Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20140911

For him completely. But it was a big moment. And now in terms of what happens, will really define the end of his presidency. It wasnt a grand slam. You know what it wasnt a gettysburg address. When you talk about the middle east you found that words mean very little. Soaring rhetoric means little. Threats meaning very little. Saying things on the campaign trail means very little. This is going to be tough, a tough business. And to borrow a quote from a Previous Administration it will be a long, hard slog. Last night i let out a big sigh as i was watching the pollsters and pundits and everybody refighting the iraq war from 2003 talking about moving forward. Only time will tell. Ill say this and you know willie i hate to say i told you so because im not that kid. Im not that kid in the class. But what did i say when he went in and talked about humanitarian assistance . I said he was cracking up in the door and everybody was bitching and mooning how it wasnt enough. A couple of days later he said he would arm the kurds. Everybody was moaning and said it wasnt enough. The president step by step has opened the door wide per the American People has caught up. They want us to go over and destroy isis. Our arab friends and enemies, most of them hatch caught up. So were going to talk about that. We have so much to talk about that over the next three hours. I got to get willies reaction first to what happened. Real quickly. Lets talk about this because its going to explode. Then well get back to the president s speech. The nfl is asking a former fbi director to lead an independent investigation how they handled the ray rice case. Robert muller is charge of the probe which will look at how the nfl pursued and handled evidence including Surveillance Video that showed rice assaulting his then fiancee at a casino. The announcement came hours after the Associated Press reported that a Law Enforcement source claimed he sent the video to the nfl three months ago. The complete video. The ap said the unidentified official played a brief voice mail from an nfl office where a woman said quote, youre right, its terrible. A high ranking official at the nfl tells tmz sports the ap story is wrong. And that quote no one at the league saw the video until monday. Meanwhile the Washington Post reports that nfl commissioner Roger Goodell has no plans to resign in the wake of the scandal. Goodell has insisted the nfl tried unsuccessfully on multiple occasions to obtain the video earlier from police. The baltimore ravens, rices former team will host the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight amidst this entire controversy. Ap reporter will come on. You cant begin to talk about how bad this is for the nfl, how bad Roger Goodell look, how bad the ravens look. This is a multibillion dollar industry and they are screwing this up. Commissioner goodell is adamant. That he or no one in the nfl saw this story. So when this story broke there was a gasp. The nfl came out and said this is not true we didnt see the tape. But if anyone in the lead office saw the tape have a massive problem and could lead up to the commissioners office. He may not have seen it so that he can go out and say to cbs news i havent seen the tape and be honest about that but it looks like someone in this league has seen the tape. If its true its the end of the line for a lot of people. They got the caller i. D. Connected with the message to this Law Enforcement officer. Hiring the former director of the fbi is in and of itself that they blew the whole investigation. What if he goes back and finds that they did see the tape, someone in the nfl saw the tape. It casts aside and puts a shadow over the investigation that the nfl initially conducted and a bit of a sham frankly. What did you think of the president last night, willie . Ill leave the performance to you guys but the content of it was pretty amazing. A president whose entire candidacy was predicated on getting us out of wars. Last night he announced to the country that it was a war. Were going in to wipe someone out. He said yesterday the last time we went in to wipe someone out was 13 years ago. 13 years ago. Today is the day, obviously, fraught with a lot of heavy memories. You have to put the past 13 years all together. We began this war against terrorism 13 years ago and were being pulled right back in. It was striking to me he used that phrase, you threaten america youll find no safehaven. Like george w. Bush. Isis is not threatening america not directly. Not yet. It will if left unchecked long enough. It threatens americas interests in the middle east, clearly but that phrase is double. This is saying this is part of the continuum, this is going back to 9 11 and this is how im justifying this. But still in terms of actual threat to american soil is different. The president announced a four part plan in his strategy including air strikes for syria, for the first time in syria, additional strikes in iraq. President obama is also asking congress to approve training and arming of Syrian Rebels who oppose both isis and the assad government. With polls showing strong support for increased action the president is vowing to hunt down the group that killed two american journalists. I know Many Americans are concerned about these threats. Tonight, i want to you know that the United States of america is meeting them with strength and resolve. Our objective is clear, we will degrade and ultimately destroy isil. Through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. This is American Leadership at its best. We stand with people who fight for their own freedom and we rally other nations on behalf of our Common Security and common humanity. It will take time to eradicate a cancer like isil and any time we take military action there are risks involved especially to the service men and women who carry out these missions. I want the American People to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. It will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This Counterterrorism Campaign will be waged through a steady relentless effort to take out isil wherever they exist using our air power. And our support for partners forces on the ground. Well be looking at everything he said throughout the show. The president said he would send close to 500 more members of the military to iraq to work with iraqi and kurdish forces. We already sent quite a few. Lets bring in David Ignatius from the Washington Post. We heard the complaints last night he shouldnt compare what hes been doing to whats happening in somalia and yemen. He was doing too much, not doing enough. Break it down for us. What was last nights speech all about . What did the president , what did you get from last nights speech. Not politically but strategically. I think you saw a somber, very straightforward president doing something that body language is telling you he doesnt want to do. David, we got a mic issue right now. Were going to fix in the washington bureau. We got some hamsters on the wheel in the back and one of them, i think it was mor tee gott sick last night. Mort always throws up. Its interesting, i think the hamsters go on in the back. The president stop. Can i finish. The labor day blowout for the hamsters. Crazy. They are still throwing up a week later. Well fix the wheel, the whole generator will go. Down think its interesting the president its fascinating. Go ahead. Dont you think its interesting that the president said this would not look like the wars in iraq and afghanistan and doesnt that box him in in some way as we have David Ignatius back. He wants to be boxed in. The president may dont boxed in but i dont think this president is boxed in any anything. Hes not boxed in by the congress or the press. He doesnt give a damn what the editorial pages say. This president will do whatever it takes to kill isis because the American People have made it very clear with these polls that are staggering in this Terror Threat. I certainly think youre right hes not boxed in. This was an open ended statement. Theres no end time limit on this and the president s advisers are clear this is a battle wageed into the next administration. Hes not going to congress for a specific new authorization to support this. He says hes happy to have congressional support if they want to pass a resolution, fine but hes chosen to do it by the appropriations process which is unusual. I dont think that he feels forced by political factors. Really whats happening on the ground is leading him to do the thing that he really didnt want to do. Can i ask you something about the president says there arent going to be boots on the ground. Hes talk being of course about military. But, should we not expect special forces, special ops, people connected with the cia to have a very heavy presence in there . They are already there, joe. They are there in iraq. And they are there in jordan training the Syrian Opposition. Thats the cia program. President is talk about changing that into an overt program where the training would to be done by the u. S. Military. Well see how that flies. But its certain that many of the 475 people who are being sent in in the president s announcement last night will be special Operations Forces who will be able to advise and assist. How deeply they will be embedded in the iraqi units isnt clear. One part is well trade a Sunni National guard in iraq thats a decentralized Iraqi Security force. Who is going to do that training. Who will be with them as they go into tikrit and mosul and falluja. Not only if speech but whats happening in the wake of the speech. Willie today in saudi arabia, john kerry will be in saudi arabia. You have the saudis, egypt, jordan, members of the arab league, United Arab Emirates who has been leading the way. Moderate arab states will have a conference on how to push back against the threat of isis across the middle east. Weve seen a lot of things in 13 years, right . We havent seen this. This is a new phase. A line has been crossed by isis. Its finally got moderate arab states who have been whispering to american president s for years, hey were with you even if our staterun newspapers are going to call you like, you know, dogs. This is an important step. Yeah. The president talked yesterday, King Abdullah in saudi arabia. Saudi arabia has agreed to host the training and development of these forces that were going to be working with on the ground and the president talked last night about building a coalition of nations to help this fight against isis. This is not our fight alone. American power can make a decisive difference but we cant do for iraqis what they can do for themselves nor can we take the place of arab partners. Thats why i insisted additional u. S. Action depended on iraqis forming an inclusive government which they have now done in recent days. So tonight with a new Iraqi Government in place and following consultations with allies abroad and congress at home, i can announce that america will lead a Broad Coalition to roll back this terrorist threat. Thats so key given where we are. Last night nbc chief news correspondent Richard Engel casted some doubt on the president s assertions that the United States can deal with isis the same way it dealt in kwle men and somalia. Its an oversimplification of the problem. Here we have a large group, tens of thousands of fighters that control the size of maryland. They control an area that has 8 Million People living inside of it. Its much more akin to regime change than it is to waiting back, picking targets with allied forces. These sunni villages that are now with isis are afraid of the iraqi army. They dont want the iraqi army to come in to their villages. We talk about a partner on the ground that we are going to link up with to rid iraq of isis. Well that partner on the ground in many cases is a reason that people support isis in this country. A lot of people drawing doubts that we can compare whats going on in somalia and yemen to what we have to do in syria and iraq. Richard is absolutely right. This is much more complicated. Its not iraq and afghanistan wars but not somalia and yemen either. Somewhere in between. What obama didnt address is how do you fight in syria. Youre saying youll arm these rebels. Okay, that assad you have been fighting you wont fight him for a while. Youll fight these other bad guys. By the way, assad will be trying to destroy both of you. As soon as you knock out isis, assad will come in and fill the vacuum. Well probably be gone. Well help you but only help you if you do this thing. David ignatius, another person weighing in how outrageous the comparison was, charles krauthammer. He said this looks like afghanistan in the early phases where you have special op guys riding around afghanistan on horses. He said it wasnt a bad approach when you consider al qaeda in afghanistan was blown to bits in 100 days. What are we looking at here . I focus on the president s basic rubric for this policy. Hes seeking to degrade and ultimately destroy isis. The degrade part is what well see in the coming months. The ultimately destroy part is years off. Theres a way in which u. S. Air power as weve seen can be effective in degrading an insurgent adversary like. The problem is that the use of air power without sufficient resources on the ground leads to ever more fragmented failed state situation. And the issue for iraq is from a real Iraqi Government that can come in to these empty spaces and begin to govern. In syria, is there an opposition that can move towards governing and because youre going to need something on the ground to complement u. S. Air power. I want to talk about that with david later. I talked to the white house yesterday who an official said they believe they got an iraqi leader that will have sunnis that have a buy in. They understand it starts right there. It doesnt start with dropping bombs on syria and iraq. It starts by having a Political Leadership in place in baghdad that can get sunnis reinvested in that government. A lot of ground to cover. Still ahead on morning joe former mayor of new york city, Rudy Giuliani will be with us commemorating the 13th anniversary of the attacks on Lower Manhattan. Hell be with us live in our 7 00 hour. A new report claims that the nfl had the second inside elevator video of real estate rice pumpging his fiancee. Well speak to the reporter who broke that story. New calls for burger king to ditch their move to canada. Saturday night live announces this seasons guest hosts. