Send us a tweet, post your comments on facebook, and you can also email us. During Opening Statements yesterday up on capitol hill before the Senate Armed Services committee, the joint chiefs of staff, general Martin Dempsey had this to say about the possibility of combat troops. Our military advisers will help the iraqis conduct campaign planning, and coordinate the coalition activities. If we reach a point where i believe our advisors sure accompany iraq troops on attacks on specific eye sill targets ill recommend that to the president. Saying that he will recommend that to the president , the possibility of combat troops, if he deems it necessary. Front page, courtesy of the museum here in washington this morning, with the headline, case for ground forces. They shows this, bipartisian support fraction, a majority in both parties back president obamas plan for military campaign against militants in iraq and syria. Bae 53 total approving, 29 disapproving, republicans back it by 64 to 27 , democrats 60 to 24 , and independents 47 to 33 . On this question of whether or not the u. S. Should put boots on the ground we want to know your thoughts. Robert, maryland, go ahead, robert. Caller thank you. I want to say you know, the ebola virus, this new strain of the first of all can you hear me . Mnchts h. Host yes, we can. How does that tie to what were talking about here . Caller i believe the person said you wanted people to talk about the comments about the ebola virus. Host no, sorry, were going to be talking about that coming up here in about 45 minutes. Were going to be were going to be talking about the ebola situation, but right now were talking about the possibility of Ground Troops to combat isis. Do you have thoughts on that robert . Caller yes, basically i believe that people have been saying for a while that the advisors are strictly that, but i believe theyre pretty much special ops troops. But more to the point what i want to talk about as far as the socalled advisors what we need to do to really less ten hatred that we are generated towards the country and around the world is we need to stop acting on behalf of israel. We we are looking on as being basically israels host robert, why do you think, what evidence do you have that we are acting on the behest of israel . Caller number one, theyve always had an issue regarding libya, you got libya, you got iran, you got iraq, you got syria, and basically they have been about seven, eight countries that israel has pretty much wanted to bring within its submission so they can be pretty much the predominant power in the league. We fund them way beyond anyone else in this world when it comes to military preparedness. Host we provide aid to these other countries, as well. Were getting your thoughts on u. S. Ground troops. May be needed to combat isis, that is what the Senate Armed Services committee yesterday heard from the joint chiefs when testifying up on capitol hill. We covered the whole hearing. If you missed it, by the way, go to the web site cspan. Org. But first, joining us on the phone is bob cusack. The editor in chief, to talk about the what we heard up on capitol hill yesterday. Lets begin with that hearing yesterday. What was the reaction from democratic and republican lawmakers . Well, the reaction very strong certainly from the left and democrats, theres this growing concern among democrats that theres a bit of a Mission Creep that were going to get into a situation, and the troops are going to eventually be there. Now, of course, after dempseys comments yesterday the white house stressed again theres not going to be any Ground Troops, and thats not an option. Dempsey was saying he possibly could recommend Ground Troops or operatives, certainly in decisions if they were needed. So that happening on the eve of the house vote today certainly complicated things for the white house and set off a bit of a frenzy. On the republican side there are republicans who are going to vote against this syria aid package but most republicans are i think in the house are going to vote yes, and some of them do not like the fact that president obama has taken Ground Troops off the table. Host after six hours of debate on the house floor yesterday, they will vote, the republicans, as you said, on this aid to syria. That is to train and equip the Syrian Forces. What did we hear from general dempsey and defense secretary hagel about the length of time and how its going to work to train these Syrian Rebels . Well, its going to take months, and its at least going to take three months, three to around five months perhaps six months to arm and train them. The major concern is that these arms are going to fall into the wrong hands and isis could eventually get them. Can we actually train these Syrian Forces . Its going to be very difficult and if you look at the experience of the u. S. Training iraq troops, as well as afghanistan troops, a lot of people forgetting we have the United States has major decisions on troop levels in afghanistan at the end of this year, and part of the quandary is that there its been seen, its been a failure to train troops both in iraq and afghanistan for them to take over, and thats why weve been there so long. Host despite this hesitation, despite these concerns, your headline on the hill web site this morning, the hill. Com, lawmakers we will pass this syria aid. It looks like it has the votes, greta, looks like theres going to be a lot of republicans voting yes. But not enough just on republicans alone to get it through the house. A number of democrats were saying yesterday that in order for this to pass at least a third of the Democratic Caucus to a half of the Democratic Caucus needs to vote yes to push it to the necessary 218 votes to pass. So you know, we well see, i think a key element yesterday thatuwe have in our store today was that was the vote on the rule that allows the vote to happen on the actual bill, there were only a handful of republicans and a handful of