Public view. Al qaeda released a statement di disavowing any connection with a group called the Islamic State of iraq in syria, more commonly known as isis. Isis is not a branch of al qaeda. Isis does not have an organizational relationship with al qaeda. Perhaps more most importantly the al qaeda statement made it clear. Al qaeda is not responsible for the actions isis takes. Al qaeda and isis were once united. Before this, isis, they fought together side by side in syria against the rule regime. Islamist state of iraq and syria began ignoring Al Qaeda Leaders as they aggressively expanded across large swaths of eastern syria, into the border with iraq. Isis took over city after city, took control of a Border Crossing between syria and iraq. They moved quickly. They moved brutally. And it was in part the groups extreme brutality that eventually alienated even al qaeda. Their indiscriminate public killings and torture led al qaeda to fight against isis in syria. Alongside more moderate elements of the syrian opposition. Al qaeda deemed isis too brutal to be associated with. That was back in february. Since then, isis has lived up to that designation and more than lived up to it. Isis goal is to create their own Islamic State. What they want to call a caliphate governed by their own extremist brand of islam. The territory would include all of syria, large swaths of iraq. In recent months, isis has been swift and merciless and also successful on their way to achieving that vision. Isis captured cities spanning from nor northwestern sere yoo and northeastern iraq. They took fallujah in central iraq. That development had a unique significance for the United States not because fallujah is one of iraqs largest cities, 40 miles from its capital of baghdad, but because fallujah was the site of one of the most hard fought and deadliest battles for u. S. Troops during the iraq war. Isis captured oil fields in both syria and iraq which theyve used to fund their operations. They have reportedly captured saddam husseins hometown of tikrit, bragged online that they staged a mass execution there. But perhaps one of their most valuable gains so far has been iraqs second largest city, mosul. Mosul, the Iraqi Military tried and failed to fend off isis. And after a twoday battle, isis won control of the city. Which was notable not just because of mosuls size, but also because of its location in a strategic spot that links iraq and turkey and syria. And tonight, it is the plight of the city called sinjar in iraq, located roughly 80 miles west of mosul. Its the plight of that city that is causing the United States to weigh reengaging militarily in iraq. Over the weekend as isis continued their brutal land grab in iraq, they seized the city of sinjar, home to an ethnic and minority group. The people are not muslims. They practice a religion derived from chrisianity. Isis vowed to kill them unless they renounced their religion. They fled. Some of them into the mountains surrounding their town. Now theyre stuck in those mountains. Stuck there with no food and no water. They are surrounded by isis forces which have vowed to kill them if they try to return home from the mountain. Its estimated that 40,000 people, most of them women and children, are stranded in that mountainside right now dying of dehydration, of hunger, unable to flee or look for water because isis will kill them if they descend. Several children have already died in the mountains. There are tens of thousands more trapped there in dire need of food and water. Their plight led to this moment today. United states debating military action in iraq. Back in march of 2011, president obama authorized u. S. Military intervention in the civil war in libya. He authorized american air strike s against libyan leader moammar gadhafi. He made a humanitarian case for that military intervention. Heres how he explained it back then. The United States and the world faced a choice. Gadhafi declared he would show no mercy to his own people. He compared them to rats and threatened to go door to door to inflict punishment. In the past, we had seen him hang civilians in the streets and kill over 1,000 people in a single day. Now we saw Regime Forces on the outskirts of the city. We knew that if we wanted if we waited one more day, benghazi, a city nearly the size of charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world. It was not in our National Interest to let that happen. I refused to let that happen. And so nine days ago, after consulting the bipartisan leadership of congress, i authorized military action to stop the killing and enforce u. N. Security Council Resolution 1973. Isis current stranglehold in iraq is also a humanitarian crisis. Isis has targeted and ckilled nt civilians. Its trapped and vowed to kill tens of thousands more of them. Those civilians are trapped right now in desperate need of food and water. So tonight, the United States once again faces the question. Will we intervene . Will we use American Military power in iraq to try to stop what seems like it could be an impending ethnic genocide . This hour, we know that there is an operation under way to air drop supplies to those trapped people in sinjar, iraq. That is in part a u. S. Military operation to get those supplies to those people. We are also still awaiting word of a decision by the white house on air strikes. On whether we are on the verge of an American Military intervention in iraq once more. Joining us now is nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklashevski. Jim, thanks for taking the time tonight. Maybe you can start