simply solve this problem by sending in tens of thousands of troops and committing the kinds of blood and treasure that has already been expended in iraq. ultimately, this is something that has to be solved by the iraqis. it is in our national security interests not to see an all-out civil war inside of iraq. not just for humanitarian reasons but because that ultimately can be destabilizing throughout the region and, in addition to having strong allies there that we are committed to protecting, obviously issues like energy and global energy markets continues to be important. we also have an interest in making sure that we don t have a safe haven. that continues to grow for isil and other extremist jihadist
direction. and i alluded to this in the west point speech. this is i talked about it today with respect to the counterterrorism partnership fund. there is going to be a long-term problem counterterrorism partnep fund. there is going to be a long-term problem in this region in which we have to build and partner with countries that are committed to our interests, our values, and at the same time we have immediate problems with terrorist organizations that may be advancing. and rather than try to play whack-a-mole wherever these terrorist organizations build up, we have to make sure we have effective partnerships, make sure they have capacity, some of the assets that have been devoted solely to afghanistan over the last decade we ve got
juliet halprin? the united states has been slow to provide significant weapons and training directly to the syrian opposition. has the expansion of the syria war into iraq changed your mind about the type of weapons and training you now are willing to give the opposition there? is that what prompted secretary kerry to stay in syria we re augmenting our assistance and can you elaborate on what you are doing now that you weren t doing before. you know, that assessment about the dangers of what was happening in syria existed since the very beginning of the syrian civil war. the question has never been whether we thought this was a serious problem. the question has always been, is there the capacity of moderate opposition on the ground to absorb and counteract extremists that might have been pouring in as well as an assad regime
saddam s involvement in the weapons of mass destruction. after 9/11, we were concerned about a following attack that would involve not just airline tickets and box cutters as the weapons but something far deadlier. it would have been irresponsible for us to act. we did do the right thing, and i think the troops performed magnifice magnificently. he is sounding increasingly defensive there. do you think current circumstances are a final condemnation of the decision to go in in the first place? no. what is the question is what is the strategic problem the united states has been trying to solve in the middle east all these many years, long before the current iraq war. it s the same problem always. the united states is not interested in making in keeping order internally in the region. that s beyond america s capacity to do. what the united states is trying to do is prevent the rise inside the middle east where so much of the world s oil is of a western hegemonic power.
it was the problem the united states was struggling with in the 1980s during the iran-iraq war. that was the saddam challenge and that is now the challenge from iran. we seem as far from that goal as we ve ever been. i want to get a reaction on the ground from richard engel with the latest. nbc news chief foreign correspondent. what reactions are you hearing in baghdad to this potential announcement from the president? well, not many people here have heard about it. they certainly haven t heard about the level of detail that some are suggesting in the united states that 100 special operations forces could be coming here to baghdad to help guide the iraqi government and effectively lead from behind its counterterrorism campaign against the isis militants. some people we have been speaking to think that would be fabulous. they want u.s. air strikes. and they think if u.s. special