Our personnel and partners. These bases have been on high alert. Due to the dynamic nature of the situation, we will continue to provide updates as they become available. All of this coming five days after the u. S. Assassinated the number two man. Qassem soleimani. Iraq has been vowing revenge since. The special forces that suleiman any saw. Theyre claiming this is revenge and that any countries that allow u. S. Attacks will also be attacked. Also just reporting the revolutionary guard core. Joining me is ali ruzi. What is the message from Iranian State television and sources about what is happening tonight . Reporter hi, chris. They launched the first wave of attacks for soleimanis killing. They have launched a second waive of attacks. They are saying they have leveled al assad base in iraq and thez have killed 30 u. S. Troops. Iran is saying that if there is any retaliation from the United States from these latest two attacks that they have launched by the irgc directly, they will target all u. S. Bases and the first immediate places ill park after. They said they will destroy what they call that tourism results. Were also getting irans militias that Qassem Soleimani had build up in this region are now ready for all sorts of attacks. This is a major militia in iraq. Theyre on alert and be ready and waiting orders from iran to launch attacks on any bases that are necessary. Iran is saying they have launched medium board Ballistic Missiles in iraq. I just cant begin to tell you how serious this situation is. There has never been any sort of confrontation between iran and america directly like this since the Islamic Revolution happened in 1979. Things are just very, very unpredictable. Iranian officials are all putting out messages on their social media showing the iranian flag. That is a signal of being battle ready. On my way to the bureau my radio was on. We have reports that the Ayatollah Khamenei was in the control room coordinating the attacks. Their air force has been deployed and they are ready to intercept any attacks from the United States. Irans air force and navy are no match for the might of the u. S. Military, but iran does have this widespread networks of militias in the region all located very close to u. S. Personnel, u. S. Bases. They have said time and time again that they could strike immediately at any of these bases and cause Severe Damage so thats what were expecting to happen next if there is an attack by the United States. Basically the message coming out of iran, they have launched the two attacks. If they decide to retaliate, well, then all bets are off and we could be in a full blown war, chris. Ali, i just want to refer to something you said earlier, which is state media talking about leveling al assad airbase and there are 30 casualties. I want to be clear, we dont have confirmation of that. That is a claim being made on Iranian State media. Viewers should know that is not confirmed independently or by people on the ground at this moment. I want to follow up about the kind of escalatory calculation here. There was widespread consensus of assassinating the general Qassem Soleimani, that there would be some kind of retaliation from the iranian government against u. S. Forces. There is some question i suppose about whether there has been a calculation made to do that in a way that would allow an end to the back and forth if theres a calculation by the Iranian Regime that this wont lead to further attacks or whether that wasnt the calculation, that essentially they need to sort of save face and they need to retaliate and this is what theyre doing . Well, its a little bit of both, chris. They definitely thought that they had to retaliate. The mentality is if they dont strike back theyll come across as weak and there will be more pressure from america on iran. The question is the proportionality of this attack. As you mention, the reports of their level of damage and the casualties are completely unconfirmed but if its a small attack it could give the United States enough space not to launch an all out reprisal. If we are talking about, you know, 10, 20, 30 numbers of u. S. Personnel being killed, i dont think President Trump is going to see that as proportional. He has been putting messages out that he will hit back if iran hits and i dont think hes going to take u. S. Troops being killed very lightly. So as the fog sort of clears and we find out what sort of damage has happened, then we will be able to assess what kind of response is going to come back from america. But its not looking good, chris. You know, iran has launched an attack, a direct attack not by its militias but by its armed forces on u. S. Bases in iraq with Ballistic Missiles. This is a huge step across the precipice and its really unclear, unpredictable how this is going to fold out in the coming minutes if not hours and days. All right. Stay safe. Thank you so much for joining us. I want to make an Important Note here. Those bases that are being attacked are iraqi bases. They host iraqis and American Service members. There is the fact that this is all being waged in iraq that a country that has seen nothing but war since the u. S. Invasions since 2003, hundreds of thousands of iraqis have died, civilians, as well as a two foreign powers striking against each other in iraq. The american attack against Qassem Soleimani happening just outside the u. S. Baghdad airport. This is happening with american airbases. What can you tell us about whats going on in irbil . Reporter so we heard two explosions a couple of hours ago here. Not exactly sure what it was. We drove around and we couldnt see any signs of damage. There were initial reports perhaps it was a car bomb. We didnt see any evidence of that. Then the u. S. Military put out a statement saying iran had fired a dozen Ballistic