Pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski. Jim, these air strikes that the president said he authorized have begun, hitting isis territory. Explain what the mission is. Is it about creating space so that the kurds can basically regroup and take them on themselves . Well, you know, while all the attention overnight was on this humanitarian air drop and the possibility of air strikes, the major concern of u. S. Military officials has been the situation around erbil and the isis militant rebels have been able to move so swiftly with such precision and, quite frankly, speed and coordination, that it exhibited a new kind of ability, military capability on the part of the isis forces and that the peshmurda forces, long considered to be some of the fiercest fighters in iraq were actually put on the run. So the idea that just last night president obama warned that if there was any threat to u. S. Facilities, personnel there in erbil, that he would order air strikes and that happened this morning. Its not clear yet if in fact the rebels had actually advanced on erbil, but its clear that essentially the ground war i mean not ground war, but the air war between isis and the u. S. Has begun. Theres no doubt. I guess the question i have is, and you brought this up in an earlier conversation, if u. S. Personnel were in harms way, the easiest thing we could have done is taken them out, rescued them, taken them away. The decision was not to do that, so that means this really is about seeing if there is a military solution that the u. S. Can assist with if the kurds can lead a military solution in pushing isis back, correct . Right. Erbil with 1. 5 Million People is absolutely key to that longterm strategy of really partitioning iraq and allowing the kurds to control that northern section of iraq. If they if the kurds lose erbil, they essentially lose Northern Iraq and all bets are off. So it is absolutely critical to any kind of future strategy on the u. S. Part certainly in any attempt to force those militants to back down. Jim miklaszewski, chief pentagon correspondent, youve got a busy morning ahead of you. Im going to bring in Deputy National security adviser ben rhodes. He joins me now from the white house. Ben, good morning to you. Good morning, chuck. Lets start with what is the military mission here . These air strikes have begun. Explain the mission. Is this about giving the kurds space to fight their own battle with isis . Well, yes, chuck. The fact of the matter is we have people in erbil. If isis is allowed to advance any more towards erbil, we believe it could put the city at risk and that puts our people at risk. What the president has made clear is we are going to take limited air strikes as necessary so that theres a perimeter around erbil and the Kurdish Forces are engaged with isil in that fight. If this doesnt work and theyre still able to continue this slow march, it frankly hasnt been in military terms it hasnt been slow, its actually very speedy with what isis is able to do. If this doesnt work, is the president prepared to do more to try to stop isis . Well, chuck, were confident that the combination of u. S. Air power being brought to bear against these isil targets and the regrouping and fighting isil, that provides a track on their advance. Of course well always evaluate circumstances as they evolve, but the mission the president set out yesterday is very clear. Top priority is the security of our people. If we see an advance, well hit. We have increased the flow of arms to the Kurdish Forces as well so that theyre reinforced. Let me ask you this. If our people are in danger in erbil, why not evacuate them . Well, chuck, because we want to keep that facility open and we want to keep the joint Operations Center we have with the kurds open. We have an invitation from the Iraqi Government to take this action. We have an isr capability overhead so we can see whats going on on the ground and we have the military capability to hit these targets. All of that allows us to take this course of action, which allows us to again push back isil and protect erbil. Do you believe the kurds have the military capability to push isis, and you call it isil, and we know theres different names for what weve been calling them, but do you believe that the kurds have the military capability to push isil and isis back . Well, isil has obtained some heavy weaponry and have been very quickly. The peshmirga has a fighting force. They need additional arms and were providing those. What they need to protect erbil is air strikes. We do believe they will get back into that fight and defend what has really been the capital of that kurdish region for so many years. You know theres a lot of back seat driving on capitol hill, a lot of back seat driving in the military an intelligence communities that say why didnt the president act four months ago, why didnt the president act a year ago. Did you wait too long to act . No, chuck, because frankly theres not a u. S. Military solution that can be imposed on iraq. What needs to happen is an inclusive government formation and Iraqi Security forces that can take on the threat of isil. However, there are certain core interests that the