democrats who voted no the rule. Thats a procedur procedural vo. But if you feel adamant about something youll vote on the rule and the bill. The fact that there were only a handful of votes, there will be a lot more no votes today, lets be clear on that, but this is a situation where it looks like they have the votes, the white house is onboard with this bill. They are urging their caucus to vote yes, but if you talk to a lot of the liberal lawmakers, and we did yesterday, theyre concerned. Theyre concerned about looking back at history, the vote on the iraq war. So the white house really needs a strong vote. They dont need to limp across the finish line, they need a strong vote or its going to look like kind of a divided congress barely gets this over the top. Very vote is important to the white house. Host does that mean the white house is picking up the phone and talking to its own party and the republicans and are the is the democratic leadership in the house whipping this vote . Theyre not tick technically whipping it, but they are they want as many yes votes. Theyre urging the caucus to vote yes, but not technically whipping it. But they certainly want yes votes. They know this is a vote of conscience. If somebody feels strongly theyre not going to convince them otherwise. I have been struck by how many calls the administration has been making on this. It shows you how important it is, ranging from the president to the Vice President , to Senior Administration officials, this is the white house that has been criticized for not calling members of congress on a regular basis, but they have been burning up the phone lines this week. Host the other headline on the fill. Com this morning is from the speak he of the house saying the president can still ask for broad use of force authority. Is that likely to happen before the election . No, it is not. This is the only vote were going to see, should it pass. There could be another vote if it doesnt pass. I think it will pass. This is the only vote before the election that were going to see. Remember, lawmakers need to pass a government funding bill, they want to pass this syria aid as part of it. And then they want to go back to the campaign trail. Theyre not long for washington. And so john boehner saying if the president wants to get a broad authorization passed by congress, well, the onus is on him to submit it to the congress. And certainly there are democrats and republicans who believe there should be a broad straight up or down vote on this, not this what critics are saying is a small buy in for congress to approve this. So will there be this broad authorization post election . Maybe. There is certainly going to be a lot of debate when they come back after the election. And, of course, we dont know what the situation is going to be now, but there is no doubt about it, theres going to be debate on it. Authorization vote before the election . No chance. Host what about in the senate . Another headline is senator tim cain is proposing to limit troops. Its fascinating that he has been pushing back at this white house, remember cain was a finalist to be obamas running mate in 2008, hes one of three finalists. He has been adamant that he supports air strikes but he wants this resolution that would remove prior authorizations, post 9 11 authorization, as well as authority for the iraq war. And that sentiment has support in congress, even among some republicans. Theyre wary of having different war resolutions that the executive branch can rely onto go into other countries. So kaine is pushing this, has been pushing it for weeks, and it certainly has raised some eyebrows over it the white house. Host bob cusack, this benghazi hearing, the select committee has been formed. Theyre going to hold the first public hearing this morning. What will you be watching for . Well, theres certainly going to be a lot of theater here. Hes the chairman of the committee, he does not want to have a lot of theater, he wants a thorough investigation. This investigation is going to go into next year. He says it could end probably by the end of 2015. Some of the witnesses are state department official, former director of the secret service, who have been part of a best Practices Panel that as the panel was formed to look at security, at diplomatic sites around the country, around the world, u. S. Sites, and how they can be protected better. I think the focus is going to be what they learned from benghazi. And gowdy criticized the review that the state department did on benghazi, something clinton said they reviewed this, and gowdy says thats not an independent review. Regardless theres going to be some theater here. The relationship between gowdy, and cummings is good, certainly at the moment. Well see where that goes from here, but with the backdrop of the 2016 president ial election, there are liberal groups who started a web site to push back on any republican claim that they feel is false. So the liberals are mobilizing to get ready for todays big hearing. Host all right. Thank you for your time. Thanks, greta. Host we will be covering that hearing this morning, the first public hearing of the House Select Committee on benghazi, 10 00 a. M. Eastern time on cspan three. Were getting your thoughts on u. S. Ground troops may be needed to combat isis. William, port republic, maryland, republican caller, william, do you agree . Caller i kind of disagree about the entire conflict. I mean, i kind of see this as big dismanipulating our government again specifically oil. I mean, isis they finance themselves by selling bootlegged oil at 25 a barrel. You get enough cheap oil like that on the market prices at the pump go down. I think somehow behind the scenes Big Oil Companies have been able to turn this deal into something that we can actually put people in harms way to try to stabilize their profits. Thats my view on this whole thing. Host well go next to mike, tucson, arizona, republican caller. Mike, whats your view . Caller i