You would think the soviets in 1960 would be wanting to display all of their biggest missiles, right, all of their finest weaponry as a show of force against the dreaded United States. It was an incredibly intense time for u. S. soviet relations. But there was this moment back in 1960 when the president of the United States at the time, dwight eisenhower, and the leader of the soviet union at the time, nikita khrushchev, they did in 1960, did for a while seem like they were trying to thaw relations between our two countries. And to that end, those two leaders had planned to meet in paris for a oneonone superpower summit in 1960. A meeting to talk face to face, man to man, about relations between our two countries. These two cold war enemies. That meeting was supposed to take place two weeks after that parade. That summit meeting in paris never happened. The reason it never happened is because on the same day as this peacethemed may day parade in moscow, on may 1st, 1960, an american u2 spy plane on a Reconnaissance Mission was shot down over the soviet union. An american plane went down in russia. The pilot, a 30yearold american, named gary powers, he was captured alive by the soviet union. Captured alive. In moscow, nikita khruschev, gary powers of the downed american reconnaissance plane was alive, and russia seized spy photographs 14 miles inside the soviet borders. The plane was brought down on may day. Mr. K. Was quick to play on it for propaganda advantage. The story of the most sensational intelligence operations yet revealed. America admits extensive flights over russia by unarmed planes during the last five years. State Department SpokesmanLincoln White used the reasons for the flight. Given the state of the world today, intelligence collection activities are practiced by all countries, and postwar history certainly reveals that the soviet union has not been lagging behind in this field. Soviet union has not been lagging behind in this field. Thats what the United States said officially. Right . But there was no denying that this was a huge deal. For the world to find out not just the cia was spying on the soviet union, but for the world to find out about it in this incredibly shocking way, shooting down of his supposedly secret american spy plane, with the capture of the american pilot alive, two weeks later, the plans for that soviet american summit in paris, those plans collapsed completely. We all know what happened between the soviet union and the United States over the next few years. Soviet union proudly displayed the captured american u2 spy plane for them to see. Khruschev made sure the remnants of the planes, photographed with the crashed plane parts. They played this up to maximum effect. Part of what made this story so sensational is the u2 spy plane was supposed to be virtually undetectable by radar. It was supposed to fly at such a high altitude, roughly 70,000 feet, that they thought radar wouldnt be able to pick it up and nobody would know it was there. That u2 spy plane was shot down in the soviet union then moscow decided to put that american pilot, gary powers, on trial. Gary powers in his trial was convicted in that soviet court. He got a tenyear sentence. They sentenced him to three years in prison then seven additional years at hard labor. Gary powers did not end up serving all that time. Ultimately it was president kennedy who got him release in a Prisoner Exchange in 1962, but that incident was hugely embarrassing for the United States, and hugely upsetting to our very tenuous relations with the soviet union. I mean, that was never supposed to have happened given the type of aircraft involved and for that american pilot to have ended up a soviet prisoner, it was just almost unthinkable. That was 1960. In 1995, a u. S. Air force pilot named scott ogrady, he was flying a much smaller plane. He was flying an f16 fighter jet over bosnia. The United States was part of an International Coalition that had decided to intervene against the serbs in the war that was being fought in bosnia. In june 1995, pilot scott ogradys f16, it was shot down in hostile territory in bosnia. Mr. Ogrady disappeared for six days until u. S. Marines went in on the ground in a rescue mission. 2 08 local time this morning, the mission to rescue begins. Nato aircraft over bosnia get a flash morse code from ogrady. 12 minutes later, ogrady speaks into his hightech hand held radio. His voice instantly is recognized by a buddy from his squadron in an f16 overhead. The radio pinpointing his position. Positive identification. Marines rescue specialists prepare for action. They know they must fly over areas bristling with serb antiaircraft weapons. Daylight makes them easy targets. Still at 5 50, two marine cobra gunships get the order to go and are launched. Next, two assault choppers loaded with the highly trained marines. They have jump sets and a10s as backup. Planes jam serb radar and move in fast. Ogrady popping a yellow smoke grenade. Choppers landing. Marines forming a security line. Two minutes on the ground. The marines secured the area and captain ogrady came running out of the treeline, jumped on the second 53, and they lifted off. Almost six days in the woods, hiding in day, moving only at night, surviving on bugs, grass, and rainwater. Just 80 miles now back, theyre flying low, but halfway there, a missile nearly hits them. They take rifle fire, too, and they shoot back. Miraculously, there were no casualties during that highrisk mission to save Fighter Pilot scott ogrady after he was shot down in what was supposed to been an aironly u. S. Military mission over bosnia, when that resulted in him hiding out in the woods for six days hoping he was rescued before he was found by the enemy. Never supposed to be any boots on the ground in bosnia in terms of u. S. Forces. Air wars