United States is going to protect. Chief among those is the protection of our personnel and facilities. Thats why were taking this action. But also when we see a potential act of genocide, as weve seen on mt. Sinjar, well also act there. So the humanitarian air drops have started. Weve made clear if we see the potential massacre of civilians, well act to break that siege with targeted air strikes as well. Is the United States at war with isis . The United States will take whatever action is necessary to protect our personnel. And so isil is a terrorist organization. If we see them moving and threatening our people and facilities, well act against them. Again, in terms of a broader counterterrorism campaign, were going to support the Iraqi Security forces as they take that fight to isil. Clearly theres a war under way in iraq where isil is seeking to take on as much territory as they can, harm as much civilians as they can. Were engaged in supporting the iraqis as they take the fight to isil. Are they more dangerous than al qaeda right now . Well, theyre different, chuck, in the sense that al qaeda has had as its principal ambition attacks against the west, attacks against the u. S. Homeland. Thats the direct threat weve faced many years. Thats why we take action directly against al qaeda. With isil its not that nexus to homeland plotting against the United States, but theyre a bigger threat in the region where theyre seeking to consolidate territory. So theyre different organizations with different objectives. However, they do share a common ideology which we completely reject and has to be rejected by all people who want to see peace and stability in the region and the world. Right now what the president authorized was air strikes to protect erbil. Is that it or would there be other if there are other isis targets not in Northern Iraq but, say, on the border of iraq and syria that you believe are important Strategic Military targets to weaken isis, is that part of what the president authorized . The president authorized two missions. One would be strikes associated with the humanitarian mission. The other would be strikes associated with the security of our people. Were focused on erbil because thats where isil has been advancing. We also have a very significant diplomatic presence in baghdad, so the same principle would apply. If we saw isil advances on baghdad that threatened our people. But thats it. So what youre saying its about baghdad and erbil. Right now youre not ready this is not about taking the fight to isis, say, inside of other parts of iraq or across the border in syria . Yes, that would be a different mission, chuck. But we have said if there is a counterterrorism target that involves potential plotting against the United States, we always reserve the right to act. That would be separate, though, from the two missions that the president authorized yesterday. He seemed very reluctant to do this, extremely reluctant. Is it just the weight of the promise that he made when he ran for president that we werent going to be going back into iraq . Well, i think the president is always careful and deliberate about making decisions to apply military force. We want to make sure that its in the core american interests and make sure were putting appropriate limits so were not getting drawn back into a conflict in a way that goes beyond what is necessary. The president made clear he is not putting american combat troops back on the ground in iraq. That was his promise, to remove our troops. At the same time, though, were not going to stand by when we do see these core american interests threatened, so the president was not at all reluctant to make this decision yesterday when he saw it was necessary for the security of the United States. I think the American People would understand that these are the types of missions that our military should be engaged in, protecting our people, preventing an act of genocide. At the same time, i think they do appreciate that were not just going rush back into iraq. Not going to be putting combat troops on the ground there. We want the iraqis after all these years and all this american sacrifice to be in the front and taking the fight to isil. Is this a quid pro quo with what happened in the Iraqi Government yesterday, with al maliki being kicked out . No, the timing was different tracks, chuck, but it is the case that we have been working very hard through our embassy on the ground and through our outreach with the Iraqi Government to encourage them to forge a new, inclusive government as soon as possible. Theyre making Good Progress towards that. If they do that, that would provide a much Stronger Foundation for us not just to provide support to them but go to other countries in the region, some who have had differences with this Iraqi Government and try to rally support to flow into the Iraqi Government so were encouraging them to complete this as soon as possible. I know youve had a lot of sleepless nights having to do with iraq, ukraine. Very quickly, the ceasefire between gaza and israel expires. Where are we . Do we think that this is that this is going to not hold and were going to have more conflict or do we think were going