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. When folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. Im on expert on softball. And tea parties. Ill have more awkward conversations than im equipped for, because im raising two girls on my own. Ill worry about the economy more than a few times before theyre grown. But its for them, so ive found a way. Who matters most to you says the most about you. At massmutual were owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. Ready to plan for your future . Well help you get there. Can this decadent, fruittop pastry with indulgent streusel crumbles be from. Fiber one . Fiber one streusel. Available at walmart. You saw what was going on between jay carney and senator john mccain. His first day on the job. Went after it. Mr. Carney. They supposedly really good friends. Sources say they are long time friends. Which made the whole mr. Carney thing was it theater . Senator mccain came looking for a fight. He was looking for blood. Lets refight the past 47 years. This young lady, shes saying the other night at the tuesdays children fundraiser remember that, her voice. Lost her dad. Is the voice of an angel. She was 9 when her dad died in 9 11. I hope we can get that audio. She sang god bless america. Willie, daily news. National football liars. This is such a disaster for the nfl. Something that they should have handled straightforward a couple of days ago. As we talked about a few minutes ago the Associated Press report that the second tape was viewed by someone perhaps not commissioner goodell but someone inside the nfl office back in april. This is devastating. Lets get to some other papers. The New York Times, various uk leaders travel to scotland on wednesday in a final plea to have scots remain in the union. Its important everyone knows the scale of the choice being made that if scotland votes to separate itself from the United Kingdom its voting irreversibly to elevate itself from the institutions that we built together. The historic vote could end scotlands 307 year union with england. Scots will vote on the issue next thursday. In an unrelated story, several u. S. Senators are calling for burger king to ditch plans to move to kentucky. Democrat dick durbin says it will deny employees programs that rely on funding. He was joined by several other senators. The fast food chain announced its plans to purchase tim hortons company last month. The toronto star, toronto mayor rob ford has been hospitalized with a suspected abdominal tumor. He was admitted on wednesday after stomach pain he had been experiencing for more than three months became unbearable. Hell under go a biopsy. Hes running for reelection despite a battle with drug and alcohol abuse. New York Daily News guardians of the ga linebackersy star will host the 40th season of saturday night live. Comedian Sara Silverman will host the seasons second episode along with maroon 5. Snl expected to announce a replacement for don pardo. A sir excuse man broke the world Guinness Record for the widest tongue. Dont do that. His name is byron. His tongue record stands at. 83 centimeters. Okay. Oh, my god. Wow. Congratulations. Thats a hat tip. Oh, my god. Ma, doi have to have all of this steak . Yes, johnny. Its as big as his tongue. This we got to get this in the lexicon. Hes the gene simmons of width. Exactly. All right. We got to get together. Hard to see that. Sorry. Coming up next with more troops on the way to iraq well be joined by a senator, if he still chooses to be on this show. Well not ask him about the tongue. Instead jack reed is a member of the Armed Services committee. First well check in on what the nations top columnists are saying about the speech that the president gave last night. Thats in todays must read opinion pages. No. All right. What if there was a credit card where the reward was that new car smell and the freedom of the open road . A card that gave you that im 16 and just got my first car feeling. Presenting the buypower card from capital one. Redeem earnings toward part or even all of a new chevrolet, buick, gmc or cadillac with no limits. So every time you use it, youre not just shopping for goods. Youre shopping for something great. Learn more at buypowercard. Com if energy could come from anything . Or if power could go anywhere . Or if light could seek out the dark . What would happen if that happens . Anything. We got the must read opinion pages along with the director of the national journey, ron fourney. We start with the Washington Post. We think the president is right that the Islamic State problem cannot and should not be met with an invasion of u. S. Ground troops. But it also cannot be solved without u. S. Kmipt on the ground both for the military venture. And the wall street journal, the president s war plan, perhaps the biggest obstacle to mr. Obamas success is his own ambivalence about American Military force. His entire political history and belief system has stressed the limits and damage from u. S. Military action. Lets hope mr. Obama is a better war president than an antiwar president. And well go to the New York Times, the cost of war. We can kill antiamerican fighters and even their leaders but we cant kill antiamerican sentiment. To some degree every time we commit our force in the middle east we run the risk of further inflaming that sentiment. For every action theres a reaction and there are also consequences some of them unintended. The president said that his plan will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil but this seems a hard thing to completely guarantee. It seems reasonable to worry that it could lead to at least some american boots on the ground and some american blood soaked into it. We as americans must think long and hard about what it will really mean for us to engaging another foreign war and weigh that against the urgent needs we have right here at home. The Washington Post and the New York Times expressing skepticism about doing this right without boots on the ground. I agree with both of those sentiments. They were well put. The speech itself politically was spot on if you want to look at it politically. It could have been written perfectly for the polls connected with the americans ambivalence. On one hand talking about no troops on the ground, on the other hand very hawkish. This is so complicated and so many questions. I really want to know, what ill be looking for is how committed this president is. He was obviously dragged into this fight. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing. Think of fights you have been dragged into in your life. You respond one of two ways. Either fiercely, with anger or halfhearted. This president , whatever he decides to do he has to be all in and truly commit pad. David ignatius the wall street journal talked about this president s ambivalence in the use of military force. Do you suspect in the pentagon they still believe hes too ambivalent or ready to go all in . I think the pentagon itself feels a lot of ambivalence about the policy so many of the president s hesitancy are shared by the chiefs. I think the problem that we need to consider is that the president is going all in with a limited strategy but suppose it doesnt work. Suppose six months from now this combination of air strikes and working with Partner Forces on the ground isnt degrading isis in iraq. Suppose the Syrian Program backfires. What is the president going to do at that point . Hes committed the United States to eradicate this terrorist adversary. He almost has no choice then but to begin escalate in a way thats so familiar from American History looking back at george bush in iraq, looking back at Lyndon Johnson in vietnam. If the military comes back and says, mr. President , its just not happening with what weve got now, we can do the job with another and fill in the number, fill in the kind of assets that would be requested, thats the choice that obama may face. I was thinking last night on the eve of september 11th how we had a president at the podium talking about, well hit them from the air this, will be a limited campaign although open ended about how long this one could go on now. We talked about were going to go in and september 12th, 2001, we heard well go in and take out the taliban and al qaeda with the power of the American Military. Here we are on the anniversary 13 years later still in the fight. Ive thought how far weve come. The old song, where were you. This is not an indictment on the president. Chances are better than not this wont work out because of how complicated it is. Look at the idea of arming the Syrian Rebels. The president himself said three weeks ago that was a fantasy. Its an open and scary question what happens if this doesnt work. How slippery of a slope are we. Isnt it amazing how quickly the president has moved and the president has had to move from calling arming the Syrian Rebels a fantasy to how arming the Syrian Rebels three weeks later calling isis a jv team to now saying they are actually worth me going before the American People starting a war. Again, i would like to say as a republican that this is because we elected a democrat and the democrats are clueless, blah, blah, blah. As ive said repeatedly iraq and the middle east have made fools out of us all and we all need to figure that out and we need to understand what everybody said this morning. This is very complicated and monday morning quarterbacking when were in the mid. This probably not the best thing for republicans or democrats. Collective support so important because its not just the military act of stamping out isis or some other terrorist organization but what about the ideology and the hatred that remains because that keeps coming back. Thats the bigger issue. Ron thank you so much. Up next the president s troop escalation in iraq have the support of congress . Senator jack reed joins us next. Plus dan senor and howard dean will join us. Woman everyone in the nicu all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. Everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment. I wouldnt trade him for the world. Who matters most to you says the most about you. At massmutual were owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. If youre caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care Program Offers strategies that can help. I wish. Please, please, please, please, please. [ male announcer ] the wish we wish above all. Is health. So we quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. Expanded minuteclinic, for walkin medical care. And created programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. Introducing cvs health. A new purpose. A new promise. To help all those wishes come true. Cvs health. Because health is everything. Long way from the sandlot. First game in the majors . You dont know aarp. Because this family is enjoying a crosscountry baseball stadium trip they planned online at aarp travel. Its where your journey begins with inspiration, planning, booking, and hot travel tips from real pros. If you dont think seize the trip when you think aarp, then you dont know aarp. Find more surprising possibilities and get to know us at aarp. Org possibilities. Here with us now from capitol hill democrat from rhode island and member of the Armed Service committee senator jack reed. Good to have you on board this morning, sir. Thank you. Senator, always good to talk to you. Im drinking out of my Boston Red Sox tumbler. Im a huge sox fan. Lets talk about something a little more important. Because were not doing well this year. Lets talk about the president s speech last night. Joe mansion expressed a lot of concern about arming Syrian Rebels. We dont know if they are our friends or enemies. Do you share that skepticism we have from provide a Counter Point to assad force and isis forces in syria. We have to be careful in vetting these individuals and what type of weapons we give them. But doi think i do think we havw through a very aggressive program. I got to ask this question because the president has been accused of being too slow in starting this up. Just three, four weeks ago, the president said arming the Syrian Rebels in syria was a fantasy and now hes talking about a month later arming the Syrian Rebels. This seems to be moving fairly quickly, does it not . It is moving fairly quickly, and, frankly, the president s speech last night captured what he has come to recognize is the need for a comprehensive approach. I think one of the great sort of wake ups was when isis was able to move in and effectively take mosul in iraq, not because of their military power because of the collapse of the Iraqi Security forces. But the threat is real. Particularly compelling in the region and the president has initiated a series of steps to counter that threat. Its consistent with many of the things hes done over the years in yemen, in somalia, in pakistan where they have gone after and disrupted or destroyed the old al qaeda network. So, one of two senators, one of 22 senators who voted against the iraq war in 2002, im just wondering what you thought about the president s promise or vow to make this military action look anything but like afghanistan and iraq. Do you think the president might have boxed himself in a little bit . No, i think what the president recognized is