Missiles at two locations where americans are housed, one in al assad and one in erbil. Ballistic missiles landed or were intercepted but somehow related to the Ballistic Missile attack. What ali is saying is absolutely right, this is unprecedented. This is a conventional cross border attack from iran using groundtoground missiles, mediumrange missiles apparently against american airbases here. As you said, these are iraqi bases that are housing american personnel. There are already calls in this country for american troops to leave. Now that it seems that the United States and iran are fighting what could be the early stages of a low level war on iraqi territory. Those calls for u. S. Troops to leave will only grow louder. Iraq does not want to become the staging ground for the United States to carry out assassinations or retribution on iraqi soil. So this could have a very significant effect on not just what happens between iran and iraq in the coming hours but the future presence of u. S. Troops in iraq and it has consequences for the war on isis. We may be on a road to a very different middle east come sunrise. The point you just made there about the fact that in the wake of the assassination against Qassem Soleimani there was the vote against a nonbinding resolution in parliament, to get rid of it and then confusion about whether the u. S. Had acceded to that. How many troops are in the region . How exposed are American Military members as well as iraqi to well, frankly, they are quite exposed. If you listen to the different capabilities that iran has. Iran today launched some of its conventional weapons. Here in erbil and the other to the al assad. Iran has a large proxy militia. It is deeply entrenched. There is hezbollah. Hezbollah which, according to iranian media, is poised to attack israel tonight should israel decide to get involved in this growing conflict. Hez bowl la has International Reach as well. There are militias in afghanistan. Its not just irans capability. They have the ability to infiltrate and attack american faciliti facilities, consulates, military bases. In many countries in the middle east should it choose to do that and tonight, according to the iranian media, it is absolutely saying it is prepared to do that depending on how the u. S. Responds to what has happened over the past few hours with the Ballistic Missiles fired and iran wants the world, wants its own people to know that it did this, that it was the revolutionary guard that did this, that it was Qassem Soleimanis units that did this. The operation was named martyr suleiman any with a code name with a reference to shia tradition. This for iran is a symbolic moment where it is striking back at the United States with its own mill rare ri since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. I want to ask you as someone whos been in the region and covered the war in iraq and what it means for an Iraqi Society that has lived through so much violence and death and be destruction that it has been the subject of proxy wars between the foreign powers. It has had people marching in the streets and shouting the slogan. No u. S. Domination, two powers that are not iraq. Reporter well, its going to increase calls for u. S. Troops to get out. There are 5,000 u. S. Troops in the country. They are here at the invitation of the Iraqi Government. They are here to fight isis. They are not here to fight iran. The official mission of the u. S. Troops is to fight a combined effort to support the Iraqi Government in its effort to fight isis. They dont have a mission to launch them. Qassem soleimani had a lot of american blood. That is not the mandate, however. If you are an iraqi here, you might see that the u. S. Presence here is only bringing problems, not necessarily bringing more instability. Yeah. We will see. If the u. S. Has a response and its proportionate, if it is a response to a few remote bases that dont cause many casualties, perhaps this could cool down. If, however, the u. S. Responds heavily and there is massive devastation or the u. S. Attacks a civilian area in tehran or something close to a civilian center, then iran will mobilize. The militias in lebanon and other locations. But in the shadows here, i dont want to take you too much on a tangent, but in the shadows here, just something to watch. Vladimir putin made a visit. Hes supposed to go to istanbul tomorrow. Vladimir putin is someone in the past who has liked to play peace maker, to intervene, particularly when the u. S. Is finding its chips are down. Russia has good relations with. President trump does like to listen to her. I would not be surprised if there is the opportunity to broker some sort of agreement. Richard engel, thank you for all your work today. I appreciate it. Joining me now, courtney cube. The fourth statement by the department of defense. We had repeated statements from mike pompeo and secretary esper saying they wanted to deescalate and tonights attacks would seem to show and almost by definition that is not what they brought about. Secretary esper in the pentagon Briefing Room called on iran to deescalate. The ball is in irans case. Seems as though iran has lobbed the ball back into the the we dont know. There are u. S. And Coalition Forces and up into erbil where there is a u. S. Military and diplomatic presence as well. We dont know what the casualties are. That could be a factor. We dont know if this is all iran plans. Part of the Iranian Regime and rgc, theyre putting out statements and tweeting and saying that if the u. S. Responds to this, then iran will respond yet again. So that could indicate thats all theyre doing in the death of soleimani. We have no idea if this is it. If in fact this attack is successful, they damage facilities, theyre disruptive, they will get a lot of attention, but they