have a way of not always just staying in the air. Sometimes stuff happens. Today we learned that president obama has authorized what the white house is calling surveillance flights over the wartorn nation of syria. Unnamed Defense Department officials telling reporters today that some of those surveillance flights would be unmanned aircraft, drones, but some of them would be manned. U2 spy planes. The same model of plane flown by gary powers over the soviet union. U2s is what they will use or may already be using over syria right now. Throughout the three year brutal syria civilian war, one thing to know about syria, they have a strong air Defense System. They have a sophisticated National Defense system to shoot down what they see as enemy aircraft. And syria, of course, did not develop that system because of the civil war that theyre in. Theyve had this system in place for a long time. Part of making themselves a target by israel or any other middle eastern government that might decide they want a piece of the assad regime. The assad regime has not been cheap when it comes to investing in the weapon systems. They have a rock solid ally in russia. Russia has been more than happy to sell syria any weapons it wants and prop them up on complex systems like air defense. And that relatively sophisticated air Defense System in syria is one of the reasons those American Special forces, that team of marines and Delta Force Commandos that carried out that attempted secret rescue mission last month to save american hostages held by isis in syria, their awareness of syrian air Defense Systems is apparently why that special ops raid used the special secret modified kind of awkwardly shaped radar evading blackhawk helicopters that were also used in the 2011 mission to find and kill Osama Bin Laden inside pakistan. Now, of course, in syria, you have not just the danger posed by the official government still clinging to power in that country, and their air Defense Systems, you also have the danger of various rebel groups fighting in syria, including, of course, isis, which was the target of that raid back in july which ultimately did not find the hostages including american journalist jim foley who was later killed. One sure way to know youre in chicken hawk territory when it comes to debating these things is when you hear politicians, or talking heads, talk about air strikes against some enemy or some other country. As if air strikes are some kind of magic. Right . Theyre a riskfree military solution. Easy peezy. You go in safely, you drop a couple of bombs, youre out. No american boots on the ground. No american lives at risk. You hear people talk about air strikes like that all the time. Like theyre a free play somehow. Very recent history tells us that that is not the case. And right now you have large swaths of syria controlled by forces that are hostile to the United States. Theres isis, of course. Theres also the government in syria who has said plainly that they must approve any u. S. Military action in that country, and if the u. S. Takes action outside of what they approve, that would be seen as an act of aggression. The United States says for its part, they is have no intention of ever coordinating anything with the assad regime. And in that kind of environment, the United States military is not going to get any help on the ground in support of air strikes if it turns out they need it. And if the effectiveness of air strikes is to some extent contingent ontheground intelligence and intelligence and supportive elements to maintain that air operation or to respond if anything, god forbid, goes wrong, then if we start air strikes in syria, we are heading into a very difficult and inarguably dangerous new u. S. Military operation in a country where we previously have not been involved. Should the United States be engaged in an aerial campaign against this militant group, isis, inside syria . As a country, were going to have to make a decision about that one way or the other. And even if you are very clear as to where you stand on that question, yes or no, youd admit that its a hard enough question, right, that if our government really is seriously considering it, and these surveillance flights make it seem like they really are seriously considering it, its a hard enough question that it deserves a real debate. Not one just on tv. Not one just in the opped pages. But a real argument. A real debate like our founders envisioned. A debate followed by a binding decision on whether or not we do it. A decision made publicly for which our politicians will be known and accountable for how they vote. Thats the way its designed in the constitution. And its designed that way on purpose. And i know congress is enjoying taking more than a month off right now, but with each passing day, the news from syria, and the news involving the terrorist group isis seems to get more and more horrifying and the white house starts to talk about more and more operations targeting isis including those that they say will not respect geographic boundaries. Today, part of the terrible news was learning that a 33yearold american man was apparently killed in syria while fighting with isis. His family in san diego confirms today that the state department has told them that 33yearold american Douglas Mccain was killed last weekend in syria apparently while he was fighting with isis. Weve also learned today that one of the american hostages being held by isis in syria is apparently an american woman. Shes 26 years old. Shes been held for just over a year now. She was taken hostage in august of last year. She was apparently in syria on some sort of humanitarian mission at the time that she was captured. Her family does not want her name reported in the media, but nbc news has also learned that isis is demanding a more than 6 