that we have to use our sort of military advantages and air power, intelligence, drone operations, very targeted special operations that i think what iraq demonstrated might fear before we even begin invasion it would show is that large conventional forces on the ground can win a conventional victory but then youre in the midst of a political and insurgency nightmare which is what happened in iraq. Hes conscious of that. He wants to use our power most effectively. What we have to build up and this goes back to joes question, forces on the ground, that will complement our advantages. Senator jack reed, im sure youll be debating this a lot in your committee in the Armed Service in the senate. Thank you so much for being with us. You know, this really is, those you think about how quickly the president has had to move, both on isis and arming the rebels and going into iraq. Hes doing so many things that you know he just doesnt want to do, but you know sometimes its not the president that shapes the fate of this country, sometimes its the fate of this country and the world that shapes the president and its how he reacts to that that determines whether hes a great president. Im not sure its a bad thing these are things he doesnt want to do. This is a president who does not want to get dragged into a war in an unmethodical and quick sort of flip way. He has low Approval Ratings when it comes to Foreign Policy ratings but make no mistake Barack Obamas position on foreign wars was lined up directly with the American Peoples position on foreign wars until two americans got beheaded and the whole world saw it on youtube. That changed everything. All right. Coming up, conan obrien gives his alternatives to the bolivia gardens pasta pass. Thats a news you cant use. First did the president go far enough in his speech on isis last night . Howard dean and dan senor join us we had to separate these guys. More morning joe when we return. When sales rep Steve Hatfield books at laquinta. Com, he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. So he knows exactly when he can prep for his presentation. And when steve is perfectly prepped, ya know what he brings . And thats how youll increase market share. Any questions . Can i get an a, steve . Yes three as amazing sales he brings his agame la quinta inns and suites is ready for you, so youll be ready for business. The ready for you alert, only at laquinta. Com la quinta dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future. You. Thank you for being my hero and my dad. Military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa Auto Insurance could be one of them. If youre a current or former military member or their family, get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. [ male announcer ] this man has an Accomplished Research and Analytical Group at his disposal. But even more impressive is how he puts it to work for his clients. Morning. Morning. Thanks for meeting so early. Oh, its not a big deal at all. Come on in. [ male announcer ] its how edward jones makes sense of investing. We will continue to draw on our substantial counterterrorism capabilities to prevent isil attacks. Working with our partners we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding, improve our intelligence, strengthen our defenses, counter its warped ideology and stem the flow of foreign fighters into and out of the middle east. President obama last night on his plans to defeat isis. Joining us now to weigh in on the speech, Foreign Policy adviser to president bush, dan senor. Also with us former government of vermont howard dean. Dan senor lets start with you. Dick cheney is going around washington, d. C. Saying he was right all along. Barack obama is back in iraq. Barack obama arming the Syrian Rebels. You got barack obama now committing the war against a jv team. So does that make people like you and dick cheney say i was right . I dont think only dick cheney was right, i think secretary clinton was right, David Petraeus was right, i think a whole range of leon panetta was right. A number of officials inside the obama cabinet and outside critic from outside like Vice President cheney and myself and others argued that 2011 was a key moment. We completely with drew forces from iraq and completely disengaged from syria and those two decision opened up enormous vacuum in the region and were seeing now the consequences of that vacuum. Howard dean . Thats a ridiculous revisionist history. First of all it was cheney that got us into this in the first place. If we werent in this we wouldnt see isis. Secondly we with drew from iraq on george bushs agreement. The reason we didnt say in part because they wouldnt give our troop immunity. Whats happening first of all i support what the president is doing and secondly this is the problem that it predicted in 2003 that as a result of our invasion of iraq we were going to see a split iraq into three parts and i said at the time al qaeda, now its isis was going to have a major effort in iraq. Thats exactly whats happened. Lets not revise history after the fact. With all due respect secretary clinton, David Petraeus, leon panetta thats who your beef is. They wanted to leave thousand of forces in iraq 2011 and thought it could be accomplished. President obama didnt want to leave forces. He got our forces out. Then he ran in 2012 arguing that hes the guy that got all our fors back. You cant say he tried his hands were tied. We got our forces out based on the agreement that george bush made with maliki which was that we would withdraw unless maliki gave us immunity. He didnt give us immunity. All right, guys we got to move on. Theres controversy over whether the rise of isis was inevitable. Howard, you first this time. Which was it . I think it was inevitable. I thought it would be al qaeda at the time 11 years ago but of course it was inevitable when you have a very weak government left by our, by our invasion and a country which was never really a country at all, sewn together after world war i by the french and british out of tribal and religious interests, this was never going to succeed and, you know, this is not the only disaster we had in american Foreign Policy. A lot of our iranian problems go back to 1953 when the United States and britain helped with a coup of the only democraticed elected official of iran. We have to think about long term consequences. Obama is cleaning up the cheneybush mess. I think we should agree at this point we wont relitigate the last ten years. You have your version of events. I have mine. The president s speech was excellent on several funds. Unleashing a serious air attack is important. Not putting a deadline where he signaled to the taliban we had one foot out the door. He made it clear to the American Public this is a long fight. It will outlive his presidency and dedicate real resources. What im concerned about is relying on local allies, regional allies on the ground component. We need the intelligence on the ground to help with air strikes, bombing in population dense areas and we need forces on the ground to provide support for local allies. Time to go. Howard well give you the last 15 seconds. Heres why i disagree. At least were having some convergence. Obama is exactly right to rely on local people to do the fighting. Heres the deal. For wears including vietnam we have failed because there was no will to fight other than american will. If the iraqis and the kurds cant figure out they need to fight for their own country we shouldnt be fighting for it. Im willing to do air support, not willing to put boots on the ground. Thank you both. Great to see you guys. Guys, thank you. Coming up at the top of the hour, Roger Goodell in hot water as calls for his resignation amplify. Now that we know the president s plan for isis will it work . Richard haas and Thomas Smiley join the conversation. But first baby bear golfing. Who needs clubs when you have a cub. News you cant use is up next. I got this. [thinking] is it that time . The son picks up the check . [thinking] im still working. Hes retired. I hope hes saving. I hope he saved enough. Who matters most to you says the most about you. At massmutual were owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. Whether youre just starting your 401 k or you are ready for retirement, well help you get there. [guyi know what youre excited. Youre thinking beneful. [announcer]and why wouldnt he be . Beneful has wholesome grains,real beef,even accents of spinach,carrots and peas. It has carbohydrates for energy and protein for those serious muscles. [guy] aarrrrr [announcer]even accents of vitaminrich veggies. [guy] so happy you love it so much. Yes you do but its good for you,too. [announcer] healthful. Flavorful. Beneful. From purina. All right. What do we have, willie . I have a bear on a golf course. I think you have more than one bear. Did you notice in the video. Take a closer look. A golf course in canada, a young bear putting on a show for golfers. He becomes amused with the flag. Having a good time with the flagstick. I like a bear who pulls the pin for you when you putt. Dancing around the pole for several minutes. All thooits delight to watch. Dancing around the pole. Like the ultimate the bear eventually walks away. But snatches the players ball as a souvenir. Bad boy. Thats the cutest thing ive ever seen. Thanks, willie. Great golf game. Kind of a big deal. Lets pull it together because the next hour of morning joe starts right now. Look who we have coming. Our season safety, our own security depends on our willingness to do what it takes to defend this nation and uphold the values that we stand for. Timeless ideals that will endure long after those who only offer hate and destruction have been vanquished from the earth. We come within a live shot of the pentagon on a very special day for a lot of people who work there. The flagdraped over the pentagon. This sof course, the 13th, if you can believe it anniversary of 9 11, the attacks on the twin towers as well as the pentagon and in shanksville, pennsylvania where a plane land. The war continues. The war stops. The war starts again. Its been an endless war. The president who wanted to end the wars, in fact, ran to do just that, usa today 9. 11. 14. Obama ready to strike isil. Talked about not sending in Ground Troops but a lot of people expressing skepticism about that, we already have boots on the ground. From the Washington Post obama outlines Islamic State fight. Wall street journal leads with a headline from last nights historic speech that the president is vowing to destroy obviously isil. And the boston globe also leading, obviously, with the story thats leading capitals around the world, actually, major cities around the world that this president , the president elected by promising to get us out of iraq, he got elected because he didnt vote to send us into iraq the first time, finding history dragging him, this military and this country back into that not alone. We have richard haas with us, tavis smiley as well looking at your book here, David Ignatius is still with us from washington. So a lot to get to. Lets set the scene in terms much what the president laid out right now. President obama unveiled his strategy to defeat the Islamic State militants in iraq and syria one day before the 13th anniversary of the 9 11 attacks. He announced a major expansion in the assault on isis. The strategy is a four part plan including air strikes in syria for the first time and additional strikes in iraq. President obama is also asking congress to approve the training and arming of Syrian Rebels who oppose both isis and the assad government. With polls showing strong support for increased action the president is vowing to hunt down the group that has killed two journalists. I know Many Americans are concerned about these threats. Tonight i want you to know that the United States of america is meeting them with strength and resolve. Our objective is clear. We will degrade and ultimately destroy isil. Through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. This is American Leadership at it best. We stand with people who fight for their own freedom and we rally other nations on behalf of our Common Security and common humanity. It will take time to eradicate a cancer like isil and any time we take military action there are risks involved. Especially to the service men and women who carry out these missions. But i want the American People to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. It will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This Counterterrorism Campaign will be waged through a spreate relentless effort and our support important Partner Forces on the ground. Here with us now from damascus syria, bill nelly. You have the First Official syrian reaction to the president s speech. Reporter yes. Good morning, guys. You might expect the sir ongovernment, any government to protest the prospective bombing of their country by u. S. War planes but here there are no protests. In fact, quite the opposite. Ive just come from a meeting with a senior regime official who all but welcomed the u. S. Air strikes against our common enemy. The only thing that they are insisting on is that there should be some coordination so that the Syrian Air Force does not engage any u. S. War planes that might cross into syrian airspace and indeed as i speak syrian war planes are flying above us now and bombing about a mile and a half behind me, rebel positions there. Theres a real issue about syrian war planes here. What the syrians dont like is the second half of the president s plan, the idea of training and arming the rebels because the Syrian Government believes theres no difference between the armed rebels who are trying to get rid of president assad and isis terrorists as they call them. They say how can the u. S. Possibly bomb one, isis, and then train the other in saudi arabia, some of these rebels say the Syrian