Loretta sanchez, a california democrat and representative anna kinninger. An illinois republican. Will u. S. Advisers make a difference or draw America Closer to war. Tonight on crossfire. Welcome to crossfire im stephanie cutter. And im s. E. Kup on the right. Two members of congress, today president obama spent more time talking about what we arent going to do in iraq. And why. Than he did making a case that the terrorist takeover of the levant has serious implications for us at home. How sad, george w. Bush may still in the white house because president obama cant seem to make any Foreign Policy decisions without thinking of him first, he often explains his inaction by way of his predeceasedpr predeceaspr predeceaspr predeceas predeceasedors mistakes. The military plan developed by the joint chiefs and that i believe is appropriate is proportional. It is limited. It does not involve boots on the ground. This is not iraq. And this is not afghanistan. And here was obama just today, on iraq. Whats clear from the last decade is the need for the United States to ask hard questions before we take action abroad. Particularly military action. Look, we know that he thinks bush made mistakes. But this isnt 2006. Its time for obama to finally become his own person, and make the right decisions for america. And in iraq, bushs once again leading obama towards dangerous inaction. I have to say i dont get it. What is wrong with understanding the consequences of going to war before you actually go to war. Absolutely nothing. And thats exactly what the president is doing. The strategic blunders, the greatest strategic blunder in the history of this country was going to war without knowing the consequences in iraq. And thats going to impact not just this president , but president s for decades. Clearly. Because george bush is going to be Walking Around the halls or living in the white house for decades. Well see. In the crossfire tonight, representatives Loretta Sanchez, a california democrat and representative adam kinsinger, a republican from illinois. Congressman, i want to start with you. Heres the plan the president laid out today. 300 military advisers, increase in intelligence. Additional equipment, americanled diplomacy to get some political reforms on the ground in iraq and position our forces for a military strike this is what i call a responsible approach. That we only come to by asking those tough questions. And you know it might not make for good tv or satisfy armchair quarterbacks. But its responsible. What more would you do here . Wellday air strikes and look, think its a good start. I think its a start that should have happened probably in january when isis took over fallujah, we feel like weve been taken off guard and theres an oh my goodness, isis exists in iraq. Its existed for a long time. I agree with the initial steps, but meanwhile you have this blitzkrieg by isis thats going on, taking on city after city, beheading people and krauting their jihadist state. I think air strikes would stop the move of isis in the town. The problem is knowing where to strike. Right. And thats part of what the capability is going to allow us to do. When we left in 2011, we pulled the plug on our ability to have intelligence and reconnaissance. I flew isr. I think developing the targets is good and if hes not strikesing because we dont have the intel, thats one thing. But if you have trucks moving out in the open. Can you blow those up and freeze ice nis the towns theyre in and stop the forward momentum. Congresswoman sanchez, we have reports that isis stole over 400 million from an iraqi bank, their flag is now flying over the countrys Biggest Oil Refinery and there are some reports that allege isis has seized saddam husseins chemical weapons factory. Which is frightening. Isnt it as congressman suggests, a little late for Intelligence Forces on the ground . Its not too late for Intelligence Forces on the ground. First of all, this whole issue that isis came across, and is this blitzing sort of personality, if you will, a grouping, those do with the fact that they have been in the sunni belt of iraq. And so even the locals would prefer to be dealing with isis people, than they did with al maliki. Al maliki really did not take the opening, the space that we made for him, that our military made for him, the taxpayers of this country made for him. To be able to work on uniting and working through this country. Instead, by being so shiiteoriented and really not working through with the sunnis and the kurds, he created the dilemma we now find ourselves in. But i believe congresswoman withdrawing from iraq actually created one of the dilemmas were in now . I think it did. We could have done a status of forces agreement. If you want to see what negotiating a status of forces agreement looks like, look what happens in afghanistan. Its been a year and we keep going back saying we want this, we want this. President obama said you dont want 3,000 to 5,000 troops . Okay, then were out. We couldnt get a status of force agreement in iraq when we had 150,000 troops on the ground under bush. Bush is the one that signed the agreement pulling our troops out. He signed the agreement in 2011. The issue that this president didnt try hard enough is just ridiculous. Again, its easy to armchair quarterback and say how do you know, you werent in the room when they were trying to get it done. Ill tell you, look. Thats just you know, this president tried other people tried. The administration has more than just a president who were in the room. The military tried. And they did not want to go there. And as a