number one, they think that the mission has not been clearly defined by the president. and then the resolution that came from the senate and the findings section that you just referenced in section 5 where it references changing the momentum, that causes questions there also. you know, who are we trying to change the momentum toward? what is it that we are seeking to be the exit? every military plan, every battle plan should have a clearly defined mission and execution and a strategy. and the problem is the president has not come forward in a leadership role. he has tried to pivot on just about everything. okay. let s take a look at the secretary of state. here is what he said. here is his case for military action against syria. generally. it s an interview with my colleague chris hayes, which is going to have the full program coming up after this program at 8:00.
were killed. that was a blank check. it was a terrible moment. that was a resolution that authorized the use of force until we repeal that. that has been used for drone attacks, for surveillance activities, and for other conflicts in terms of our resources and our troops. and so it is very difficult for me to figure out a way where i could use i could vote for the use of force when i understand what is going on in syria and know and believe secretary kerry and the president that the only way we can achieve some resolve, hold the assad regime accountable and stop the violence is by a negotiated and political settlement and the use of force leads us further away from that position. and so too much is at risk. this could end up in a regional war, retaliation could occur. so this would be very difficult for me. and chris, i am not going to support this effort. you know what?
it says the provisional all forms of assistance of the syrian political opposition. this is like a gulf of tonkin thing thrown in here. we re taking sides as an act of belligerence in that civil war over there. i was struck by it. congressman? so were we. when i read that last night, i thought wow. this has gone much further than i had thought the senate resolution would go. which was trying to define a narrow mission. and suddenly we had section 5 put in, which seemed very reminiscent to me of the resolution we worked on in 2002 going into the war on terror. i was very i was made very uncomfortable by seeing that, because i don t know what it means. there are some vague terms in this about deter and, you know, sort of de-emphasize some of their power. i couldn t i don t know what they re after.
his resolution. as we showed you earlier, the latest whip count from the washington post has 223 members in the no category, or leaning no. only 25 are for the resolution. we have two members of congress now from different catches joining us to debate the issue. u.s. congressman tom cole is a republican from oklahoma. he will vote no. u.s. congressman ted deutch is a congressman from florida who will vote yes. i want to start with mr. cal. were you for the iraq war? i m trying to find some consistency here. were you a hawk for the war in iraq and now a dove? is there any consistency there? i was not 234 congress when the original vote was taken. i was certainly supportive for the war and if i had been there, i would have supported it. if that s your designation, i would have been a hawk. why did you change? first of all, thing is a different kind of war. and it s a pretty nasty war. it s a civil war. it s a proxy war between the saudis and the iranians and it s also a religious
commander in chief. we only have one america. we only have one reputation across the globe and this has been an embarrassing week for us as a nation and that starts in my opinion and ends with the president of the united states who s bungled this terribly. i hope it changes over the next week. not for the sake of the president, for the sake of this country. amen. i think it will. i think the politics is his heart is in the right place on this. i think it is. it will end right. david sanger, thank you very much. jeremy peters, stay with us if you can. coming up on morning joe, former governor and presidential candidate jon huntsman will join us. democratic senator chris murphy will be with us to explain his no vote on the syria resolution. and david gregory and the reverend al sharpton will be here as well. up next the top stories in the politico playbook. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? and a great weekend forecast it s going to be, mika. we