Government are actually foreign fighters. So they say actually president obama isnt serious about tackling terrorism but the key point is there will be no protest here if and when the u. S. Begins bombing isis in this country. Thanks very much. Tavis, well get your thoughts on the speech and strategy. I want to talk about the promise and politics. We had you on here six and a half years ago. You wrote a book about the promise. You said youll keep that book and check it off as the president kept the promises. How can you be so cynical. You okay . I said when he keeps his promises i give up. I want to show a headline, this is the headline that would have horrified president obama six weeks ago where the president is promising to go in. Look at this right under the picture, the twin tower lights. Isnt there some time when facts on the ground overwhelm a president and makes him go back on a promise that he instead we all know that being president is not so much about what you campaigned on but really how you hand tell crises that come at you that you dont see coming once you get in office. What you dont expect. This is a difficult space to be in. I woke up this morning, i went to bed here in new york thinking how dr. King would feel on this very day. When he came out against war in vietnam which we know 50 years later he was right about. What this book is about how everybody everything turned against him, the white house turned on him, the media turned on him, White America turned on him, black america turned on him. I say black america, i mean organization, naacp, urban League Everybody turned on king. We demonized him in death and life when he came out against the war. His heart would bleed for those persons who 13 years ago died in this city. But his heart would be troubled by what the president is doing that very moment. Richard haas front wage of the usa today, obama ready to strike isil in syria. These next four words that are met with great skepticism in d. C. And around the world wont send Ground Troops. Some say Ground Troops are already there. The Washington Post and others say its hard to achieve this without having boots on the ground. Biggest weak on the u. S. Strategy is the lack of clear ground component. In iraq were putting weight on the iraqi army itself. History would say not a great bet even in the postmaliki era and bigger question is syria. To think the Syrian Opposition will be able to take and hold territory, not going to happen within years. So the real question for the president of the United States is yes, we can degrade these guys from taxpayer. We should do that. And the intensity of the air campaign is a big factor. But, you need a ground partner, particularly in syria. We do not have a partner. Let me ask you, ive been supportive of the president s approach thus far but, you know, three weeks ago he was saying that Hillary Clinton was living in a fantasy world for talking about arming the Syrian Opposition, now hes talking about arming the Syrian Opposition. How dangerous is that . Are we going to be spending our tax dollars to put weapons in the hands of rebels that are going to turn around and kill americans in the future . Theres always that risk youll lose some of the equipment. The bigger danger is how effectless is it. Whole are these moderates. Iranian moderates that weve been looking for since 1979. Theres a great story of meeting the leader of the moderate secular leader. Twhfs last time you were in syria. He said 30 years ago. Meantime hes a dentist in stockholm. If were looking at ground partners in syria we need a version of what were doing in iraq. We need to look at kurds across the board and sunni tribes and one real question can you get the jordan yarngs saudi, egyptians to provide Ground Forces and by the way there will be some american boots on the ground. They will be called special force. We have to have a component of that as well. David ignatius the American Public has learned the hard way in the last 13 years and almost 50 years to the vietnam war theres no such thing as tipping your toe into the waters of war which is to say this could be a long slog and likely go into the administration of the next president. How big of a chapter of war did the president open last night we dont know and thats really the part thats most taunting. I think back to what general petraeus said in 2003 on his way north towards baghdad, he turned to a correspondent with him and said tell me how this ends and even now we cant give a clear answer to that. I would just note to caution Joe Scarborough, weve, had the United States has had a program to train the Syrian Opposition since early 2013. Its bean cia Covert Program, but today over 4,000 Syrian Opposition fighters have been trained. This is not a dominating army, still a very small force but its not as if theres been a sudden change of heart in the last twleex. Whats happening now is Covert Program relatively small is moving to a much bigger program. President has asked for 500 million to train an overt force. Still a big question whether it can prevail on the ground. Not just starting in the last three weeks. Okay. Duly noted. You can caution Joe Scarborough on this program . You can caution joe. If youre David Ignatius listen if its David Ignatius you can. Richard haas. Syrian government reaction. One of the interesting questions if we succeed at pushing back isis or open up some real estate, one of the goals has to be that its not filled by bashar al assad. We cant create new space for the syrians to go in and the ground is the most complicated part of this policy. Were picking it apart. It to get this story next in. Nfl is asking former fbi director to lead an independent investigation of how it hand told ray rice case amid growing questions about the leagues response. Robert muller is in charge of the probe how the nfl handle the investigation showing rice assaulting his fiancee at a casino. The announcement came just hours after the Associated Press reported that a Law Enforcement source claimed he sent the video to the nfl three months ago. The ap says the unidentified official also played a brief voice mail from an nfl office where a woman says quote youre right its terrible. A high ranking official at the nfl tells tmz sports that the ap story is wrong and that quote no one at the league saw the video until monday. The post says that goodell wont step down. May not be his choice. Hes insisted they tried to get the tape, joe. They had the tape. They had the tape. We got an ap reporter that called nfl office. He got a response back from the nfl. They got caller i. D. They got somebody from inside the nfl office going yeah youre right its bad. Tavis, Crisis Management 101, they have screwed up from the beginning, we said this from the very beginning. Goodell should have said we screwed up. We punish ad guy smoking pot for a year and a guy for beating the hell out of his fiancee for two weeks. We screwed up. Why . Its amazing to me how bad they screwed this up given the high marks that goodell received when he came in for handling disciplinary issues rather well. This has been handled badly all the way around. I think its a matter time, joe, before he steps down. I think he has to. I dont think hell survive this. I can be wrong. Hes very, very wellliked by the owners. Hes going to have support. There may come a Tipping Point where the owners cant support them. Again if he can keep that plausible deniability i didnt see the tape, maybe the casino sent it to someone in my office. What happens, willie, when women who love football as much as men do start protesting these games. Tavis, heres the deal. Whether or not this ap report is true but it looks like it is and well find out more. This whole, whole complete mess shows that the nfl really believed that Domestic Violence could be shoved under the rug and that they could make it go away. By the way, they admitted it by their policies. That smoking pot, smoking pot could make it away. On your own time where youre not hurting anybody in the offseason, they consider that so much worse than a man battering, beating up and knocking out and dragging her around like shes luggage an nfl players fiancee. Stunning. Does he survive . If not its commissioner football condoleezza rice. Its not that long of a shot. If he survives it will take massive Financial Support to various ngos to combat violence against women. They will have to go from the specific case to saeshl much broader policy of trying to see that Something Like this, anything like this never happens again. The implications of this will be none that nfl could ever imagine. This is an amazing book, tavis. Ignatius is sitting there and lecturing me because it makes him feel good about himself. Teach me about Martin Luther king, jr. , something i didnt know about one of the great men of the 20th century. The short answer is biographers have done excellent work laying out the history and legacy of his life. I go into the last year which hasnt been done. I believe whether its mika or joe or willie or richard or any of us, we get to know who we are in the darkest and most difficult days of our lives. For dr. King that was the last year. You think you know dr. King but you dont know what happened in his last year of life. When he comes out against the war in vietnam, in that last year everything, everybody, the cosmos turns against him. He cant get a book deal, cant get a speech. His organization is bankrupt. Hes smoking more. Drinking more. Gaining weight. The head wind was so strong because he comes out against the war in america. Negro as long as you talk about civil rights. But dont tell the government how to make it budget problems. He said war is the enemy of the poor. He paid a huge price. Tavis thank you. We love you. I cant wait to read it. Hope you come back soon. Maybe tomorrow. Coming up on morning joe we go live to Lower Manhattan on the enough of the september 11th attacks. Former mayor Rudy Giuliani will be our guest plus well take a look at how the richest terror group gets its financing. Tmobile responds to one of the new iphone features. And then Charlie Sheen picks up the tip after an nfl player stiffs a server. Why does he care so much . Why is he loved so much . Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Can you start tomorrow . Yes sir. Alright. Lets share the news tomorrow. Today we failrly busy. Tomorrow were booked solid. We close on the house tomorrow. I want one of these opened up. Because tomorow we go live. Its a day full of promise. And often, that day arrives by train. Big day today . Even bigger one tomorrow. When csx trains move forward, so does the rest of the economy. Csx. How tomorrow moves. When folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. Could mean less waiting for things like security backups and file downloads youd take that test, right . What are you waiting for . You could literally be done with the test by now. Now you could have done it twice. This is awkward. Go to comcastbusiness. Com checkyourspeed. If we cant offer faster speeds or save you money well give you 150. Comcast business built for business. We got this is stunning. This morning Oscar Pistorius has been cleared of all murder charges in the shooting death of his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. The judge says there were just not enough facts to support the charges. Still, though, there is this. The former olympian could be convicted of culpable homicide, thats the equivalent to manslaughter. Willie, your expression is the same as my expression. We saw that. Your mouth just he was the worst actor. He had the lamest excuse saying he thought a burglar was in there. There was so much evidence stacked against him, i just i find this absolutely staggering. The judge said some of the eyewitness testimony, neighbors who heard screams and all that was not convincing, she could not convict on these charges. Its incredible that no culpability at all. Were following the proceedings in south africa. When more becomes available well bring to it. Lets get to the other papers. Los Angeles Times a new study out of canada suggest older people who use medication for anxiety or sleep disorders may have higher risk of developing alzheimer. Heavy use of drugs may permit, cause or hasten the on set of dementia. Doctors caution these drugs are meant to be used for extended periods of time. I asked mika if she was using these drugs. You know what she told me . I cant remember. Been doing it forever. Thats so bad. My mom suffers from memory loss. I call her up and ask how are you doing. She says i cant remember. I do take sleep medication. You wonder about the cumulative effect. Everybody is take ambien and all this stuff. From the wall street journal im nervous about it. Tmobile say it smartphones will be capable of making calls and sending Text Messages over wifi. Customers will stay connected even if they lose their signal. Tmobile will allow customers to trade in old phones for an upgrade. Apple unveiled wifi calling for their new iphone earlier this week. Iphone 6, like i live in a place where people think its uncool to actually have a cell phone reception. In my home town we have 21 cell phone coverage. What . 21 . Its impossible. I had one of the top businessmen in america i thought he was playing a joke on me. He was talking to a Business Partner in africa who said you have to call me at my home phone because on the weekends he lives in my town and the guy in africa says youre kidding me. We have 78 coverage in sub sahara africa. 