in to kill bin laden. that s not what they re doing. they re capable. they re top-end trainers and there to do is train, advise, assist, help the residents peshmerga or others friendly or moderate to the united states. these guys are not going in to conduct front of the line special operations targeted hit missions. they could do that if called upon but with only 50 guys, that s not enough force structure to do it. what i see this as is an extension of concept training someone else to do the fight for us. i just don t think at this stage of the bat this will s a realistic tactic or strategy. anthony, i believe we have you now. can you hear me okay? yes. good. i want to ask the question that i think a lot of americans are probably wondering and probably wondered far few years in this country. why does syria matter to us? why should we care about what happens in that country? i think you can t ignore the
years of the syrian civil war, around 300,000 civilians dead, around 4 million civilians external refugees, 11 million have become internally displaced persons and 50 special forces makes no difference whatsoever. we re facing bad options. you could say it s bad options, horrible options and impossible options. the s no clean decision here but the 50 guys in syria makes no difference whatsoever in the short term or the long term. anthony, i want to i mentioned senator graham. he was on with andrea mitchell. i want to play a snippet oh, chris, let me stay with you. i think we lost anthony for a short time there. okay. the military adviser title, this is what the white house calling them, what does that mean practically on the ground? i think that s a great question. i think the american people might not understand exactly what is happening here. you hear special operations. you think s.e.a.l. team 6 going
why not just say, you know what? i have changed my mind, conditions on the ground have changed my mind for me? we are, in fact, going to have to send a handful of combat troops into syria. why not say that instead of what we heard today, chris? i ll preface the comments saying i don t do political analysis. the ground shifted underneath the president s feet. i would not blame him at all for coming out and saying i need to change strategy because the reality on the ground changed. as a matter of fact, our strategy has changed. we have gotten more aggressive to isis. only 1 in 5 puts weapons on target and still we are doing the best we can under the constraints we have. i don t want to say i don t support the increase in special operations. i do. i m simply saying it s inadequate to the task at hand. the united states will get more involved because we re the only superpower as anthony pointed out capable of if not dictating the outcome in sir why and syria
move that the u.s. makes has ramifications that perhaps the u.s. wouldn t want. nbc s keir simmons with a unique perspective for us this afternoon and spending sometime recently alongside fighter there is in syria, thank you, my friend. you bet. joining me now to talk about the foreign policy, retired navy commander criss harmon, a senior naval ianalyst and anthony cordsman, center for strategic and international studies. thank you to you both. let s start with you, if i could, commander. this idea that the stated u.s. strategy is to degrade and defeat isis, what does today s announcement do for that stated goal? nothing whatsoever. look. i agree with the goal of degrading and defeating isis but the asets against the problem are wholly inadequate. look at it in four and a half