them out on the ground. We are trying to contain the situation until something happens that will solve it. David, what do you make of the problem that ezra highlights between wanting to combat isis and syria and not wanting to assist the regime of bashar ago as add. There are people saying in order to defeat isis you have to make a deal with assads army. Theyre the ones with the force to decapitate them, making them ineffectual. There are so many strange comments from our northern ministers and syrian Foreign Ministers about how much were not cooperating with one another. But we did give advance notice to the syrians. How tricky does this get in coming days, and how much does it matter . It is very tricky. And a lot of this goes back to a decision in 2011 where the president came out and said that, you know, assad lost legitimacy, and he should go. Theres a lot of second guessing now because there wasnt a plan, a proper process in the white house to think about what will the u. S. Do if assad refuses to go, and as ezra said, he refused to go, 200,000 people are now dead. I was recently told that the president in one meeting the white house went around the table of advisers, said is there anyone here thinks we should somehow make a deal with assad and work with him to do this, no one at this stage was willing to go there. It is complicated, we have him as a murderous dictator, now we are in a sense helping him. One thing to watch, air strikes around aleppo, thats a corner of the country where moderate rebels, some call the free syrian army, are being attacked by assads forces and by the Islamic State. There was a thoughtful piece by analysts from International Crisis group saying the u. S. Should bomb those Islamic State positions around aleppo. That didnt happen last night. Bombing those positions would help the moderate rebels. Again, you can hear me here today, it is very complicated. David, let me ask you one question before i let you go. In terms of hostages, there are american aid workers and british journalists held hostage by isis, one can only presume that things do not look good for them, given the past, if the past is any precedent, and certainly with air strikes. Isis seems to be using a new tact insofar as one of the british journalists is hosting if you will a news magazine show for isis in its propaganda, does that reflect a shift in strategy with the hostages . What do you think that signals if anything. I am not sure it is a sense, there is a sense that release of the videos, doing it so quickly, there might be a sense of desperation on isis side. After the strikes last night, theres pressure on them. They need to sort of somehow strike back against the west. They might try to carry out an attack, particularly in europe when they might have many fighters that have gone back there, and you know, it is very grim frankly for these hostages because if theyre unable to carry out something, some sort of counter attack on the ground or something in europe or the u. S. , you could see them kill a hostage in the next few days. I dont think that tactic is working. I think the new tapes are working, theyre clearly coerced statements, but they need to show, isis needs to show they can respond somehow. Investigative reporter, david rohde, ezra. Hang with me. After the break, more on the air campaign against terrorists in syria, including politics of war back here in washington. Top republicans are supporting president obamas decision to take the fight to syria, but one democrat is likening the operation to the cheney preemptive war doctrine. I will tell you who that is coming up. President obama is taking steps in the battle against Climate Change, announcing a new executive action at the United Nations. Im discuss that with environmentalists, one of the main forces behind the historic peoples climate march this weekend. All of that ahead on now. Mm. Feel it. J. J. Watt . You know theres a game on tonight right, amy . Oh, i know, but its my turn to chaperone. Right, but you could do both. How . 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That was president obama earlier today, speaking at the white house, touting political unity in washington over his campaign against isis in iraq and in syria. A unity that seems authentic. Several republican members of congress, including a guy named marco rubio, issued statements of support for the strikes in syria. A handful of democrats reiterated that support, including harry reid, who in a Statement Today announced that in the presence of arab nations in these air strikes and president obamas commitment that we will not use u. S. Ground forces in combat are clear evidence that president obama will not repeat the mistakes of the past. But while there is bipartisanship, the debate over the president s Legal Authority to conduct air strikes continues. Today democratic senator from virginia, tim kaine, who has been leading an effort for congressional authorization of military force against isis told the Huffington Post by not taking a Vote Congress has, quote, sort of allowed the cheney preemptive war doctrine to exist by another name. Back with me, ezra klein from vox. Com, and joining me for buzz feed, john stanton. John, that was a democrat comparing obama, our president obama, to dick cheney. Whats happening with democrats on the hill, is there going to be a vote on reauthorization of the use of military force any time this year . I think democrats i think generally support what hes doing right now, especially in terms of this sort of split from al qaeda, they believe this is justified. Theyre split on the broader question of does he have authority right now to go after isis because of the split they had with al qaeda, they now see themselves as different, al qaeda has problems with them, there has been fighting sometimes between them, so they believe he needs to come to congress for authority. I would have said if you asked me last week there was no chance, everyone on the hill said theyre not going to vote until february maybe, given toxic nature of a vote to authorize war, because youre essentially taking part of that ownership from him and making it yours. But after this series of bombings, it sounds like theres increasing pressure. Bob menendez is set on having a vote on it in the senate and there are a number of republicans and democrats in the house that really want to see this during the lame duck session. Certainly after the election we will see it. Where does the blame lie. If you think that not reauthorization it, that that should be done before we conduct air strikes in iraq or syria, is the onus on the president to make sure Congress Reauthorizes that, or is it congresss job to take up the mantle . This is a conspiracy, not a competition. They both agree what they want done. The president wants the freest hand he can have, and congress doesnt want to be involved on these. They want the president to take the blame if anything goes wrong. So you could imagine a world here in which what was happening was the president was trying to get around congress, right, he was trying to do things without congressional authorization because he feared congress answer, but thats not the world we are in. You have a lot of members of congress, tim kaine and other members that want a vote, would just shut up, let it be on the president , let it go forward, if it goes badly, they can criticize it, if it goes well, they can praise it. But the president wants the freedom and Congress Wants to ab did i indicate authority over this stuff, not have to pay or be part of the consequences. If a vote is taken or as this conflict plays out, who is it harder for, war weary democrats, the progressive left, folks that watch from the sidelines during the bush cheney years, or republicans like rand paul and increasingly isolation strain and are really at a cross roads on what to do in terms of Foreign Policy. I think it is equally hard for both sides at this point. Democrats dont want to do this, but this is their president , they sort of have to come out and vote for this thing, thats how this is going to work out for them in the end. Republicans interestingly are starting to become more of an antiwar party. Their voters are sort of effected with this, done with this war, it is president obamas war now, it creates more political incentive. I think most Difficult People to deal with it are people running for president. They dont want this vote. Marco rubio wants nothing to do with a vote on anything period. No votes on anything, let me run for president , vote for me, i would like to go to the oval office. Ezra, theres been a lot of time, space, oxygen dedicated to talking about what a lame duck this president is, how it is post Obama Presidency in the last two years, yet Michael Hirsch has a compelling piece in politico magazine, makes a case that, sorry, james mann from Johns Hopkins says the president is not finished. Other president s, reagans diplomacy with gorbachev, one of the hallmark achievements, clinton bringing in china in the wtl, military action in kosovo without u. N. Approval, and bush and the iraq surge and financial calamity, other things that ensued in the last two years of his administration, and very much for this president these could be actually maybe the most meaningful years of his presidency. Where do you stand on that . These things are connected. One rear, you named off a litany