28 . Outside. Outside. In the state that starts with a c. Ends with nut. But anyway, i6 allows to call on wifi. The froit free press, cam newton sounds like hes been taking pointers from aryan foster how to talk to the media. Focus on the Detroit Lions. I have my hands full trying to find ways to stay protect by donkey kong soup and my former teammate nick farrell. Have you been approached or your representatives about a contract . No, sir. My main focus is the Detroit Lions. I think i have my hands full trying to stay protected from dont key soup and my team nature nick farrell. Do you think that will happen in due time . Right. Like i said my main focus is the Detroit Lions and trying to stay protected, i think i got my hands full with trying to get protected by donkey kong soup and my fellow teammate nick farrell. Theres a defensive lineman on detroit called Ndamukong Suh. He call him donkey kong. He gave the same answer total five times each time referring to Ndamukong Suh as donkey kong suh. Philadelphia ininquirer Charlie Sheen is weighing in on the tip star. Mccoy faced backlash amid tips he left a 20 cent tip on a 60 bill. Seriously . Maybe 20 cent tip . Okay. Seriously . He felt he was mistreated because the Restaurant Owner claims mccoy was rude. She released a statement saying i dont care. Even if they are rude to you, you give them a 15 tip. Right . No. You just do. One of my favorite sayings, a person who is not nice to a waiter is not a nice person. Thats a good you know, people drive through fast food restaurants and they are rude to the people that are serving and are you kidding me . Are you kidding me. Mccoy said he was mistreated and the owner of the restaurant said mistreated. We put him in a special owner. I sent my servers over who is a huge fan. And left 20 cents to split between the runner and dishwasher. Here comes Charlie Sheen saving the day. Designee always does. There were some women who were distressed back at the plaza and screaming in the back and hes like superman kicking down doors and people are throwing bacon powder at him or whatever. Wiping it off and still going in there. He always helps damsels in distress. Youre tired. The nfl calls in a information fbi director to the helm of an independent investigation into the ray rice saga. Potential fallout from this and its impact on the league next on morning joe. But first, 13 years later, what have we learned by the events of 9 11 . Former mayor, Rudy Giuliani joins us next on morning joe. [ male announcer ] when you see everyone in america almost every day, you notice a few things. Like the fact that youre pretty attached to these. Ok, really attached. And thats alright. Because well text you when your package is on the way. Were even expanding sunday package delivery. Yes, sunday. At the u. S. Postal service, our priority is. Was. And always will be. You. Our priority is. Was. Losing your chex mix too easily . Deploy the boring potato chip decoy bag. With a variety of tastes and textures, only chex mix has twenty bags of interesting. Pick your mix. Take and. Exhale. In. Aflac and a gentle wavelike motion. Aahhh ahhhhhh. Liberate your spine, ahhhahhhhhh aflac and reach, toes blossoming. Not that great at yoga. Is mika, obviously were marking a sad anniversary, a flag at half mast, september 11th, what a day that well always remember for as long as we live. That day, though, you were just starting a new job at cbs, and what happened . We did an event the other night, tuesdays children for children born or after 9 11 from the families of victims of 9 11, and i just it still is kind of impossible to find the words that recognize what we witnessed that day that really say it right. There are going be more remembrances today, the president and mrs. Obama will be observing a moment of silence at the white house. You ran down there that morning, and covered it, down there in the buildings were falling. You were down there a couple of weeks. Yep. And its unlike anything ive ever covered before and the faces of the people who were waiting for word for weeks and weeks and never really got the answers they needed, never got anything back from their loved ones was one of the hardest things ever to witness. And we look at now what we face today, the threat of isis and the president bringing us into yet another war. We have to look back at what was lost that day and some of the mistakes we made along the way. Willie, where were you on 9 11. I was working in atlanta for cnn. My then girlfriend, now wife ran into my bedroom screaming shouting. She came home from work because her sister was in one of the buildings. Thank god she was pregnant ran down 70 flight of stairs but we didnt know she got out for hours later because there was no communication. We dont have to ask where the next guy was. We saw him. The whole country followed him after this tragic event. Lets go to Lower Manhattan former republican mayor of new york city, Rudy Giuliani. Rudy, 13 years later. Mika and i did an event a couple of days ago for tuesdays children, survivors, kids, and looked up at that tower and i just said my god what a crazy 13 years its been. What a terrible 13 years in many ways but in other ways new york is rebuilding. Still rebuilding from what happened that day. It is, joe. I mean one of the positive things you can take out of it is whats happened to Lower Manhattan. Right after september 11, the days after as the mayor i wondered how will we bring everybody back, bring the businesses back here. Well its now 13 years later, twice as many People Living here as before september 11th. If you talk to them, they realize the threat, they realize the danger but they also realize that the risk is something that they can accept, its worth it to accept it, to live here, and that resilience is a defense to terrorism. Its a way to say to terrorists, you can hit us hard but youre not going to destroy our confidence. Its amazing. More people down there, more businesses down there. Culturally downtown was always hip but now culturally since 9 11 there has been such a cultural shift to not only brooklyn, new york but downtown new york since 9 11. Its really in many ways become the center of the city after the attacks. Yeah. If you had asked me that question 13 years ago when these buildings were all unoccupied we had to evacuate this entire area for months. And these buildings were in terrible shape, they had to be redone, rebuilt. I had to work hard to get some of the businesses to come back, although a couple, like Merrill Lynch and American Express immediately said were coming back. The rebuilding here which i started and mayor bloomberg carried out so well i think is a great testament to what i asked new yorkers to do. That night i said to the people of new york, as a result of this attack i want you to be stronger. I want you to build on it. And they exceeded by expectations. Willie, new york i was not a new yo a new yorker. Everybody hated new yorkers before 9 11. They were obnoxious. In the south. I remember the biggest line, you know, biggest line i gave in a speech right after there in northwest florida, the red neck rivera was i love new york. The whole place went wild. This event connected new york city to the rest of america, made it middle america. Made at any time front line of the fight against terror. In a way that it had never been in 225, 226 years. In some ways it took that horrible event to break some of those stereotypes and see who new yorkers were. They were the cops and firefighters and you, mayor Rudy Giuliani, leading remarkably, watching that day the mayor of the most important city on the world walking through the dusty streets of new york with a dust mask on followed by all your advisers and by your cops and firefighters who were with you. I just wonder if you could briefly share your recollections of the first moments you heard about this and what you went through that day. Well, the first moment i heard about it i was at the Peninsula Hotel on 55th street. I was having breakfast. Police walked in and said a twin engine plane hit the north tower. I rushed down here not knowing how bad it was. About a mile away there was a big explosion. We were notified by the police a second plane hit. By that point we knew we were dealing with an attack on america, a terrorist attack. And to describe the rest of those experiences, would take a lifetime. I think about them every day. I think about the man who jumped from the 100th floor. I watched him come down. I think about the construction workers who volunteered, just came and just lifted things and helped us save people and so you have wonderful memories and you have terrible memories and you just have to live with them. Former mayor, Rudy Giuliani, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Coming up, should Roger Goodell resign . A new report questions what nfl commissioner has been saying. We have the reporter who says the league was sitting on that elevator tape for months. Before we go to break this friday well be talking to legendary filmmaker ken burns about his new documentary. Roosevelts, an intimate history and well ask questions about the family dynasty. Heres todays question. How old was they door roosevelt when he was sworn in as the countrys youngest president. Well give a shout out to the person who tweets out the correct response at rooseveltspbs. Well be right back. Before the names theodore, eleanor, and franklin were indelibly etched into the american consciousness. And the course of Human History was forever changed by their individual endeavors. A prominent family made a point of teaching the value of altruism, the power of perseverance, and the virtue of helping out ones fellow man. Great. This is the last thing i need. seriously . Lets take this puppy over to midas and get you some of the good ol midas touch. Hey you know what . Ill drive i really didnt think this through. Brakes, tires, oil, everything. whistling 42 past the hour. Joining us now Associated Press Sports Reporter rob motty who broke the story that an nfl executive was sent the video showing ray rice punching his fiancee. Roger goodell insisting they didnt see it no, one saw it until this past monday. How solid is your story . We would not report the story unless we were certain that this occurred, that a Law Enforcement official did, indeed, send that tape to an nfl executive at the League Office. He got confirmation from an unidentified woman on april 9th that it was received. However from inside the nfl office, right . Im trying to figure out how do you have the nfl number, was it on an answering machine. How did you verify that message came from the nfls main office . Joe, i heard the voice mail, i heard the womans voice and saw the number that the call came from. Okay. The call came from nfls office . Correct. Do we know who received the tape, who might have seen it beyond the woman on the phone and do we know who the woman on the phone was or what her position was . We dont know who the unidentified woman is. We dont know what she did with the tape or if the intended recipient even saw it or who saw it beyond that. Is there anyway for you to know then if this person inside nfl office was somebody at the front desk who was screening tape and took a look at it or somebody higher up the chain who had access and could have walked into the office and given it to him. We dont know who that woman is. She could have been anybody in that League Office. We dont know the identity of the woman also. I would imagine thats why the nfl is launching an investigation to determine who that woman was. So based on your reporting, is its plausible the commissioner of the nfl has not seen this tape . Batsd on that reporting and what were saying it very possible that the commissioner of the nfl did not see the tape or anybody beyond that woman saw that tape and its very important to note here this is what were reporting that that woman in that League Office is the only person we have confirmation of receiving the tape, and watching it. What League Office . Could it have been anywhere what do we know exactly where this tape went, what the woman on the other end of the line, what position she might have had. Not only that, but also get news to the mind of the Law Enforcement officer who got the tape to the nfl. Why did he or she tell you they wanted to get the tape to the nfl . This is a very touchy situation and not a lot i can discuss about that other than to say, joe, what i reported is he wanted to get this tape in the hands of the people at the nfl before they made a decision on ray rice. Can you tell us where he got the tape from . I cant. Okay. So, is it fair to say then that this tape was unsolicited, this Law Enforcement official sent it on his own and the nfl did not request this tape from him . Willie, thats accurate. Thank you so much. We got a quick question. I cant believe this is the first Domestic Violence incident in the history of the National Football league. There must be dozens and dozens of incidents in the last 75 years. Theres got to be history here and a culture at this organization about what was done and not done when things surfaced before. Has anybody looked into that . I dont know. Rob, thank you so much for being with us. Great reporting. We appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. Thats the thing. All of this theres no credibility. It makes absolutely no sense. Yes, there is Domestic Violence in the nfl. They have had to act on it before. Also, we talked to security people around nbc and asked so what happens when you have this incident. Hey could you just send us the tape. Give us the tape. Give us the video. We need all the video before we make a decision. They never did that. All right. Still ahead how concerned should we be about isis . And is there another terror group looking to attack the u. S. As we speak . Well break down the Terror Threat against america next on morning joe. 