How u. S. Air strikes could help saves lives. Now the skman 18yearold i. What happened . Nascar star tony stewart hits a fellow driver who ran out onto the track. The incident is being investigated. Hey there, everyone. Its a bit past high noon here out east and 9 00 a. M. In the west. Air strikes resumed and American Drones and fighter jets struck near erbil, the site of the u. S. Consulate. Earlier air strikes targeted militants firing indiscriminately. Officials say the aircraft delivered more than 3800 gallons of water and more than 16,000 meals. The uk has made its first airdrop in iraq. One of the planes completed the mission overnight. Meantime, the debate is playing out here at home. This isis threat in syria and in iraq is growing and toubl troublesome. The big question is, what can the United States do to stop it . If the iraqis come together, oust maliki. We cannot send the troops. We must not send the troops. Isis is a direct threat to the United States of america. What dick durbin and president obama just said is really a shame for american leadership. We cant wait for maliki or the iraqi leadership. This is becoming a direct threat to the United States of america. They are more powerful now than al qaeda was on 9 11. So dick durbin says, were not going to do this, were not going to do that, i want to see what hes going to say when they attack the United States. Keir simmons is joining us. Hello, keir. Reporter dozens of refugees grasping for aid from a kurdish helicopter. One boy clings on. Just 20 made it on board. Thousands are cut off by isis and families are fleeing any way they can in temperatures of more than 110 degrees, this child just five days old, 4,000 have taken refuge in a church. There are just crowds of families here, people just carrying their children down the side of the church. Parents struggle to hold it together. Nadal holds her 10monthold baby. Isis told her to wear an islamic shawl or be killed. Please, they beg, help stop isis. Army, army america. Reporter the president s promise, no boots on the ground is not what they want here. A plane to bomb. Okay . All right. Now, that was keir simmons reporting there. Joining many he is michael sang. Hes now a senior fellow and managing director at the washington institute. Michael, welcome to you. On meet the press, Michael Leiter, i know you know him, he described the threat from isis as he sees it. Lets listen to that. This is now the Biggest Terrorist Organization with the most money getting more and more recruits. They are threatening iraq but there are also serious stability threats and other elements in the opposition in syria are absolutely looking to attack the west. Do you agree with that assessment . Well, i think that the threat this group poses is in fact a broad threat. Weve seen that theyve targeted threats not just in iraq which is the focus of a lot of news medias these days but theyve taken over the opposition in syria to a great extent. Theyve attacked lebanon. They pose a great threat to saudi arabia. A lot of our officials, including jeh johnson, have said that it has attracted foreign fighters from the west and elsewhere who may return to the places that they came from. Yesterday the president called this a longterm project. So when you look at isis and their fighting capabilities and the supplies that they have, can you put any sort of estimate on the timetable . Well, it depends on what you mean as the objective. Timetable for what, in a sense . I think the president has defined the mission of u. S. Forces in iraq now very narrowly just to protect u. S. Personnel and facilities in erbil and baghdad which means essentially keeping isis from further advances towards those cities and then providing humanitarian relief. If all were going to try to do is hold isis in place, that could be an openended mission because without defeating the group you could be trying to hold them in place for a long time. The timetable depends. Isis is a jihadist organization. I think that isis has a desire to attack the west. Isis main sort of focus right now seems to be upon governments there in the region. And so i think the main sort of worry right now is, number one, about those foreign fighters, that they could return and conduct plots either at isis direction or on their own, as lone wolves or the territory that isis controls could be a safe haven for other groups that then themselves want to attack the west. Should the u. S. Be conducting air strikes in syria as well, targeting their headquarters there . When you look at the advances on the 17th of july, isis struck in syria and took so much in terms of artillery and munitions and its extraordinary the arsenal that they are developing. Well, i do think, alex, the mission that the president has chosen is too modest, too narrow. Number one, we should be doing other things in iraq, like providing weapons to those Kurdish Forces so they have a better chance of defeating isis on the ground and rolling ooiis back. Helping the Syrian Rebels, weve been talking about this for years, helping the Syrian Rebels perhaps conducting air strikes in syria but really organizing a more regional and International Effort to not just hold this group where it is but to really deal it a blow. That is what it will take to really change the equation there. Im not sure why we are not doing that. We keep saying no boots on the ground but thats really a strong arm argument because thats not the only option here. Michael, thank you for weighing in. Thank