keep seeing this climb of dempsey making the statement of he would recommend to the president boots on the ground. He says he does not recommend that at this time, and then also he goes through this three faced description of how he views the whole situation. And that is we can either go in there and clean that place up ourselves, which hasnt worked, or try to form a coalition, or we can get the people there to do it themselves. Right now thats what hes recommending, getting the people there to do it themselves, not sending in more Ground Troops. It seems like the news is misrepresented exactly what he said. Host and like i said, mike, earlier we covered that hearing, so if you want to watch it unfiltered watched it. Theyre showing one statement that he made, that contradicts what obama had said, and its theyre making a big deal out of nothing. Host go to our web site if you missed it, if others missed it. Caller i watched the whole thing. Host you did. Im saying for others, if they missed it and seen what other media is showing you. This is from the Washington Times this morning. General democracys comments sent the rest of the country scrap binging. Eric in georgia, democratic carl, your thoughts this morning. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I would only agree to Ground Troops if there was if they started the draft, because so that the poor and middle class kids wont be the only ones going over there, and the upper class, the top 10 , i guess, their children will be involved in it, too. Host okay. Caller if there was let me finish, please. Host sure. Caller there was a draft, and it passed to do a draft i guarantee you they would stop talking about going over there, because the wealthy dont want their kids going to a slaughterhouse. Host okay. George, a republican caller, your view this morning. Caller im a retired military officer, and im also a research ph. D. My view of this whole issue is that you cannot stop whats going on purely by drone strikes. You have to have boots on the ground. Unfortunately were going to have to get the buy in from the other countries, the other supporting nations, in order to make this thing work. If the u. S. Maintains its position as purely an air war, more or less identifying and hitting select targets thats well and great but you have to have boots on the ground. At this point i do not believe it should be american citizens. Host okay. So george do you think this could work with boots on the ground from other countries . Caller absolutely. Absolutely. Host but take a look at the Washington Times headlines. These u. S. Trained Syrian Rebels not likely to hit the battlefield until 2015. Caller they arent the only solutions, they arent the only ones who have skin in the game as it relates to this whole issue. This thing is far more complex than anything weve ever come up across before. And were going to have to think outside of the box to solve these challenges that are before us. Host all right. Jim, fisherville, georgia, democratic caller. Hi, jim. Jim, good morning to you. Fisherville, virginia, democratic caller. One last call for jim. Let me go on to scotty in, west virginia, independent caller. You there . Caller yes, maam. Host youre on the air. Caller i dont think boots on the ground is the solution. I think that if we did go there, we would have to get other countries to fall in line behind us because without a plan to set up a government we seen what happens. Look at iraq, we spent billions of dollars and lost countless lives, and right now its falling right back into the hands of the way it was. We lost equipment out there that theyre using against our own soldiers now. Our borders are unsecure right now. Whats keeping ios is to coming up from mexico . Its easy to get around the world nowadays, with planes being stolen and stuff. Our borders is going to have to be secured, number one, or isis is going to march right up through mexico. And a lot of politicians know this and a lot of people in this country know this, and im just host there has been questions about that theory, and the possibility of that happening. Folks are saying that people on the right, on the republican side, are saying this is a possibility but Homeland Security, fbi Officials Say they dont see that happening. Caller then tell me why did Homeland Security and buy up all these bullets . Enough to fight three wars. Thats public knowledge. Host where did you hear that story . Caller its all over. Its in the news and everywhere else. Thats i mean, look it up. Its fact. They got all this ammunition stored backed and bottled up, and if theyre not going to use it to protect our borders, what are they going to use it on . And as far as these camps that think got setup, fema, you know, which is part of Homeland Security, supposedly all these camps are being built and set up, what they going to use them for . I figure, you know, this is something that the American People know this. Were not were not as dumb as these politicians think we are. Host all right. On your point about a government needing to be set up in iraq and other areas, here is the washington journal. The iraqi lawmakers are stalling on key posts to their government. Iraqis parliament rejected two appointees. A sign the Prime Minister is struggles to set up an exclusive government host william in alabama, independent caller, youre on the air, william. Go ahead. Caller okay. Well, i just want to say the deal with isis, they come up, whatever you call them, they come out of nowhere overnight it seems like. And everything boils down to oil over there. They have been sticking each other with swords for, what, 15,000 years. And we trying to make them live like americans. They dont want to, and were trying to make them do that. Thats not never going to work. The religion thing and the way and thats just a little bit of it, you know. Host cody in alabama, whats your take . I think that this is all just perpetuated back to 9 11 and shoddy arabia. We have been huntin