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Now were getting somewhere. Whats in your wallet . Now were getting somewhere. He loves me, he loves me not he loves me, he loves me not he loves me warm and flaky in fifteen. Everyone loves pillsbury grands. Make dinner pop. I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know and ill confirm. Ill keep you in the right direction if i can, but thats all. Just follow the money. A scene from the legendary 1976 film all the president s men. Following the money is a brand new piece about how doing so can help defeat isis. This piece makes the point because the Islamic State is so itch it could function for the long term. If youre going to defeat it militarily, youre going to replace with it a legitimate government you have to undercut its finances. They have as much as 2 billion in the bank. They bring in as much as a billion dollars a year through oil smuggling. First they do everything in cash which create as great vulnerability, great sentence in this article of the Rand Corporation where he says you follow the right courier you get to the leadership. Track the cash. The other way is through the oil smuggling. Using intelligence to target the middlemen the buyers of the oil and heres the most important one. He makes the point here, dont bomb their ill fields, dont get rid of the oil making infrastructure in iraq because then youll just have to build it back up. But you can go after the mobil refineries they have. Bomb the roads. Richard and steven along with my dad with the president did a briefing for monday night getting ready for his big speech on isis. Well, what we saw after 9 11 one of the principle weapons against al qaeda was cutting off the money flows. This is a lot harder because they have, they are not not dependent on outside money anymore. They have money from inside iraq. They have banks they have broken into and stolen the cash. So the problem of cutting off the money i think is much more interesting with al qaeda. He said in order to understand isis or isil, you have to see it not just as a terror organization, but as an insurgent army. So we need to think of it not simply as a bunch of guys in the desert with tents. This is something far more capable. Far more ambitious in agenda. So we actually need a larger capacity. Weve had various assessments of the threat isis is to the United States at home. We heard chuck hagel coming up pretty strongly saying its one of the most dangerous threats hes seen. Weve heard eric holder saying something along the same lines. Knowing what you know as a former National Security adviser, how dangerous are they to this homeland, to the United States . I think theyre very dangerous to the homeland. I think what people are saying is we do not see a specific threat scenario that poses a risk to the homeland today. But this crowd is a serious crowd. Theyre different from other terrorist organizations for the reasons richard said. And also because they control territory. Right. Theyre operationalizing the Islamic State. That makes them a magnet for the other groups. For the moment, their agenda is largely regional. But they threaten our interests in the region. There are thousands of fighters from europe. A couple hundred from america that are learning terror tactics in syria and iraq and it is only a matter of time until they bring that learning back home. On monday night with the president , when men like you and former security advisers and secretary of states were in the room and women too. And women as well, was there more unanimity in the room or conflict . Richard can talk about this. I think generally among the cent center, both republicans and democrats, theres a Fair Assessment out there. There are people on the extreme right and extreme left who disagree. But i think whats striking at this point in time is there is a broad consensus of what the problem is, what the president needs to do about it, and i think the president paid a good downpayment last night. Question will be, does he sustain it, does he follow through . Stephen hadley, thank you very much. Mike allen, thank you, as well. Coming up at the top of the hour, president obama revealed his strategy, some of it. But was it the right one . Dr. Brzezinski will have that. And we asked you, how old Theodore Roosevelt was when he was sworn in. The answer is 42. Nicholas was the first important to send that correct response. Keep watching morning joe for our weeklong coverage of ken burns new documentary, the roosevelts, an intimate history. Well be right back with much more morning joe. Before the names theodore, eleanor, and franklin were indelibly etched into the american consciousness. And the course of Human History was forever changed by their individual endeavors. 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La quinta inns suites is ready for you, so youll be ready for business. The ready for you alert, only a laquinta. Com la quinta nineteen years ago, we thought, wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad . So we gave people the power of the review. And now angies list is revolutionizing local service again. You can easily buy and Schedule Services from toprated providers. Conveniently stay up to date on progress. And effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. Visit angieslist. Com today. As americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead. From europe to asia. To wartorn capitals of the middle east. We stand for freedom, for justice, for dignity. These are values that have guided our nation since founding. Tonight, i ask for your support in caring this leadership forward. A live look at the white house. How do you think the president did . I think it was a really important moment. Earlier, i said i didnt think it was a home run, whatever, in terms of but this isnt supposed to be. This is you cant have a home run when youre going to war. You have to do theres so many people last night you know, theres so many people last night that are sitting there, obsessing about the style. Which we all do. We all do. But in this case, what iraq, what the middle east has taught us, style doesnt mean a damn. In fact, the exact words it didnt make a difference. Because this is moving so fast. I just it was good to see the president out there, saying that he understood what the threat was, that we were going to do everything we could to stop that threat from coming to the shores. You know what, the rest is just white noise. Because we dont know what the details are going to look like next year, let alone next week. I think i think youre right. Its about more than style. The president was the explainer in chief last night. He actually educated the American Public about what is isil, the Islamic State, and what is his plan of action. I do think, though, there are questions that need to be asked and precisely from congress. Congress has a role to play here to help continue educating the American People about what should we be doing what authorization is necessary, how much would this cost. I think those questions have to be asked. Those questions do have to be asked. Chris matthews, im looking at all the papers today. I love seeing you go through the papers. You study them front to back. The boston globe of course, air strikes, send more advisers. Usa today talks about obama ready to strike. These four words, so much skepticism, wont send Ground Troops. A lot of people say that Ground Troops are already there, its inevitable. I thought your response was absolutely fascinating. Take us through what you were thinking. Especially the night before september 11th. Here we are, a decade after the first iraq war. What were you thinking last night with americans ready to rush to war . Its a really tricky conversation. Im trying to figure out whether we want to understand the roots of this whole thing and really get into it or try to understand the immediate question now. Im sure why dont we do now . What do we do now, knowing all the mistakes, the dreadful mistakes over the past decade what do we do now . Going back a couple decades. I think the challenge of the president is to be credible when he says were going to win a war, destroy our enemy, not only without casualties on our side, at home or over there in the field. How do you win a war without casualties and without troops . Its fantastic. Literally fantastic. Because we were on with Richard Engel last night if you caught it. Oh, yeah. He said, suppose we bomb an area of syria and everythings going crazy and people are dead all other the place and everythings blown up. And isis is on its back heels. Who comes in and takes over that portion of syria. Would it be the Free Syrian Army . Or would it be the government of bashar al assad. And he said the government of al assad. Of course theres some dispute on that. How does this work . We go in, blow them up, then someone on the ground does the actual taking other that territory . I dont think that was clear at all, or is it necessarily creditable at this point it will work that way. Is it a possible ask to win a war without troops or without casualties . Touching on what David Ignatius said, there is some contact with the Free Syrian Army we do have, we may know more about. It is impossible to within a war only from an air, this kind of a struggle. And the president is caught. He wants to reassure the American People that the United States will do what is necessary. On the other hand, he wants to assure the American People. Its not totally satisfying. Again, the biggest weakness in the strategy is what do we do to complement the american air power. This emphasis on the Syrian Opposition i think is a bridge too far. What the administration is going to have to do to complement what i think could be a fairly intense use of air power is going to be to work either with arab governments or tribal leaders. We need something in syria that looks a little bit like what we put together in iraq. So, chris, i have been complementary of the president over the past several weeks. I think hes taken a reasoned approach. Hes taken his time. Were going to get some allies together. Heres one thing, though. In law school when we were trying to figure out who was negligent, we had the but for question. But for this happening, would the doesnaccident have occurred . And i am left with this nagging feeling that but for the brutal beheading of two american journalists, we would not be talking about a march to war today. Now, make no mistake of it, the beheadings were absolutely horrific. And just a nightmare for the families and for the American People. But at the same time, that is not a reason, a strategic reason, to launch a war in another country. But you look at these numbers, theyre almost all driven by those two beheadings. Youre so right. You saw the nbc wall street journal poll the other day, you and mika, which pointed out this is the biggest news story in five years, the beheadings. Thank god were all nationalists and were americans and we care about america. Its not popular to talk about this but we are americans. If they were beheadings of somebody else, even europeans. Its us, our guys. They were killed because they are our guys. Because they were americans. Not because the guy happened to be jewish or whatever. Theyre killed because theyre americans. This gets to us. This was a particular attack on our flag, on us, as a people. Youre right, if they wanted us to go to war with them, this is the way to do it. If they asked, well, is this willful, this will get us into the americwar, the americans wi hopped up, the president will have to act. Lets go further into this. Did they invite the air attack . Did they invite what were now going to do which is to hopefully train the Free Syrian Army in saudi arabia and little contingents and drop lots of have lots of air strike sorties over there. Were they ready for that . Do they want that as the next step to make them the heroes of the islamic world. How far are we being sucked into this very deliberately. Thats a great question for the National Security staff. And whos talking to the president now . Does he have grownups around this term . Im very worried about that. Who is around the president . I dont know who they are. I saw the group. I saw the photo op. Ive heard repeatedly about the president reaching out. And lets talk to one man who is not who ive not talked to about that, but ive had other people on this be set tell me that actually he was talking with the president earlier this week, along with richard haass, with us now from washington, d. C. , former National Security adviser to president carter, dr. Brzezinski. Dr. Brzezinski, let me just start, lets start at the beginning. How did the president do last night . Did he convince you that he was taking this threat seriously enough . No doubt. I think hes taking it very seriously. Hes deeply concerned and hes determined to do something about it. Its going to be very tough. Its going to be very complicated. I am of the view its going to be a prolonged long haul. Richard haass, did the president go as far as you would have liked to have seen the president go last night . He did two big things. He expanded the scope of what we were trying to do beyond protecting american personnel and humanitarian issues. And two, he changed the geography. He basically said you cant challenge these guys just in iraq, youve got to go after them in syria. So i think that was the big innovation of last night. I think he left open a lot of questions, and weve been talking about them this morning, of whats going to be there besides american air attacks. I think theres a lot of detailed questions about what our partners can and be willing to do. We had the senator here who supported the president. He was only one of a few senators who opposed the iraq war in 2002. You were also very outspoken against that incursion in to iraq. You got just about everything right before the war, something youre fa tour humble to repeat today, but i will for you. You are quite comfortable about the necessity to go into iraq this time. Whats comfortable this time . Im not comfortable about the necessity, but i think there is a necessity. The problem is, the contagion is spreading throughout the middle east. And potentially more widely throughout the islamic world. My own view is, one, it will