to get an extension . Well, look, israel has been very clear that it would welcome an extension. And so we support what israel is doing and trying to create space for these negotiations. Unfortunately, weve seen rocket fire back in israel. Israel is going to defend itself when that happens. However, we do believe that there is space to get back into an extension of a shortterm ceasefire. Let these negotiations in cairo proceed in a way that can address israels concern about hamass stockpile of rockets and arms and address the need to have a better quality of life for the people of gaza. Ben rhodes, Deputy National security adviser for the president. Its been a quite busy last couple of weeks for you. Frankly last six years. Ben, thanks very much. Thanks, chuck. Well, we will have more information on exactly the air strikes have begun. The air strikes that the president announced. You just heard ben rhodes there, its a very narrow mission about protecting american personnel at risk in erbil and Northern Iraq. That there is an authorization on air strikes now to protect any to protect baghdad if isis is making a move on baghdad, but for now, that is the military mission. Its about protecting u. S. Personnel and u. S. Interests in baghdad and erbil and thats the fight that the United States is willing to take to isis right now. We will have more on this, of course, throughout the hour. Were going to take a quick break. Well be right back. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. While a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Staying active can ease arthritis symptoms. But if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. Prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, and improve daily physical function so moving is easier. 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There is an authorization for air strikes to protect u. S. Personnel in baghdad, to go after isis, thats it. But the mission being this, twopart mission, protect u. S. Personn personnel. Theres that simultaneous humanitarian mission for the yezidis trapped in the mountains there escaping persecution, what the president called a potential act of genocide. But this is also a military mission. And the mission for now, as defined by the United States, and you heard ben rhodes say, giving some space to the kurds. They have a lot of confidence in the kurds that if they can regroup, of course isis put them on the run a little bit, surprisingly so, and it surprised the United States, which is what finally got the president to act on this, but the kurds are trying to regroup. Militarily, the United States is hoping they can start pushing back on isis and keep them from taking erbil. The fear being if isis takes erbil, then all of Northern Iraq falls and maybe there is no way to push them out without any sort of much more extended military effort by the United States. I want to bring in Barry Mccaffrey, hes a longtime nbc analyst at this point, former army general. General mccaffrey, i dont know if you heard ben rhodes define the mission there. This is about essentially giving the kurds the space to do this. The kurds of all of the ethnic groups in iraq, they have been the most reliable partner to the United States, they have been the most stable government. It is one of these things, this is what got the president to act. You dont want to see the kurds go down. Is it enough, what the president has authorized . Well, look, theres a huge tragedy unfolding. 1. 5 million refugees, a couple of hundred thousand just in the last few weeks. 50,000 of this Minority Group stuck on up in the mountains. But these are political gestures using military power. When we dropped three aircraft loads of water and food to 50,000 people in the mountains, now were striking isis artillery units. It looks to me as if a lot of this is internal u. S. Politics to show were doing something. I mean if youre going to use military power, you have to write down your objective and then use decisive force to meet your objective. So im a little dismayed at what were up to here. I have to say, general mccaffrey, youre hearing probably from the same people ive been hearing from for months, which says isis has been a threat, has been a concern in some form or another. They were just known as sort of an offshoot of al qaeda over a year ago during the syrian civil war. They have basically become this mobile nation state with a military that the United States hasnt seen or the middle east hasnt seen, a surprisingly effective military. This is not a ragtag bunch of al qaeda this isnt al qaeda, this is more dangerous than al qaeda. This is al qaeda if it had an army. Well, i actually wouldnt characterize them as an army, although theyre now equipped with a lot of heavy armor and artillery and antiaircraft weapons, courtesy of the iraqi army that took off like wild hares when opposed with sort of a modest force. The bottom line to me is the kurds deserve our support. For the last year we should have been equipping them and supporting them. We didnt because we were concerned about maintaining a centralized iraqi state with maliki, who acts as a shiite despot. I think we have muddled thinking on what were trying