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Strategy going forward. part of the problem was we no longer in my judgment have a national security process. we write down our political objectives and decide what tools the u.s. government collectively we're going to bring to bear. how the we engage our allies? how do we give them a way out, an off-ramp, so to speak and military power can be a part of that. chris, at the end of the day, u.s. air and naval power cannot keep the gulf opened and cannot destroy the nuclear capability of the iranian government. so what is our strategy? what are we trying to achieve? i think to be honest, with the...

What does it tell you, the narrative and what we know of it in the situation room on thursday night. >> i'm not sure we understand fully who was advising the president. secretary pompeo is in the room. bolton is in the room. others apparently possibly over unsecure phones had access to the president's thinking. for sure the president's explanation is implausible. the notion learned only at the last mine that 150 iranians could have been killed. he could have said strike targets that involve no potential loss of life. five static aircraft on the ground. the radar system for the missile site tha...

Scenario the president describes there is highly unusual. they say the potential casualties from both sides -- iranians and american -- is something that would have been considered in detail prior to planning any military operation. they also say the precise projected numbers would have been shared with the president in his intelligence briefings and military con ops briefings and during the national security process. additionally, neil, senior administration officials told me yesterday that the prospect of military action remains in full force throughout this weekend. neil: all right, gillian...

That changed his mind. >> they shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it. and here we are sitting with 150 dead people, and i didn't like it. i didn't think it was proportionate. >> national security sources say the scenario the president described highly, highly unusual. they say potential casualties on sides american and iranian would have been something in detail prior to planning any military options. they also say the precise projected numbers would have been shared with the president in his intelligence briefings and military con ops briefings and during the nation...

>> well, you know, i think there's an awful lot of impulsive unilateral decisions coming out of the white house. there is no connection with the national security process, deliberative, listening to the intelligence, coming up with a strategy on what we're trying to do. you know, i got to add mitt, brian, there's no question that syria is an irredeemable mess. nobody's putting it back together. not assad. not the kurds. not the iranians. but it could get worse. and it's amazing to me what centcom, general joe votel and largely special operations and lots of u.s. air power has been able to acco...