dont actually end in a lot of casualties, particularly u. S. Or coalition casualties, the question is will that be considered proportionate enough. These proxies have been firing on bases for about two months with growing intensity and frequency since about october or so. And the u. S. The first time the u. S. Responded, the u. S. Contractor was killed in kirkuk. The question we have now is is this the end . Will the u. S. Military not respond in any way . Thats really the question that were all kind of watching now. Yes, we are in a cycle of action and reaction and retaliation. Thats how wars stop and how they can stop based on the choices that leaders make. Courtney kube, thank you very much. Here to join me, its titled the choice thats coming in iran with the bomb or bombing iran. Jake, let me start with you. I want to read you something. This was early so we dont know. This doesnt feel like a major escalation. The u. S. Military was expecting attack and iran can claim it too revenge. We dont know if the details will bear that out. I guess im looking for some way out of the doom loop that we seem looked into. Based on what we did last week. Chris, this is exactly the challenge. The status cycle. Trying to read the other sides intentions. It can read to the doom you just described. This could be a circumstance exactly as liz sly described where the iranians have decided to launch a few Ballistic Missiles. There arent any casualties. We dont know whether that will be an important factor in this as other guests have said. Then that could be the end of it. But the United States might not read it that way. They could read there could be a further wave of attacks if we dont respond with great force so i think the most important thing at the moment is time is actually on the u. S. Side in terms of how to respond to this. It should take the time to assess irans intent, to determine what exactly the damage was and then to be methodical in how it thinks through responding to this. Just getting whipped up into a frenzy and thinking they hit us, we have to hit back, is exactly how we end up in a war that maybe neither side wanted. What is the status right now of any diplomatic channels. Theres no official channel, back channel, any diplomatic communication between the iranian government and the Trump Administration . Well, unfortunately most of the channels that had been established under president obama have essentially been destroyed. They no longer exist. We still have the swiss channel. The swiss ambassador in iran represents u. S. Interests there and he has been going back and forth trying to mediate, trying to bring the two sides messages to one another. There are a number of other channels that exist. French president macron, the japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe and others have been going back and forth trying to deescalate tensions between the two sides. The lack of official channel between the two sides on a diplomatic level is particularly challenging at a time where things are escalating and where we could really benefit from direct conversations between the United States and iran. Jake, you were one of the people that negotiated first in secret and then the joint agreement with the iranians. The Iran Nuclear Deal with six parties that the Trump Administration left. One of the aspects of that was that it did provide a channel even though it was about the Nuclear Agreement. A functioning diplomatic channel for the First Time Since the hostage crisis. How much is getting out of that deal what has brought us to this point . Well, chris, its a great question. The fact is, we did not need to be here tonight. If donald trump had not torn up the Iran Nuclear Deal. You wouldnt have had all of this. While it was in place iran wasnt launching, wasnt advancing, wasnt attacking shipping in the gulf. All things that happened once we pulled out of the deal. It was a huge error for him. I want to reinforce the point that at the end of the day the only way to escape a cycle of escalation like this is to have the kind of channel where you can properly assess what the other sides intentions are and you can send messages about what is going to be required to resolve this and deescalate. Right. We had that before not just on nuclear issues. They have plenty of available options and what their intentions are, also seeking to gain very directly what iranian tensions were. Thats the question. One of the sort of bewildering aspects of the administrations talking points in the wake of assassinating this massively important official. Its been unclear what iranians would be talking about. What the framework for any negotiation would be in the wake of them leaving a deal unilaterally that iran had signed on to. Is there any way to get back to some diplomatic channel . Look, its incredibly challenging right now. This is probably one of the most challenging things the president will have to face during his tenu tenure. I think part of it is the messaging. Theres coherence to say the same thing. And that hes not looking for regime change. He thinks iran can prosper even under this leadership. On the other hand though, everything we have done so far seems to indicate otherwise. The maximum Pressure Campaign has been based around sanctions and isolating iran and its not very clear what sort of objectives the United States is looking for and objectives that would be grounded in reality today. So, yeah, that is the main challenge. The messaging is not always coherent. Just recently, just this past week, we have talked about potentially striking cultural sites in iran. That does not sound like a country thats willing to go and talk to the iranians. Not only that, were now alienating the majority of the population in iran not just the regime. These sites do not belong to the regime, they