you, alex. Well, new today, nascar championship driver tony stewart actually, were going to go to that in a second. How effective are the u. S. Air strikes against the militant . Could the u. S. Wipe them out from the air . Ill get a read on the effectiveness and scope of the military strikes. Could more be done . Its coming at the bottom of the hour. Now lets go to police in ferguson, missouri, following the deadly shooting by the police. Michael brown was shot dead saturday afternoon two days before he was reportedly set to begin his first day of college. Here are more details of the incident. Our Ferguson Police officer had an encounter with two individuals on the street. In fact, one of those individuals at the time came in as the officer was exiting his police car, allegedly pushed the Police Officer back into the car where he physically assaulted the Police Officer. It is our understanding at this point in the investigation that within the police car there was a struggle over the officers weapon. There was at least one shot fired within the car. After that, the officer went back came back out of the car, exited his vehicle and there was a shooting that occurred where the officer, in fact, shot the subject and the subject there were fatal injuries. In ferguson, missouri, for us, lets talk about other details that we got from this news conference. What did you learn . Reporter well, alex, outside of what you just heard from st. Louis county police chief, we did learn that the victim mike brown was apparently unarmed at the time of this shooting. Thats what witnesses have said all along, that brown and his friend dorian that were walking down the street were never armed and they claim that the officer was the aggressor. This has been a developing story for the last 24 hours now. You see behind me a large group of protesters that gathered here outside of the Ferguson Police department and fire department. They began their demonstrations last night. This community is enraged at the fact that this 18yearold young man was shot and killed. And they are very upset, frankly, at the fact that police have not been very forthcoming with a lot of information. The two stories, as you heard, completely clash with one another and they have been outraged again at the fact that mike browns body laid in the street for 4 1 2 hours yesterday while investigators were out there. I was at that scene. It was a very uncontrolled chaotic scene with hundreds of protesters out there, people upset about what happened and it has just continued to go on and on. The protest leaders here calling for 10,000 more people to come out tomorrow morning at 10 00 a. M. They are calling for a boycott saying thats the way they will bring justice to this cause to hit the city and their leaders in the wallets. Its a very interesting situation out here thats crossed really racial divides. There are white protesters, black protesters, you name it, everybody is out here making their voice heard. Alex . Greg, can you just kind of give me the subtleness and there was a Police Officer clearly armed ready just in case. I mean, those two images are troubles. Reporter they do jux ti pose very strongly against each other. I was not at the protest but one of my colleagues took a photo. Yes, he was on top of an armored s. W. A. T. Vehicle with a rifle in his arms. There were heavily armed officers at the scene yesterday and a second round of gunfire. Were not sure who fired or why. But that did bring in a lot more officers. They were at that point wearing bulletproof vests, had assault rifles, a number of k9 officers were brought in. You cant help but draw comparisons in your mind to the actions taken by police in the civil rights movement. Not that they were agressing at the scene at all but Police Officers with dogs, it was a very striking scene. This has been a very calm and peaceful protest. A lot of anger but no violence to this point. So there has not been a lot of physical altercations or anything of that nature between the protesters and police here. Really good reporting there. I appreciate that. Nascar champion driver tony stewart pulling out of the race today after his car hit someone. Stepping on track and moving towards stewarts card when the collision happened. It sent ward nyiflying 50 feet o the air and he died from his injuries. Mr. Stewart has, again, fully cooperated with the Police Officers that are investigating. He was visibly upset. Nascars most wellknown drivers, tony stewart, a threetime champion and a regular at spint car events but at this morning hes at the center of an investigation after a fatal car crash that took place in upstate new york late saturday night. Officials with the ontario Sheriffs Department says his car struck another driver who was walking on the track moments after spinning out. The Sheriff Department has said that this is not a criminal investigation at this time. And that stewart has been, quote, fully cooperative. A second sprint car operated by driver tony stewart, age 43 of columbus, indiana, struck the operator of the sprint car that was on the track. This is stewarts third crash in just over a year. In july of 2013, stewart was involved in an accident that injured a 19yearold driver. On the same track as last nights fatal accident. Weeks later he broke his leg in a crash in iowa, something he tweeted about just last week, writing one year ago today my life changed. Thank you to everyone that worked so hard to get me back to where i am today. Its your life. Live it. That was msnbc Kristen Dahlgren reporting. President obama has asked israel to help against the war crime charges. Is that claim true and, if so, what was the reaction. D thank yu for your bravery. Thank you colonel. Thank you daddy. 