assad. so this at least puts something more on the positive side of the equation gives them another reason to join up. you know if you are fighting on behalf of u.s. and coalition, you will have their firepower to call on. but you re still not going to have a huge surge, i think, of forces coming to join. one of the other reasons they needed to announce this now is other militant force, chug alift with al qaeda, they have said they re going to target the u.s.-backed sources. that s got to be in the psychological operations realm a factor aimed at robs thor u.s.-trained forces of their steam. so this this kind of it sends a message to isis to al nasr and the regime of aassad that these forces are not to be
with, you know, whatever he has lost. why do it? is this just to punish? is this just to show that because the president said cross this red line i ll smack that that we can indeed smack someone? i m not sure just as a war correspondent who the objective is here. well, i think that it may be true that some of this damage will be repaired. but and hopefully the congress will vote to authorize the strike. so you ll have the political body of the united states saying it s unacceptable to use chemical weapons, and here is what happens, that s the first strike. doesn t mean there won t be a second strike or worse to come. it doesn t mean the next strike couldn t go all the way to takes a sad aassad and his forces dow completely. this is about enforcing international law. all these nations signed protocols and treaties that prohibit the use of chemical
with, you know, whatever he has lost. why do it? is this just to punish? is this just to show that because the president said cross this red line i ll smack that that we can indeed smack someone? i m not sure just as a war correspondent who the objective is here. well, i think that it may be true that some of this damage will be repaired. but and hopefully the congress will vote to authorize the strike. so you ll have the political body of the united states saying it s unacceptable to use chemical weapons, and here is what happens, that s the first strike. doesn t mean there won t be a second strike or worse to come. it doesn t mean the next strike couldn t go all the way to takes a sad aassad and his forces dow completely. this is about enforcing international law. all these nations signed protocols and treaties that prohibit the use of chemical
what normally happens here, right, is you have a rebellion. often sometimes they go without as much bloodshed as you have seen here, and then you have a civil war. this is about as complicated a civil war you get, one in which the iranians and russians are not going to walk away from. a big role in the weakening of aassad is not going to walk away from this. so the united states could potentially be successful in getting the rebels over the hump but then there is going to be a follow-on war that the russians could be involved in, the iranians could be involved in, al qaeda could be involved in. you mentioned at the outset, what is the plan here? what are we really trying to accomplish? if we re trying to accomplish a u.s. friendly permanent government in damascus, that is a ten-year commitment that could involve american deaths and certainly involves billions and billions of dollars. thank you so much, chris murphy of connecticut. thanks so much for coming on. for more we re joined b
from israel of another strike, and the leader of hezbollah, the iranian-backed terrorist group vowing over the weekend to bring victory to president aassad. calls to take action are reaching fever pitch. senator mccain became the highest ranks u.s. officials to visit syria since the conflict began. he urged the white house to intervene. last night from brute, nbc s richard engel addressed the complexity. reporter: there s a growing realization and concern that something must be done. this is what s happening without action. at least 80,000 dead in syria so far, more than a million refugees. iraq is going back to a civil war, lebanon is heading toward a civil contact. almost every day there are funerals for hezbollah fighters. today the rebel free syrian army gave hezbollah 24 hours to leave