belong to the iranian people and humanity. We should be careful the way we are communicating and sending signals to iran. Thank you so much for being here. Just to reset here, we have confirmation of iranian groundtoground missiles being launched at several bases in iraq, iraqi bases that house troops. We have no word yet on damage or casualties. Those are huge questions that we will be following very closely. According to Iranian State television, theres a second round of missiles that have been launched although we have no reporting on the status of that. There are state tv threats. Joining me now, Steve Schmidt, republican strategist and msnbc contributor. I feel like we did not need to be at this point. The genie is certainly out of the bottle now. Watching this when you think about history, you think about momentous events and we look back, froeks, a year in vietnam. Did that occur in 65 or 66 . And the memory doesnt quite get there but history unfolds in real time. Action by action. Event by event. Day by day. Were at the early stages of a hot war. It is a monument al on iraqi bases in iraq. It is almost certain that there will be a response from the United States. I think the analysis that for the iranian perspective the symbolism of the attack, the importance of this a being at that for irans domestic situation is important. Donald trump is not in a position to escalate from here. Were at a very dangerous moment now. Although i i dont want to take away the agency here. One of the things i think weve learned over 19 years, longest period of time in the history, mark esper said we dont want to start one, we want to finish them. I was 12 years old. 30 years. 30 years of missiles into that country. 30 years, that each individual discrete action at some point someone has to stop and make a decision to not, and the attack on soleimani was retribution for the embassy storming. That was retribution that killed 25 shia militia members which was retribution and there has to be a decision and thinking about whether we are going to enter into a hot war with iran . Weve entered into a hot war with iran. Right now as we speak, this has been wrought by the judgment of a president who was very clear over the course of his campaign that he knows more than all of the generals. We have seen the diplomatic core of the United States utterly gutted over the last few years. We have policy made by watching fox and friends. There is no indication except in an alternate fantasy land universe that this now will be the moment where we see judic l judiciousne judiciousness. So when we look at this situation now and we look at the fact that there has de facto been a civil war across the whole of the middle east, through proxies, in lebanon, in iraq, we now see a direct military engagement between iran and the United States and i think the chances that the United States will allow a Ballistic Missile attack to go unanswered is very low. This could very quickly, very quickly become a wider regional war with the sunny power, saudi arabia, united arab emirates. Israel fighting hezbollah across the border in lebanon. So we stand at the most dangerous moment in the middle east that we have lived through in our lifetimes and there have been dangerous moments. I spoke to several members of congress yesterday in the senate. Tim kaine and Robert Menendez about that. The president of the United States is commander in chief of the American Armed forces as stated in the constitution. We also have the power to make war in congress. I think its important that theres some democratic stay here. The country is bigger than the president. War making is vested in the United States congress. That is essentially abdicated. There should be domestic political debate about what happens next. In the absence of that we were talking about that. I made the point earlier today that when you think about the wars that began on 9 11, it is almost certain that we will see the first soldier, sailor killed who was born after the attacks took place. That is extraordinary. On democracy and democracies, they are not rigged to exist in a state of perpetual war. Iran has the 14th most powerful ranked job in the world. This is not the iraqi military. It cannot stand toe to toe with the little. We stant right now tonight with a president who we have seen over these past few years. When war comes its not the aga rally that goes to war, its the United States of america that goes to war. The assessments about the justification for the killing that there is imminent to an attack i think are not credible. The president has lied many, many thousands of times to people. You cant imagine a worst president , a worst possible leader to stand at the heads of the people at this dangerous moment. We should say there are thousands being deployed in iraq. There are thousands of Iraqi Service members. I think its important to keep thinking about this. There are millions of civilians in iraq, iran, throughout the region and whose lives will be up ended and destroyed. Ive seen way more than anyone ought to. Joining me to help get a better handle of whats going on, a. M. Ba is a door christopher held and brett mcguerk. Ambassador hill . I wish i could disagree with steve but i cant. We talk about how will this administration do in a crisis . Well, theres no question we have a crisis on our hands and i dont look for any defendant handling of this. In a person world you would have a team that understands we need to slow this down, we need to deescalate, reach out to allies, friends. Talking to the oman anies, the french, other people. This is an administration that doesnt do that. When there were efforts to mediate and get back with the Iran Nuclear Deal, the president essentially vetoed it all and said, i will sit and talk with the iranians and sort