spread. Two, it will last. And, therefore, i draw the conclusion that we have to do what we can to prevent it from spreading and for eliminating it. Now, to do that effectively, we have to be involved because no one in the region on its own can do it. However, how we do it and what we strive to do in addition to military action is all important. I think the president chose the right path by relying primarily on air power. Secondly, of course, intelligence access. Which permits us also to use that air power for highly personalized strikes against the top leadership. And penetration with intelligence that sometimes requires us to use special forces. But the heavy lifting, and im very emphatic on that, the hev quit lifting, the fighting on the ground, has to be done by the people concerned, by the countries concerned. And here we come to a difficult task. We have to mobilize those states in the area that are viable, that have military forces. And we have to try to convince them that they have a collective state, collective stake in more concerted generalized action by the countries themselves. And excuse me, let me finish. If we dont do that, we will become hated and it will become, again, another war against america. This has to be a war by the countries themselves in which were playing a helpful, and between us, obviously, a decisive role in prevailing. Thats much more difficult. And, professor, dr. Brzezinski, following up on what dr. Brzezinski said so articulately, we have the saudis, uae, egypt at the conference today, even though its a little bit harder to drag them into this. Saying the same thing that dr. Brzezinski is saying here, that we have to get buyin from moderate sunni states across the mideast. We have to expand the scope of conflict to include as many allies as possible and especially the regional players that have to be part of the solution here, absolutely. I do want to be careful. Ive heard of a lot of us say the rush to war. I think the president was very careful to say were not going to war, that this is a counterterrorism effort. Thats a framing question. I think most americans would say were dropping bombs in iraq that raises questions about president ial power versus congressional power for me. Well, Chris Matthews, let me bring you in. Good question. Let me ask dr. Brzezinski about the plausibility of rebuilding the set of states, secular states, like we had. They werent good guys but they were secular, when it was the baathists in power in iraq and of course syria in the middle east. Can we rebuild that secular form of government or do we have to go along with some form of islamic government in the middle east . Well, you know, beggars cant be choosers. The situation was much better ten years ago when we unfortunately decided to attack iraq on fraudulent grounds and destroyed it as a country, destroyed its army, destroyed its bureaucracy and seeded a lot of hatred for ourselves in the process. That was a monumental disaster, the price of which youre still paying. Iraq is potentially, at least in most of it, a country. And were making some progress. Kurdistan is coming into being. The germans have just decided to give it arm, an interesting precedent for germany, perhaps applicable at some point in the future to ukraine. But theyre giving it arms. We should be giving it arms too because that can be a viable partner in the effort. More important, still, its terribly important to us, i think, that turkey be engaged. It is a secular but Islamic State. And can be effective. Dr. Brzezinski, let me jump in, we dont have a lot of time, you brought up turkey. Your last book talked about how important turkey was to americas future strategic interests. Ive thought time and time again about reading stories with turkey and qatar have not always pleased the white house. I wonder what your take is. Have you been disappointed with turkeys actions over the last six months . Some of them i might be. Im not particularly enamored with the style of leadership that has emerged. But theres something very basic here. Its an important country. It is a strong country. It has strong military. It has a major stake in regional stability. So heres another country we ought to be cooperating with. Let me Say Something even more controversial. On some issues, we have to be able to cooperate with the iranians. They also have a stake in stability, in particular, those parts of iraq in which the shiites live. Right. Theres an element of opportunity here. Last but not least, we have to get saudi arabia off its interventionist kick, which has a strong religious touch to it. After all, the conflict in syria has been promoted from outside and saudi arabias very responsible for what has happened there since. Saudi arabia should be a tower of stability in the region and not a source of revolutionary change. So theres a lot of work to be done. We can put that coalition together and then we strike selectively but in the most important areas, which ive already jooutlined. Then i think we can prevail. Its going to be a long haul. If we dont do it will, it will spread to central asia and will destabilize pakistan and we could be stuck for years and years to come. Dad, thank you very much. Dr. Brzezinski, when you said somethi something, let me Say Something more controversial, your daughter flinched, but i think we got through it okay. Thank you, dad. Chris math u 50s will stay with us. We greatly appreciate it. 13 years later, coming up, our live coverage as our nation remember, the attack on Lower Manhattan and washington, d. C. Plus, bad news for Chris Christie as the s p downgrades the garden state. Well explain why in just a few minutes. Coming up, the state argues his testimony was absolutely devoid of any truth. Were they right . Weem got the verdict in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial next. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Hey, i notice your car yeah. Its in the shop. Its going to cost me an arm and a leg. You shoulda taken it to midas. They tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. Highfive arg brakes, tires, oil, everything. whistling when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. Time to take a look at the morning papers. Wall street journal. Oscar pistorius has been cleared of murder charges in the shooting death of his girlfriend reeva steen camp. The judge said there are not enough facts to support the charges. Still, the former olympian could be convicted of culpable homicide, thats the equivalent of manslaughter. But that is a stunning verdict. We were, obviously, not sitting in the courtroom. He was called a terrible witness. His story just didnt hold up. And how they let him off is just absolutely beyond me. Yep. Political news here. Chris matthews take. Weve got chris. Can we do i want to get chris take on this in a second. The new jersey star ledgerier. Standards and poors became the latest agency. They say the move is in response to christies budget. Adding his plans to put pressure on future budgets. Also the lack of consensus among new jersey officials. The eighth time the Credit Agency has downgraded their Credit Rating since christie took office in 2010. Chris matthews, things werent stellar when christie came in but things seemed economically to be getting better. But for a guy would wants to run for president and making all those motions, they credit downgrades, really bad, huh. What do you think it will mean . It all adds up. Theres a lot of burdens on that guys shoulder now. You have the crashing of atlantic city. The attempt to try to save that city over the last decades with gambling is failing. Three casinos shutting down. 8,000 jobs. All those jobs. Regular working people. They hoped would help that largely Africanamerican Community recover and it hasnt happened. So that bloom is gone. Now you have the difficulty with him and his Democratic Legislature fighting over pensions and issues like this, which are always brutal. As you know, as a result, you have to take on the unions and everybody else. Youre always the bad guy. And being he sits there. I do sympathize. Imagine every day he gets up or goes to bed at night thinking whats paul fish been up to. Ways the manhattan d. A. Up to. What is vance up to . What are the guys in the sec up to . You got to worry about all those. You probably spend your day asking your people, what do you hear, anything coming out of those guys, any friends talking . Because you know your future depends on other people now. Just like perhaps everything with the bridge closing depended on other people and how he communicated with them. It must be straining. Ill give him credit. Hes out there campaigning. In the polling, he does yeah, he certainly does. In the republican party, theres such a need for a center right candidate now. Such a need that even he is right up there at the top. That is so wide open, the republican race. The daily mail. After olive garden launched its seven week, 100, never ending pasta pass promotion last week, it was only a matter of time before they wound up on the black market. Buyer beware. Olive garden says the cards are not transferable. The Company Offered only 1,000 cards nationwide for a promotional campaign. Last itnight, conan obrien. Other restaurant chains saw how successful it was. They decided to come out with passes of their own. For example, for 100, the buffet chain Golden Corral offers ladle to grave unlimited soup for life. Long john silvers has promised to give you fishsticks made with actual fish. White castle came out with the jump to the front of course the bathroom line card. Heres applebees new card, unlimited sodas now and insulin later. The new waffle house card. Youre guaranteed to get the least racist waitress on that shift. Wow. Yeah. Starbucks has a new card. Every wednesday, its as much hot coffee as you can hold in your hands. I feel bad. Usa today mcdonalds has filed a trademark registration for the term mcbrunch. Suggesting the struggling chain may be considering adding to its menu. The news comes as mcdonalds has experienced its worst dip in global Monthly Sales in a decade. You know, i want to go off the script a little bit. Okay, this man set the guinness book of world record for the most consecutive pinky pullups. You thought it was going be to the big tongue . The New York Post. This is so disturbing. This is unbelievable. You got to show the picture. Its fas of terror. Two guys from austria. These two austrian girls right here are actually reportedly now in isis. Yes, exactly. Are now the faces of teen terror. Weve heard, for some reason, all across europe, there are people, some in america, that are joining this group. The New York Post reporting these two austrian girls are reportedly now in isis. Well look more into that. Coming up, congressman adam smith explains why he backs the president s request to support moderate Syrian Rebels. Morning joe continues after a quick break. We would not report the story unless we were certain that this occurred, that a Law Enforcement official did indeed send that tape to an nfl executive at the League Office, he got confirmation from an unidentified woman on april 9th it was received. We dont know who the unidentified woman is. We dont know what she did with the tape. Or if the intended recipient even saw it or who saw it beyond that. Okay, thats Associated Press reporter rob monty just moments ago on morning joe. He broke the story that a Law Enforcement source claims five months ago he sent to an nfl executive the video of ray rice beating his future wife in a casino elevator. A highranking official at the nfl tells tmz sports that the ap story is wrong and no one at the league saw the video until monday. You seem skeptical. If you just heard what rob said, it actually does not that ap report does not confirm a highranking official of the nfl has the tape. Somebody listen to what rob just reported. It does not not yet. Well see. Having said that, lets just rewind for a second. We dont need the second half of the tape to even know that at this point the nfl has been trying to shove Domestic Violence under the rug and thought, arrogantly and completely in the most unselfaware way, that Domestic Violence could be shoved aside and dismissed as something unimportant. Chris matthews. Weve been talking the past couple of days about how badly the nfls botched this. How badly Roger Goodell has botched this. You just wonder how they got it so wrong from the very beginning. Well, you wonder why they were this lenient towards this person. Towards the running back. I know hes a star. I know he gets 35 million bucks for five years. I know hes a super star and they need him to win the championship and all that. But why so lenient . We saw that they saw that tape since february of him dragging his girlfriend unconscious out of the elevator. We know from the Police Report that he knocked her out. What more information do you need . I mean, imagine this was a criminal trial. That would be a lot, i would think, to convict. Certainly assault and battery if it was some guy he met in the elevator, he said something he didnt like and he knock eed hi out. Its not just Domestic Violence. Its knocking a person out. Its clearly what they did. Committed assault and battery at least. Aggravated assault. I dont know what the particular term is. What else information do you need . A twogame suspension for that . Whats all the leniency about . Unless Roger Goodell assumes theres a culture around jocks, the football players, that has to be allowed for. Thats what you got to be careful. What has to be allowed for . Whats the extenuating circumstance culturally that said you should allow someone to knock their wife out on an elevator . Why any leanance here . Thats the quote you have to ask. I think the bottom line is, theres a problem with the culture in the nfl. Theres been a problem with the culture in the nfl. Ive said it repeatedly. Several years