by explaining something i think has confused me if i can interrupt you for a second, weve got some news here. Go right ahead. U. S. Military officials have told nbc news that those humanitarian air drops have been completed over the sinjar mountains where up to 40,000 of these members of that small religious sect had to flee from sinjar from the isis rebels. Now, according to officials, there were c17s used for those air drops that were escorted by american f16 fighter jets. The tdrops, its not clear just how long they took, but now were told that those air drops of food, water, medical supplies, humanitarian relief, to those iraqis on the ground there, have, in fact has, in fact, been completed successfully and all u. S. Planes are now out of that specific airspace, steve. Okay. Thanks. Thats important information. And i think it leads to the next question which is what were hearing today about the possibility, now youre saying the successful completion apparently of this humanitarian portion i would say this phase of it. Phase. I mean, because who knows how long theyre going to be stuck up on that mountain, and at this point, unless unless isis rebels actually move in and physically threaten those ysidis, those taking refuge on top of the mountain, then u. S. Military air strikes against that group of isis is highly unlikely. So it may be a situation unless they find some way, some kind of relief valve to escape their situation on top of the mountain that additional relief operations may be required in the future. Yeah, well thats one thing thats confused me today because were talking about the potential for u. S. Air strikes here. Would the u. S. Air strikes only be about liberating those, the trapped from that mountain, or would it also be what were hearing reports potentially of isis moving closer to the Capital Region of the kurdish region of iraq . Would it also be air strikes potentially be aimed at doing that as well . What specifically are we talking about here with the goal of air strikes, potentially . Well, its interesting because in terms of u. S. Military air operations over iraq, the white house today very strongly emphasized the humanitarian missions. Were told that was pretty much the goal of the president when they started out putting these plans together. It was an emphasis on the humanitarian mission with a backup combat mission if those refugees were threatened. But at the same time, now, we find isis fighters poised on the border of that capital city, irbil, 1. 5 Million People in the city. But more importantly, not only is it a part of a larger u. S. Strategy in trying to stitch together some kind of government in that part of the stable government in that part of iraq, but it also contains a u. S. Consulate with some 30 to 50 state department workers. There are some 40 American Military advisers there working with iraqis. So, they do have somewhat of a stake and somewhat of a reason to issue a veiled warning to the isis rebels that is if you advance on the city of irbil, itself, you will be subject to u. S. Air strikes. But i can tell you, steven, ultimately nobody in the white house, nobody in the pentagon, wants to get involved in a shooting war with isil. They realize with the first bomb drop the u. S. Is not quite but almost all in. And one of the Major Concerns is that they dont want to become caught right in the middle of a sectarian war. They dont want to be seen as the baghdads private air force attacking isis. Theyd like to do whatever they can to restrict isis ability to further its gains, to move about the country freely, potentially attack baghdad. But the last thing the u. S. Wants to is get caught in the middle of that war. All right. Nbc News Pentagon correspondent jim miklashevski. Thanks for your time tonight. Really appreciate that. We should let you know, we are receiving word right now that president obama is preparing to address the nation at 9 30 eastern time. Just about 20 minutes from now from the state dining room. Hell be addressing the nation on the subject of iraq. Well obviously have full coverage of his statement when that comes, expected 9 30 tonight eastern time. Lets bring in nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent, Andrea Mitchell. Really appreciate you taking the time tonight. So i guess the first thing i want to start on is this point that jim was raising, this might be the first of many, or at least several humanitarian missions because these are people who are trapped in a mountain, they feel if they come down, isis wants to kill them. And it strikes me, it raises a more simple question here of how do you get isis out from away of the bottom of the mountain, from the town theyve taken over . Is that a job ultimately for the iraqi army . Is that a job ultimately for the United States . As mik was saying, the last thing this president wants to is get involved in clearing the isis members out from where they are and circling these trapped yisitis. This is a humanitarian crisis primarily initially. I think it is conceivable that certainly if any american airlift operation, any of those planes were fired upon, they would be fired back. And if there were an attack on irbil as mik was saying, all our people there, the consulate, our military advisers, irbil is a key part of the iraqi solution, according to diplomatic officials. I was there with john kerry just a number of weeks ago, and he was very keen to be supporting the kurdish leaders there. But holding them from creating their own country, keeping them as part of a united iraq, is a very fragile but important goal