congresswoman, when you were a troop, i wouldnt put you in a country like that. Without having a forces agreement like that. That is to protect you. Well lets back up, lets talk about the status of forces agreement. Bush signed it in 2011, to give the next president the authority to determine the future of americas role in respect. Thats respectful. The president did not do that in a afghanistan. He signed it to the end of 2016 because he wants to end it in his jurisdiction. But that hasnt been signed yet. The president keeps going back to his credit, to the Afghan Government and saying sign this. Karzai said no. He goes okay, well wait for the next guy, sign this. We think its going to happen. Thats what negotiating looks like. And the last point on that the rumors are we were offering 3,000 to 5,000 troops, the political cost to al maliki for 3,000, to 5,000 troops would basically exceed what the troops could do. I want to bring up something that general petraeus spoke about, about u. S. Involvement in iraq recently at a conference in london. He said and lets listen to this. If there is to be support for iraq, it has to be support for a government of iraq. That is a government of all the people this cannot be the United States being the air force for shia militias or a shiaonsunni arab fight. I think you both would agree that we have to approach this very carefully. So were not empowering one side ort other. The whole idea is to have a unified government. To end the sectarian violence. But congressman, this is a bit like detonating a bomb. You said we should have air strikes. Who are we doing them on behalf of . Were doing them on behalf of the people of isis. I agree with general petraeus. I would love to see a coalition government. The problem is and my concern, is that we cant wait until that happens before we now come in and stop the onslaught of isis. If we do, you may have a fall of the iraqi state. If the iraqi state falls, youll never be able to build it back up. You have to take it into consideration in terms of how youre dealing with al maliki and many of the isis, isis is moving across iraq. A lot of sunnis are joining them. Thats a problem. So were having, were joining shia and fighting sunni. Congresswoman, not long ago, president obama and Vice President biden were practically giddy about prospects for iraq. Take a listen. Iraqs not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But were leaving behind a sovereign, stable and selfreliant iraq. I am very optimistic about, about iraq. I think its going to be one of the great achievements of this administration. You know what, at the time they were absolutely right. Iraq was a success story. And then we abandoned it. And now it seems as though, while they were happy to take credit for stability that by the way they did not create, now they want no responsibility for the ensuing collapse afterwards. Its all bushs fault. Lets go back. Thats not correct. Look, im the one sitting here who took that vote on iraq. Okay . I voted not go in. First of all, the information, if people really wanted to get to the information, they would have understood we should have never gone in that way. The way that we did thats the first thing. That was the Bush Administration and his people and they may be trying to rewrite history today. But if you really go back and take a look, we should never have been in that country. Having been in that country, however there were some really tough things to get done. And we even put in the constitution, for example, vote for the kurds to actually take a vote on how they would interact in this and every single time that these sentcom commanders who were running the show out there. Would come before the committee and i would ask them what are you doing about article 140, what are you doing about unification, your know what their answer was . They would say god, congresswoman youve gotten to the meat of this thing and its very difficult to do and were going to get to this. And we left without ever having gotten to the real thing that we needed to do there. And that was, to work and making sure we left a government that was unifying the people. Not pulling them apart. You pulled all your troops out. We pulled our troops out because there was no agreement. Were going to come back to this. After a quick break. Next some advice to the wouldbe republican president s who think they can do a better job than president obama. But first, todays crossfire quiz, when was Nuri Al Maliki named as iraqs Prime Minister . Was in t in 2006, 2007, or 2010 . Well have the answer, when we come back. [ male announcer ] its one of the most Amazing Things we build and it doesnt even fly. We build it in classrooms and exhibit halls, mentoring tomorrows innovators. We build it raising roofs, preserving habitats and serving americas veterans. Every day, thousands of boeing volunteers help make their communities the best they can be. Building Something Better for all of us. That would be my daughter hi dad. Shes a dietitian. And back when i wasnt eating right, she got me drinking boost. Its got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. Helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. All with a delicious taste. Grandpa [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost. Welcome back, heres the answer to the crossfire quiz, Nuri Al Maliki was named iraqs Prime Minister in 2006. This afternoon president obama offered a responsible plan to help iraqs leaders fight a terrorist takeover. And as soon as he finished, wannabe president s like ted cruz and marco rubio rushed to the senate floor to offer