ago, espn was going to be doing a series that talked about this culture in the nfl, part of it, and the nfl killed it. You know, i remember a former star for the Dallas Cowboys was busted in a hotel room with strippers and cocaine and when they asked him why he did it, he said, in the nfl, thats what we do. Something doesnt add up. Theres a terrible culture that Roger Goodell and the nfl doesnt want to confront, and it deals with treating women like theyre property. And that is proven. That is proven at this point. And something doesnt add up about the interview with Roger Goodell. No. And its very his answers are extremely narrow and theyre extremely sort cya instead of just stop, tape or no tape, we messed up. Stop, admit responsibility and say what youre going to do to systemically reform the nfl, to reform culture. I mean, this, as you were saying, joe, this is part of the culture of the nfl but i think its broader than that. Its the culture on campuses with student athletes. It starts very young. Th no one stands up to say this is unacceptable. We need leadership on down to colleges, everyday men in life. We didnt get it from the nfl, we didnt get it from ravens, we didnt get it from the new jersey d. A. That led rice walk. Now, the Ranking Member of the Armed Services committee adam smith. Also, host of a drndrea mitche reports, andrea mitchell. Whats the Armed Services Committee Going to be talking about today . Do you think theres going to be wideranging support for the president and his plan . I think there is going to be wideranging support. If you listen to some of the criticism, they focus more on past actions, things that should have been done. Going forward, i think theres consensus. We need to confront isis. We need to confront them not just in iraq but in syria as well. In order to do that, we need to do the train and equip mission. Because we need allies in syria we can work with to fight isis. This cannot be a u. S. Military option alone. I think we saw the success in iraq was built on the fact the kurds were in the lead. Once the maliki government was removed and a new eye rocky government was put in place, we were able to work with the iraqi military. It cant be a u. S. Led military operation. Weve got to build a partnership and support those partners on the ground to fight this evil. I think the president laid that out clearly. Richard haass, we were talking about a lot countries with us. One country thats not with us, turkey. Why . I think the most important reason is Something Like 49 turk irk diplomats and their wives and children at their consulate in mosul inside iraq were taken prisoner by isis. And the turks, quite honestly, are worried that 49 people have their lives on the line, could be beheaded. That is really freezing them and making it extremely difficult to do what we want them to do to cut the flow of recruits going through turkey into syria and iraq. Chris matthews, you have a question for congressman smith . What do you expect to be the action on the hill . Will there be a vote . Will there be anything in term, of forcing members to be up and down, whether we go into this war . Theres two pieces to it. One is the train and equip in syria. The president needs authorization for that. The department of defense cannot engage in that without it. They are trying to keep the government open past september. That will be the first test. Do we add that to the cr. For the second larger test is a broader authorization for the use of military force against isis in iraq, in syria, however we come to define it. Thats a very difficult thing. I think the leaders of the house and senate have decided theyre going to be reluctant to put forward such an authorization. I think we should do it. I think congress should act. We should speak. Why would anybody want to be a member of the house or the senate and not want to vote on the big issues, the Big Questions . Why would you want the title u. S. Congress person or u. S. Senator if you didnt want to act like one and vote on the big issues of our day . Should people like that be in the congress who are afraid to make the Big Decisions . Exactly. I couldnt agree more. Congressman adam smith, thank you so much for being with us. Were going to be following. I want to ask andrea, i couldnt agree with Chris Matthews more, if youre going to be in congress, step up and stand for something. Andrea, last night, one of the things i saw that was causing not only politicians and pundits but also our own Richard Engel and you a lot of concern about what the president said, he was looking at somalia and yemen as a model, both of you said thats not really the best model to use. What was your concern last night . My concern, i think the concern of a lot of the experts, at least, and certainly richard on the ground there, is that thats not the appropriate analogy, but thats an analogy that might sell better to the person peop American People because those are successful aerial attacks. Especially in some of those countries, in yemen, we had a government working with us. You dont have that in syria. And there clearly has to be boots on the ground. This may be special forces boots on the ground but there are boots on the ground. What do you do if it doesnt work, if you come back if the pentagon comes back to the president six months, a year from now, and say its not working, we need to escalate, is this the same old story, another 500, another 1,000 . Where does it end . Up next, were Just Moments Away from the beginning the ceremonies at ground zero. Well be right back. Kid hey dad, who was that man . Dad hes our broker. He helps looks after all our money. Kid do you pay him . Dad of course. Kid how much . Dad i dont know exactly. Kid what if youre not happy . Does he have to pay you back . Dad nope. Kid why not . Dad it doesnt work that way. Kid why not . Vo are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed . Wealth management at Charles Schwab so i can reach ally bank 24 7, but there are24 7branches . Its just im a little reluctant to try new things. Whats wrong with trying new things . Feel that in your muscles . Yeah. I do. Try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates. If energy could come from anything . Or if power could go anywhere . Or if light could seek out the dark . What would happen if that happens . Anything. 43 past the hour. These are live pictures from ground zero where nearly 3,000 americans lost their lives 13 years ago today. The commemoration of of that day begins in just a moment. As you can see, theyre preparing, walking the flag towards ground zero. President obama and the first lady will lead a moment of silence at the white house. Marking the time the first plane struck the north tower. Later, at exactly 9 30 a. M. , the president will participate at a ceremony in the pentagon where he will make remarks along with defense secretary hagel and joint chiefs chairman martin dempsey. This is the morning after the president prepares the country for the next frontier war. An antiterror Campaign Going on for 13 years. It began over the skies pennsylvania. Where they decided they werent going to let another building be blown up by a passenger plane. That of course all led to a war in afghanistan that continues today. A disastrous detour into iraq. A new president who promised a new way forward. A new president who eventually tracked down and killed oba eed bin laden. A president who said the terrorists have been decimated. That isis was a jv team. And then tragically a president dragged back into iraq and now into syria with an antiterror campaign that continues today, 13 years later. As we remember those who lost their lives 13 years ago today. Theres no one who has appeared on our set this morning, who was in the room with the president on monday night preparing for his address to the nation last night who doesnt see what were embarking on today as a long arduous haul. So we look forward today, throughout the morning, on morning joe. But now, were going to look back and remember and reflect. Here, now, the moment of silence. [ taps playing ] [ taps playing ] president obama, the first lady, the Vice President. Participating in commemoration events at the white house. Looking back 13 years ago today, to the events of 9 11, marking the moment the first plane hit with a moment of silence. Chris matthews, as we look at yet another president living through the age of terror. When you look at how, unfortunately, these 13 years have made fools of a lot of politicians, well, a lot of americans. Remember the phrases, wanted dead or alive, bring it on, youre either for us or against us, or al qaeda is decimated, isis is a jv team. We could go on and on and on. These two president s, chris, in the age of tear, share many things. They would not like to share. Including a very low Approval Rating for their handling of Foreign Policy. This just simply isnt an easy job. Much more difficult even when it was us against them in a bipolar cold war. Yes, and so many times you make a decision for the best of reasons, but from your account, the best of reasons, and theres a consequence you never would have thought of. Who would have thought of . Were not even sure of this yet, the connection between what we did in saudi arabia, 1990, putting those tens of thousands of troops into the holy land of mecca and all that, and what that really did to trigger or justify in the hearts of the suicide bombers of 9 11. What role did that play . And we had no idea that would do that. Of course, the decisions we made in iraq about getting rid of the sunnis and the government and debaathification and sending those people off to join isis. Decisions that were made that no one knew had these consequences. Even people who disagreed with the decision didnt know the consequences were there. Heres the president walking back to the white house, knowing hes right in the middle of consequences again. And what he did last night will have consequences that cannot be foretold. You know, today marks the first time that the 9 11 memorial and museum will actually be open on the anniversary of the attacks. That hasnt happened before. It first opened its coodoocoord may. It features a mangled fire engine and helmets worn by first responders. Heartbreaking stories of loss to the pursuit of justice that ended with the killing of osama bin laden. The exhibits are intended to educate and honor the 3,000 vick tips and those who risked their lives to save others. And they want people to see whats there. For more on the museum including how to donate, go to 911memorial. Org. Al qaeda obviously overreached in a way that ended up having americans go after them i always said if the buildings hadnt fallen, things may look very different over the past 13 years. You and i were talking before about isis and just the strategic blunder. We would not be here on the precipice of, yes, i would call it war, but for the beheadings of two american journalists. It was, i said it the day after, what a foolish, foolish thing to say. Because, you know what, Chris Matthews and i, we may look at a lot issues differently, but hes right, were nationalists. We love this country. Were not going to let that happen. Im stunned by the overreach by isis. The stupidity. The cruelty. The evilness of their actions. That now requires an american response. It was a strategic not just mistake, it was a blunder on their part, beyond the gruesome human side. Its at a level of detail you dont have to be a Foreign Policy expert to get your hands around it. It was real, it was something that was powerful. What they were hoping is it would contribute to their momentum where the local sunnis wont stand up to them, get a warweary america to back off. Its had the opposite respond. A warweary america, a reluctant president. And suddenly the possibility of a regional sunniled coalition against isis. This could be, could be, something of a turning of the tide. You know what, mika, here we are, 13 years later. The only hope i have its not going to be quick, its not going to be easy, its going to be a long, hard slog. Maybe the one thing we learned 13 years later is we cant do for other countries what they dont want to do for themselves. And if theyre not all in, then damn it, were not all in. We stay home. Our troops stay home. Our fighters stay home. And our taxpayers stop propping up other countries that dont want to prop up themselves. To hear that from the president himself, to see him trying to garner support from other countries. Right now, though, we look back on a day that changed everything 13 years ago, exactly at this moment. Exactly. Exactly at this moment. We do something every year that really brings you back to that moment. And i think its worth it. I think its worth never forgetting what happened that day and what we saw, what brought us together as a nation. So, right now, we bring you an msnbc living history event. Coverage from nbcs today show the day of the attack, as it unfolded minute by minute, 13 years ago. Apparently, a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center here in new york city. It happened just a few moments ago. We have very little information. On the phone, we have jennifer who apparently witnessed this event. Jennifer, can you hear me . Hello. Hi, jennifer. Hi, katie. Hi, can you please tell me what you saw and give me any information about whats going on there. Yes, i have its quite terrifying. Im in shock right now. I came out of the subway at bowling green. I was heading to work at battery park at the ritz carlton hotel. And i come out and i saw a big i heard a boom, looked up and there was a big ball of fire. Im now looking north at the World Trade Center. It is the left twin tower if im looking north. You can hear the emergency crews behind me. And it is unbelievable. When the fire first burst, it was hello . Go ahead, we can hear you. Like ive never seen before. And as you know, i used to work in