right now. And interestingly, just today, there was some focus on the diplomatic front at getting a solution to a new government. Getting an alternative, a shiite alternative to maliki. Something that theyve been trying to do for weeks and weeks. So, as they were moving on this front, the humanitarian crisis evolved. There is no way to get those isis fighters out without getting engaged militarily. And it is conceivable that you would have turkish or jordanian or Kurdish Forces joined with iraqi forces but right now there is very little confidence that Iraqi Air Force personnel could do this job. You mentioned you were in irbil recently and talking about the significance of irbil in iraq. The areas isis has taken so far, basically sunni areas, Sunni Movement taking sunni areas and significant of irbil being youre moving into kurdish territory. Mosul, the largest city theyve taken. Irbil, youd be taking kurdish territory. We feel the hesitancy of the Obama Administration to get involved in any way militarily in iraq again. But at the same time, what is the calculation, what do you suspect the calculation is in the white house when it comes to protecting a city like erbil . Erbil has to be protected. It is an economic force. It is oil wealthy. It is very, very well developed. It is a hub of commerce. It is the future of the kurds. The kurds have been the most loyal allies of the United States. We have facilities there. We have military advisers, as i say. We have a consulate. Theres no question that the us would be involved in some fashion to try to protect erbil. Other big question now is mosul and the capture thats been reported of the big dam that saddam built in mosul. If that dam is blown up by isis as a way of flooding out the shiite cities to the south and even affecting baghdad, that would be another crisis. So isis was blocked from taking baghdad. They began to lose steam. They then took the opportunity to move north and to move west and now they are controlling this territory, and they are attacking and ravaging these minority communities. And it is it is a criminal operation, but it is beyond any description, what has been described by people who are up there, by bobby goshe who knows the area so well, talking to him earlier here on msnbc. It is a destruction of mosques, of artifacts, of sculptures, but most importantly, of people. These communities are being devastated. Men are being killed. Women are being attacked and kidnapped as plunder. Children are being murdered. To do we know, this, andrea, sounds like a basic question, so forgive me. What is preventing isis if isis has an aim of killing the yisiti, what is preventing them from going into the mountains and doing it if they know tens of thousands of them are up there . Why arent they doing that . There are logistical problems. They dont thats a very good question. I dont know the topography well enough to know why they are not climbing up after these people who have retreated because these are largely unarmed people and women and children. So youve got thousands and thousands of people who need to be rescued and long term, and it seems from briefings that have been done by the white house to the hill tonight, because under various notification rules and protocols, the leadership of the hill and other Committee Members have been notified. This is going to be a longterm engagement. This is not a quick operation. And just one final question on erbil. We were talking, again, about the significance of it, to iraq and to sort of the entire, you know, enterprise over there. But i wonder, do you have a sense in terms of how imminent the threat is of isis making a move on the city of erbil . Thats another good question. We dont. And we need better ground information from what is going on there. But i dont know how imminent that is. I dont know how close they are to erbil. But if they were very close, you would see an evacuation of the American Team certainly. But youve got oil pipelines, youve got the wealth of iraq at stake when youre talking about any attempt to capture this kurdish area. Nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell. Thank you very much. Again, were now awaiting a live address to the nation from president obama. Hes expected to speak from the state dining room at the white house. Thats at 9 30 eastern time. Just over ten minutes from now. Stay with us. Be right back. What does an apron have to do with Car Insurance . Every time you tie on an apron, you make progress. And we like that. Because progress is what we make, too. Youre looking at live pictures from the white house. This is the state dining room where we expect president obama to address the nation from just moments from now. Stay with us. Ere all set . Yyyup. 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One of the many factors going into the president s decision was the u. S. Citizens well documented war fatigue. All this comes as support for military action is at historic lows among american people. Now lets bring in jeff mason, White House Correspondent for reuters. Jeff, were about ten minutes away apparently from hearing from the president. Do you have any sense what we can expect him to say to the nation tonight . Steve, hell start by talking about what just happened. This humanitarian mission has been accomplished. That u. S. Planes were involved in dropping off meals and dropping off water and dropping off medicine to the tens of thousands of religious minorities who have been displaced by isis. Hell talk about why that was important. And then hell talk about what the United States i