rhetoric, but no actual plan. They want us to protect americans. Deal with the terrorist threat, and keep iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Those are all great ideas, and this is a doozy from last night when another wannabe commanderinchief said specifically, what do we do now . Lots of people are for airstrikes rurks for airstrikes . I think there are a number of ways, we dont have to signal all the things that were going to do. I asked rick perry last night about a half dozen times, would he suggest we do in iraq. And never got a clear answer. So thanks to all the wannabe president s for your glittering generalities and statements of the obvious, but being president means dealing with the details. And thinking through the consequences of military intervention. Sadly, i dont hear any of that serious work being done on the republican side of the aisle. In the crossfire tonight, representatives Loretta Sanchez and adam kinzinger, congressman, with the exception of you i was going to say no offense. Youre a veteran of these wars, you served in the air force, you still serve. And we honor that service. But there is no bench on the republican side of the aisle absent just basically saying, lets send troops in terms of thinking of thoughtful, responsible Foreign Policy approaches to some of our greatest problems right now. I think that will come out in all fairness, when you saw president obama talk about his plan when he was running, he didnt have a lot of details, either. He just said no iraq he got it right. He called afghanistan the good war. Now hes in a hurry to leave it i think we have a deep bench. Its going to be developed. Its pretty early. We still have jeb bush, chris christie, a lot of good candidates that as time goes on, theyre going to develop their Foreign Policy chops. Okay. Congresswoman sanchez, the president has assisted over and over again that al qaeda has been decimated and the world is a safer place and i think a lot of us would disagree. Hes fond of one particular metaphor to use when it comes to reasons why we should not be fighting terrorism abroad. Take a listen. Rather than try to play whackamole, wherever these terrorist organizations may pop up, we have to build effective partnerships, make sure they have capacity. You know, i remember playing whackamole, and its a fun metaphor, but its not completely honest. That implies that thats not whats happening right now. These terrorist organizations are multiplying and expanding. Theyre not just in iraq. Theyre in syria, theyre in the magreb, indonesia. Isnt he being dishonest about how serious and wide ranging this threat is . Look, threats are all around the world. And if were smart, we understand that our military is just one of the tools we have in our bag of tricks to be able to handle situations. And, you know, our military is the best educated, the best equipped, and the best trained that the world has ever seen. Historically has ever seen. And so everybodys rush to well, just put the military in there. What they forget is that our military is also a scarce resource. And so we do have to work where we can to multiply the effect with other troops, with other people. We have to work on the diplomatic side. The military is scarce, but were fierce and were really good at what we do. And you cannot have diplomacy with isis or al qaeda or the taliban, which is a whole other issue. Diplomacy doesnt work on people that are dead set on killing people that believe what we believe. You cant send an ambassador to isis. But there are economic situations, theres military strength which you can magnify in different ways. And you know, quite frankly im the wife of a veteran who spent 23 years. Hes a retired colonel out of the army. Im going to tell you we have plenty of friends who are military families. Theyre tired of holding the line for the rest of us. We have got to get better about diplomacy. About our our friends in the world are if we could wish a world where there was no war, trust me, id take out the magic wand and wave it. The problem is what were facing today is groups like isis, groups like lk lrk, groups that are metastasizing and killing people. What were saying, guys, is that its not one or the other. Right. And its a responsible approach is both. I agree. And that a way to fight terrorism is to develop some of these poor economies in africa, for instance, so people dont have to turn to terrorism. There are other options there. In the absence of Economic Development terrorism thrives. Thats very important in the longterm. Isnt that what youre saying. Or sanctions, for example, that weve seen work against iran to deter them from building a nuclear weapon. Or when we follow the finance trail with respect to how some of these terrorists are financing their situation. Actionable intelligence in particular is so incredible before we go in and send our military. Do you think were missing actionable intelligence in iraq . We are missing actionable intelligence for the very reason that my colleague said, that we moved out and we dont necessarily have everything that we know that we used to have on the ground. We need to go in and figure out real fast whats going on. Real fast. It should have been january. Hopefully not too late. Always nice when the milk is spilt and said we shouldnt have spilt the milk. We want you at home to weigh in on todays fireback question. Should the u. S. Send military advisers to iraq . Tweet and well have results after the break. We also have our outrages of the day. And today stephanie and i stand united. 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