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president, it was interesting and perhaps even wise to know the president -- the sources are saying, listen, boots on the ground is not an option. they've made that at least clear before talking about the other options. >> well, look, there's a few things we got to remember legally. legally there is still a war authorization that is active that congress passed that does give the president a lot of leeway to do whatever he wants in iraq frankly. at this point when it comes to military issues. this isn't a case where he necessarily needs to go to congress to make some decision on various aspects that he does. now, that doesn't mean preliminarily he may decide like he did with syria that he doesn't want to go off on this political limb alone. thgs what makes this harder, the lack of political will in the country that is going to support this. our last polling on iraq, 60% of the country said the war wasn't even worth it. people didn't believe the war is worth it, are they going to
was ayman mohyeldin who reported what was happening there. >> and it is even bizarre of what is happening here, is that the same insurgents in the syria and the iraq militants and we want iran's help in iraq or iraq wants iran's help, but only to the point, because iran is on the other side of the conflict as far as the united states is concern concerned with what is going on inside of syria, and so it is -- look, this is a 1,000-year religion-war between shia and sunni and the borders be damned. >> and we will weigh in with jim mi miklaszewski. and you are hearing that it may be the worst best scenario to hear that drons could be used by
defend the country. that perhaps give the greatest indication that this violence that is spreading across iraq is falling more and more along the sectarian lines and taking a dangerous turn between the sunni community and the shiite community on the other and that is one of the reasons that iran is very vested in this, because they are a backer of the maliki government and the shiite government in iraq for several year years. >> and according to latest information the insurgents are 40 miles from baghdad. do we know of any contingency plans to evacuate the u.s. embassy in the heart of baghdad and it is the largest embassy in the world? >> well, there is no doubt that those plans are definitely already in play or at least have been in play for some time. there is no way that a city like baghdad with all of the security r risks that it faces on the daily basis would not have a contingency plan in the works and the fact that you could see some of the al qaeda militant-linked militants in the
certain amount of coordination that you wouldn't have here. they would have to rely in large part -- even though they have their own overhead surveillance, they would have to rely in large part on the iraqi government itself and we're told by senior officials, we don't trust the iraqi government to give us the right target sets. so this is a very complicated situation for the military. can they carry it out? sure. but they want to carry it out precisely with as little collateral damage, i.e. innocent civilian casualties as possible. >> mik, to your point, to the question of do we have a partner and leader in government we can trust, which were the very same questions asked regarding afghanistan and the developments there? >> in this case, the history between the u.s. fost and iraqi government is pretty much well known. but currently, you know, the --
administration. >> thank you, mark murray, and reminder in ten minutes from now, we will hear from president obama who is expected to make a statement on the ongoing crisis in iraq. we will be right back. it is time for your business entrepreneur of the week. when kevin knight left the army, he decided to help other veterans assimilate into civilian life. so he tarted knight solutions, a ability to renovate and restore american cemeteries. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum.
is no central state that is going to govrnlg iraq,go g going to govern iraq and not the curd di kurdish and -- >> is there a stable government? >> no, he is a strong man with a jack poot on somebody's neck, and the shia are going to fight more effectively in the south and in baghdad, because they know that their lives are at stake. but the question at hand is should the u.s. militarily intervene in an ineffectual way in support of an army that is disintegrating? and i think that the answer is pretty obvious, no. we don't want to risk the credibility of u.s. military power. if you are going to use the military pow, you have to achieve the purpose for which you set out, and that is not clear that the american people support that. >> so thank you both for your insight. we will continue the follow the breaking news throughout the hour with new development, and
themselves is what is the interest in iraq? well, when we see somebody like turkey asking nato meeting, it begins to make us realize that this is a regional construct, and that we really have some interests there. so the answer is then, what do we do? and i would say that there are several tools that the president has. i would increase intelligence gathering for example, and i would send in unmanned aerial vehicles to see what is going on and share more intelligence, and really get a picture of how deep is this isis group. just a small number of people or do they have a lot of depth in there, because what is going to take to take baghdad is a big fighting force and i doubt that it is really there. so the intelligence piece and then some air strikes if war increases, but the air strikes alone will not stop what is going on unlesz ss it is a smal
immense force but the generals were corrupt and incompetent and they didn't want to fight and die -- >> general, the president is stepping up to the podium. let's listen in. >> i want to take time to give you a quick update about the situation in iraq. yesterday i convened a meeting with my national security council to discuss the situation there. and this morning i received an update from my time. over the last several days, we've seen significant gains made by isil, a terrorist organization that operates in both iraq and syria. in the face of a terrorist offensive, iraqi security forces have proven unable to defend the number of cities, which has allowed the terrorists to overrun part of iraq's territory. this poses a danger to iraq and its people and given the nature of these terrorists, it could pose a threat eventually to american interests as well. now, this threat is not
alexander is giving more information that the president is not going to be announcing any action and he will however give an update on the situation in iraq, and according the a se senior administration official there, and mark, i am sure that you saw senator john mccain on "morning joe" this morning, and the other part of the story, of course s the history of iraq. why nuri al maliki chose to say that he would not back u.s. troops there, any number as a support unit, and really, how we got here due to the policy decisions. you have john mccain saying that the war in a sense was won, and that this government was stable in iraq and something that general mccaffery said about ten minutes ago was flat out not true. >> right. this is not occurring in a vacu vacuum, but a process ten or more years in the making and some say centuries, with the sunnis and the shiites in the area, but it is a situation
we are following the breaking news and just learning that president obama will make a statement on the situation on iraq at 11:50 eastern time this morning and joining me live now msnbc news senior political editor mark murray, and we have heard that all options are on the table, and not boots on the ground there in iraq, but for the first time we will hear from the president since all of this unfolded. >> it is going to be interesting what he ends up saying that the united states is going to do and one of the central questions is that no matter what the united states does whether it is air strikes from the military planes or missiles or more humanitarian aid, the president has a lot of options, but the question is, does it make the situation any better? and right now the maliki government, and the government is in control of iraq as a military, that isn't doing its job. and it has a government that has alienated the sunnis who live there, and this is a fundamental, and you have a situation where you have the sunnis versus the shiites and