it out. The iranians are not interested in talking to President Trump. Their view was all sanctions had to be relaxed, relieved until they would talk to President Trump. So this is going to be a real tough one in the next few days. I do hope the u. S. Slows it down a little, doesnt allow the president to get up and start taunting the iranians as he has already done. So well have to see in the next couple of days. Im not optimistic. Brett, your thoughts. Look, i think its important to try and slow this down. I hope somebodys being a voice of calm and caution. In a crisis like this, ive been in everyones room and the adrenaline is up. If this was an attack iran against iraq, these are iraqi bases. Lets keep that in mind number one. I think some diplomacy with the iraq iraqis. Number one, this was an attack against iraq. What are the casualties . We dont know there are no american casualties. Are there iraqi casualties . This is an attack about that. We need to think through our response. This has been on an escalatory situation. Iranian backed militia is starting to contact us since this last october. Thats a significant change. What do we have to do. This we have to think through extremely carefully. Just to follow up on something you said, its an important plan and what is so horrible about this. A country that is not party to the conflict, shell point about it. If this was an attack on a rock from the u. S. Ordering an airstrike outside, just outside the Baghdad Airport has to be counted as that as well, right, brett . Look, a couple of things happen here. We kind of forget. The attack, it tragically killed an American Contractor. We went back and came home with a tie, 22. Theyre like cannon fiber. Then the attack on soleimani. The attack on seoul manny was right outside the relationship. Remind ourselves, this was against iraq. Brett, thank you very much. Served three president s over a long career. Thank you very much. Ambassador hill, i want you to stay with me and i want to ask you. The context here is that the president ordered the strike against soleimani. The record indicates there threatened war crimes against iran. Mark esper had to wriggle away from that. Its not just a prominent military official. Does that help you speaking to others, ally, friend or foe . Any conceivable friend. I was noticing its not there. It speaks to how the president deals with these issues. He doubles down on everything. Oh, you havent seen the worst of it yet. He goes after things. If there is a voice of reason, you know, we had high hopes for pompeo when he first came in. Thats pretty much out the window. Its not clear if anyone can slow this president down. If hes going to talk about war crimes, pulls him back, never really finishes off. This is going to get really bad. I think its high time republicans in the senate stood up and said, mr. President , we cannot support you when you do things like this. And were not seeing it at all from republicans. That is i think the group that really needs to tell the president that theyve heard enough. Ambassador, Christopher Hill thank you so much for joining us. Cal perry, she caught me. Erin, youve been reporting on the iraqi military, the Iraqi Governments reaction for this. So weve been in touch with our sources on the ground. Senior iraqi officials in both baghdad and erbil. Theyre trying to figure out whats on the ground. We know that washington has been in touch with bad dad over t next couple of days a couple of days ago to oust u. S. Troops. What their pasture in the coming weeks. If iraqi officials are on the ground telling us were not sure whats going on, how many people have been killed . That shows the lack of from other analyst the and other people in washington. They say, nobody really knows what the Trump Administration has laid out a strict, sort of tactical policy on a ran. They put over 1,000 sanctions on iran and iranian entities. With the killing of qassem sole harman will continue on that pathr whether some of the people who are the arrange tekts of that pressure contact, it was working. No need to go further. Cal, Steve Schmidt and others have well. This comes in the midst of this regional proxy war over the last few years. A growth across the crescent and its projection of force to save the government of Bashar Al Assad against the revolution that happened there. Now youve got into this, this war or the gipgs of one that has happened. You have to imagine that those regional players dont want this to escalate but its hard to say because theres been such tension from the uae and the saudis as well to kind of confront iran. Yeah. And this was the reason that Qassem Soleimani existed. When they died in iraq, it was decided na iran would fight the enemies outside of iran. Its why Qassem Soleimani was so engaged in fighting troops in iraq. Its the most recent warning and it was specifically about dubai and the gulf nations. They want to keep them out of this. Its going to be very difficult to do so. 20 minutes from where it is, it houses 10 to 15 million personnel. Too many people live in the shot behind me. Thats what is sort of the risk here. This can get out of control. All were hearing from are the most extreme votices on either side. Then the irgc says were going to target israel, dubai. Im going to respond disproportionately to see how these countries simply are not communicating at all. The Nuclear Agreement allowed for a certain level of communication among those countries. Thats at the point right now when you need it the most. When you need to deescalate the situation and the mechanism just doesnt exist, chris. Aaron and allison, thank you. Well take a quick break and be right back. Dont go anywhere. Man whats my safelite story . My truck. Is my livelihood. So when my windshield cracked. The experts at Safelite Autoglass came right to me. Tech hi, im adrian. Man thanks for coming. With service i could trust. Right, girl . Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. We are following the breaking news out of iraq where we have confirmation that iran has launched missile strikes at two iraqi bases that also housed u. S. Forces. We have no confirmation of the assessment of damage or casualties. Iranian state media is now saying that they have launched these two rounds of missile strikes, this is important and really crucial as we think about this moment, iran saying there is no retaliation for america for the latest attacks, then they will stop attacking. But if america responds their response will be crushing and widespread. Seems like this is a statement that we have been on for quite some time. Threatening to plunge the region into another we have sam cedar and zerlina maxwell, host of signal boost and an msnbc political analyst. Donna, let me start with you. The way that we talk about this tends to resolve or revolve around the president , what decision will he make that was influencing. They have a power to declare war. This represents this democratic nation. All of its citizens. It seems to me extremely important that across democrat and republican, particularly Democratic House comes out slowly to say no difference in mad ps. Is that a possibility as you see it . I mean, i do think that there will be and there already have been tonight really strong voices coming from Speaker Pelosi herself that we do not want war with iran. You know, very sadly, this is so reminiscent of where weve been before and i think its also important for the American People to step up and declare that there should be no war with iran. And we are at a place where, you know, there is a possibility that there could be some deescalation, but it requires sane voice ands cool heads to preside both in the white house, which i dont expect, but certainly coming out with a strong voice from democrats in the congress. And i would expect others who do not want to continue to put servicemen and women in harms way, and to jeopardize the safety of the American People. Mickey, you know, theres been an interesting fissure in republican and conservative coalition on this question. Weve seen it sort of break out in the open sometimes. Rand paul was on our air earlier, senator from kentucky, urging us not to enter a war with iran. There are conservative commentators who have the president s ear who have also said the same. This seems to me a kind of testing ground of that. What do you expect to see from republicans on the hill . Well, if we stay with what they have been saying for many, many years, is that we should be very cautious about going into war. But the bigger issue here is what you were talking about, chris. So i would hope that the congress is able to back the president off and not have us go into a major war. But its also important that congress start reasserting its primacy in the field, in terms of deciding when we go to war because its not just this war, but with this man in the white house or frankly any president , the idea that the congress would step out we are the democratic voice, chris, that youve been talking about. And the congress would back off and let any president , just on his own whim or any other reason, take the country into war is unacceptable, and its time republicans and democrats both came together on that one issue. Its just crazy to me to view whats happening right now as this thing thats just happening out there in the world. We live in a democratic society, precisely so that we have can exert some control, and thats part of constitutional design. I mean, by design, the founders of this constitutional design that there is some democratic control. The idea that regardless of what we have in terms of casualties, that we must respond is absurd. We have agency. People are going to call for deescalation. Theyre either going to call for it now tonight, or theyre going to do it 18 years from now after what weve been in iraq. So the bottom line is every single democratic president ial candidate should tonight come out and say, no war with iran. Every Single Member of the Democratic Caucus in the house and the senate should be backing the bills by tim kaine and by sanders and kana in the house and stopping funding and stopping the legal auspices for this war. It almost feels worse than iraq. At least with the iraq war in 2003, there was a reason. They put forward a reason. And so an american citizen could say, well, theres wmds. Now it turned out that was a lie, right . But at least it was an articulated reason the administration collectively was trying to put forward to tell the American People this is why were doing this. I have no idea why this is happening, chris. The American People likely do not understand why we are on the brink of war with iran. And i agree with sam. All of the Democratic Candidates have a chance to step forward in this moment and show that they can be competent, they can be strong, and stand on principle. There is no reason for this in this moment. We need to take a step back, a giant step back. However, this cannot be a partisan moment. The republicans in congress have to do the same thing. They took the same oath of office. They swore to uphold the same constitution. And just having democrats oppose whats happening, what the war is about, without any information here, but they cant do it alone. Republicans have to say, in this case this is american lives at risk and we are going to take back the constitutional power the congress has. It cant be just the democratic thing. Donna, the politics of this which in some sense seems secondary as we await at this moment to find out if there were casualties, both among the iraqi again, Iraqi Service members on these