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The ultimate threat is an american who goes to syria or iraq, gets experience on weapons, comes back to the United States, we didnt know they were there and they set off improvised devices in new york. Thats a real threat. Michael leiter outlines the very real and direct threat that isis faces with the United States. Were going to discuss your visit to israel in a minute but id like to get your reaction to what you heard Michael Leiter said there. Do you think there is a real and distinct and direct threat to this country . Yes, i do. I dont know who the gentleman was who just said radicalized people going to syria, iraq, fighting isis and coming here to intend mayhem here are a threat to the United States. Of course, that threat can be met only by Counter Intelligence and by Border Security of people coming into the country and finding out where they went. Countering isis military success or fighting isis, et cetera, may or may not be valuable for its own purpose but does nothing with respect to the threat posed to the United States because whether isis does well or poorly in combat, those people still can come back. Right. I want to weigh here the difference. How important is it, as the president outlined, for the u. S. To get militarily involved versus how necessary it is . I dont think its necessary for the u. S. To get involved but i think its right to provide support to the yazidis and the kurds because they have a wellorganized army and they are being opposed. We should help to prevent genocide by helping the kurds here especially since isis is armed with the tanks that we gave to iraq. We cant determine who wins the civil war in iraq but we can help the kurds maintain their independence and, frankly, they are probably going to declare independence and i would support that declaration of independence. Theyve had a wellfunctioning Democratic State in iraq. They are tolerant. They dont percent cute the yazidis or anyone else. In addition to which, as bad as isis is, the other side is to say that iran and hezbollah is just as bad. Look, i know this has only been in effect for 48 hours but do you, sir, have any sense from your constituents as to whether there is an appetite for u. S. Military in iraq on this level or beyond . Well, its hard to gauge my constituents but im sure they dont want i thought the consequences would be bad and they were. But the kind of intervention that the president has supported so far, that is to say, humanitarian aid to 40,000 people who die on that mountaintop and military aid to the kurds, that i think we can tolerate. And support. I know, sir, youve been in meetings with israeli officials. How has this latest conflict affected peace . More likely or less likely . That depends on what comes out of it. The negotiations are really quite separate from hamas. Hamas has no interest in a twostate solution and no interest in negotiating with the israelis. They say that they want israel destroyed and every jew in the world dead. They are, in that sense, absolute absolutely genocidal. If, as a result of this conflict, the results are reduced, if some sort of an agreement is reached to bring in material and concrete and humanitarian aide and make sure that that is done through International Group in which the Palestinian Authority participates but to make sure that is kept from hamas, then to the extent you displace hamas and bring in the Palestinian Authority, you increase the odds that you can make a Peace Agreement down the road between the israelis and Palestinian Authority. I dont think you can make any sort of longlasting Peace Agreement with hamas because their intent is to destroy israel and you cant deal with that. You know, they have been saying that they want a seaport open and free commerce. Everyone forgets, when israel withdrew in 2005, they left all kinds of economic access there. There was basically free access and the freedom of access is only curtailed after hamas took over and started using gaza as a base for attacks on israel. If you can arrange a situation in which there is you can bring in the material that the gaz zans need, then you increase the odds that you can make a Peace Agreement down the road. May i ask you about this one report that we read that Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu was appealing to cross to help israel avoid crimes charges in the international courts. Did he make that appeal and whats the likelihood of such charges . Well, i think the likelihood of such charges is minimal because i think israel has made a lot of you have to start by saying the suffering of the gazans and the palestinians has been intense and its horrible but the israelis have tried to minimize that given that the hamas keeps launches their rockets and their attacks from civilized from civilian areas. I cant see war crimes charges against the israelis because theyd have to show that they deliberately sure. But did he make that appeal to you . One other thing, before you can have war crime charges against israeli, youd have to have it against hamas. Now, there was a discussion in which some members were there, some of the congress mentioned or brought up what they regarded as the unbalanced News Coverage and how