million ransom in order to free her. As a matter of policy, the United States does not pay ransom for hostages. Ransom of any size. This group, isis, is continuing to do everything it can to try to provoke a military reaction from the United States. And a lot of people in this country will argue that maybe we should have one. Maybe the threats and provocations where isis warrant putting American Military personnel back into a new part of the middle east in harms way. But a lot of americans will not agree with that contention. And honestly, neither is a wrong or unpatriotic decision at this point. Its an argument that deserves a really vigorous debate. Every side of that question deserves to be heard and heard again and heard thoroughly and argued well and rebutted well. Because even though theyre only talking about air strikes, you know what, theres no such thing as only air strikes. Air strikes really do put American Military personnel in harms way. They are not magic. They constitute a difficult decision to deploy american troops. A decision that our elected representatives in the u. S. Congress constitutionally are supposed to make. Its their call. It was almost exactly one year ago when president obama said he had decided as commander in chief that he wanted the u. S. Military to mount air strikes in syria. A year ago he said that. But not talking about mounting them against isis but against the assad regime, itself, because they used chemical weapons. He walked into the rose garden and said he wanted air strikes in syria, but he also said the congress should take a vote on whether to authorize those strikes. Our military has positioned assets in the region. The chairman of the joint chiefs has informed me that we are prepared to strike whenever we choose. Im prepared to give that order. But having made my decision as commander in chief based on what i am convinced is our National Security interests, im also mindful that im the president of the worlds oldest constitutional democracy. Ive long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might, but in our example as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Thats why ive made a second decision. I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American Peoples representatives in congress. That was august 31st, last year, almost exactly a year ago. President Obama Asking Congress to approve military strikes in syria. Congress at the time was hinting that they would say no, but they never actually said anything. They just sort of hinted to the media that they would say no and then they never did anything. Ultimately, the administration embarked instead of air strikes on a Successful International mission to get rid of all the chemical weapons in syria. That went forward instead of air strikes, but as to that request to congress to authorize air strikes, it has been almost exactly a year and congress has still not gone on the record about the president s request. And now one year later, the white house is openly mulling air strikes again, this time on different targets inside syria, going so far as to start surveillance flights already as of today and now members of congress are apparently paying attention to what is happening from syria from wherever theyre on vacation. And if you care to listen to them while theyre on vacation and they choose to speak instead of act, the sounds theyre pointlessly making seem to indicate, particularly from republican side of the aisle, that they think president obama definitely should have done something in syria by now. But they also apparently think that he should have just done it without asking them. Theyd rather not make the decision, themselves. President obama has to admit to himself if no one else, that what hes doing is not working. Weve talked about iraq, but theres no way you can solve the problem in iraq without hitting them in syria. We need to hit them in syria. We need to help the Free Syrian Army mobilize. When it comes to ground troops, if our military commanders tell us that we need Ground Forces to defeat isil, which is a threat to the United States, so be it. We have got to win and stop these guys. We need to finish them off because they we will either fight them here or we will fight them there. That in my mind is basically the choice. So it sounds to me like you anticipate at some point combat boots on the ground . I dont know i dont know the answer to that, but you certainly dont take that off the table. We need to do everything we can to repel isis. I dont think we have the luxury of putting our heads in the sand and saying, well, its over there and were not going to do it. Theres no boundary between syria and iraq. One of the key decisions the president is going to have to make is air power in syria. One of the decisions the president is going to have to make . Who has to make this decision . I mean, these are all, you know, degrees of reasonable opinion. Shared on tv by members of congress recently. But try to get them to put their votes where their mouths are, and nothing. Were still waiting to hear from congress about what president obama proposed a year ago. On the same day that he announced the House Republicans lawsuit against president obama for taking way too many actions on his own. You might remember House Speaker john boehner was asked in that same press conference if he had a role. If john boehner had a role in deciding what kind of action the United States should take in iraq. Heres how john boehner answered at the time. You opened up with iraq. Im curious if you have any suggestions for what the president should do there. Well, what he should do is have an overarching strategy to deal with the growing threat of terrorism. Dont you feel, though, that you have some responsibility here, to say, heres what i think that we should do . Heres what the