iraqi bases or American Service members, but of course, the politics matter because politics are part of what produce the outcomes that happen and the decision that gets made. Again, this is all part of democratic selfgovernance. It seems like war is a real thing. It showed up in the polling, the campaign trail. There is very little appetite for a war with iran if you poll that question. Even the airstrike against soleimani which to my mind was a reckless escalation along this trajectory was essentially partisan split. Do you trust that democrats will have the kind of courage of their convictions about how they navigate this . Well, i have to say i mean, i remember, you know, the lead up to the iraq war in 2000, what was it, 3, 4. You know, people believed the evidence that was in front of them. I never believed it. But even in the face of thousands and thousands of people taking to the streets, still, legislators felt a need to, like, go right up and march toward war. We cannot afford that, to have that outcome again. And i think it is as incumbent on members of congress, but the American People have to speak up. And we know that theyre weary because they wanted to pull out of iraq and afghanistan and out of the region all along, and now here we are, you know, escalating again. And its time to put the brakes on this. Coming both from the congress in terms of them exercising their authority as mickey has said, but also coming from the American People, saying, we do not want another war in that region. You know, part of this the ball is in the hands of the people themselves. The power to declare war, being congress, means that the people are supposed to make these decisions. And this is when they have to show up at town meetings. They ha they have to contact their members of congress and they should be heard. We have to vote. There should be a vote in the United States senate. Absolutely. Ill say i am struck by how many democratic politicians look, i have little expectation of the republicans at this point. Im sorry about that. But i am struck by how few how little maturation there seems to be. When i look at the democratic politicians who are coming out there and equivocating at this point, because the American Public has grown since 2002. And to a certain extent, i mean, i remember that time vividly. I was one of those millions of people who were in those stree at that time. And the fact is there was a lot of people who were shell shocked after 9 11. That shell shock does not exist amongst the American Public any more. But you look at the eyes of a lot of these democratic politicians and they look like deers in the headlights. They need to lead and fight back against what is obviously, obviously an attempt to draw this country into war, by whose who is driving this sfwhbus is unclear. We cant allow the idea that the president of the United States can willynilly create provocations that drag this country into this type of quagmire again. The American People have to understand why we are entering into a military conflict. They dont know that tonight and thats a really big problem. Well, and the communication here, we should just go back to say what the facts are on the ground in terms of the latest there was an attack outside kirkuk, a rocket attack, increasing fire at American Forces from shia militias in iraq starting in october as brent said. That hadnt happened in eight years. That was part of the escalatory cycle. That kills an American Contractor back in december outside kirkuk, it wounded several service members. There was a retaliatory strike by the u. S. It killed 25 shia militia members in iraq and storming the embassy was essentially dispersed with no casualties. And then in response to that, the wildly provocative escalating act of taking out, killing Qassem Soleimani. That is the situation that has brought us tonight to these reports of ground to ground missile fire from the iranian government directed at iraqi bases that hold both Iraqi Service members and American Service members. Donna, what do you think is happening now . We have reports that vicepresident pence has briefed nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. Pelosi tweeted out shes closely monitoring the situation following bombings of troops in iraq. Ending needless provocations from the administration and demanding iran cease its violence, america and world cannot afford war. What do you think is happening in democratic leadership at this moment . Well, i think right now, i mean, they are trying to figure out a way that they can put the brakes on this president and this administration. And i think, you know, a war powers resolution limiting the president s ability to conduct allout war is one step. But even with that, the president would essentially have 30 to 60 days during which he could have fullscale military operations. This is absolutely insane and its going to draw us into that region in a way that we absolutely cannot afford. All right. Mickey edwards, donna edwards, surlina maxwell, thank you for being here tonight. I want to say this clearly. War with iran is madness and it is strategically and morally a disaster in the making and dont believe anyone who tells you otherwise. That is all in this evening. The Rachel Maddow show starts right now. Good evening, rachel. Good evening, chris, my friend. Appreciate it. Thanks for joining us this hour. It will all happen at once. No matter how much we might wish that was not true, it will all happen at once. And because of that, part of our responsibility as citizens in this country at this time will be for us all to maintain the capacity to see multiple things at once. To follow multiple stories. To follow more than one bouncing ball at a time. And, yes, it would be easier to follow, it would be easier to absorb, it would be easier