situation is "very bad," where they control about 80% of the province. some in that country are calling for a return of ground troops to iraq. leading members of congress have been calling for the same thing. beyond the advisors now inside that country, this question, should the president reconsider his earlier claims that no ground troops go back to iraq? our phone lines are open at 202-585-3881 for republicans. democrats, 202-585-3880. for i happened penalties, the number is 202-585-3882. join us on twitter. send us an email. or on facebook, it's facebook.com/cspan. good sunday morning to you. this is the front page of "the washington post," a lock at the situation inside syria, where the isis forces are coming from. it's called "foreign fighters flow to syria." 18,000 militants from 08 nations have entered syria to help overthrow the regime of president assad, that according to a study by outside groups. many fighters are believed to have joined units now part of the islamic state, including 3,000 from tunisia, 130 believed to come from the u.s., and nearly 500 from great britain. this story from the "washington times," iraq pleads for u.s. ground troops as the islamic state closes in on baghdad. here are the details -- as troops move closer to iraqi officials have issued a plea of american ground troops to return to the country. nearly 1,500 u.s. troops are already stationed in baghdad training the iraqi army. one senior u.s. defense official says it is fragile right now, but it's tough and challenging. the turkish-syrian border in kobane has also made headlines as kurdish fighters struggle to protect the city from the islamic state jihadists who are in an area just outside of turkey. some speculating that the terrorist groups attack on kobane was part of a distraction, a tactic to draw attention away from the campaign in the anbar province. let's get to your calls in just a moment, but first, a look at the other sunday morning programs, all of which can be heard on c-span radio later today, and as always, with that, here's nancy. >> top oiks today's sunday talk shows including the ebola virus, same-sex marriage, the fight against isis, and the midterm elections. you can hear rebroadcasts of the programs on c-span radio beginning at noon eastern with nbc's "meet the press." today's guests include susan rice and former secretaries of state henry kissinger and james baker. at 1:00 p.m., a replay of abc's "this week" with general martin dempsey, housing and urban development secretary, and representative mike rogers, chairman of the house intelligence committee. also on the program, dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at the n.. hifment. at 2:00, it's fox news sunday. guests include the man who helped lead the legal team that challenged virginia's gay marriage ban. also tony perkins, president of the family research council. cnn's state of the union follows at 3:00 p.m. with the chairman of the republican national committee and congresswoman and chair of the democratic national committee. finally at 4:00 eastern, it's "face the nation" with the director of the centers for disease control and prevention, representative mike mccall, and former defense secretary and former c.i.a. director leon panetta. the sunday network tv talk shows are on c-span radio, and they're brought to you as a public service by the networks and c-span. again, the rebroadcast of the shows begin at noon eastern with "meet the press." 1:00, "this week." at 2:00 p.m., fox news sunday. 3:00, cnn's "state of the union." finally, 4:00 p.m., face the nation from cbs. listen to them all on c-span radio 90.1 f.m. here in washington, d.c., and across the country on x.m. channel 120. you can also download our free app for your smartphone or c-span.org.e at >> cnn reporting this morning, you can see the darker shaded area to the west of baghdad is where isis troops now have firm control of about 80% of that province and about eight miles from the baghdad airport. the question this morning, should u.s. ground troops return to iraq? on our facebook page, you can share your zphauts send us a tweet. only if other members of the united nations agree that we go in together, it's only that the u.s. absolutely know, know, know. brenda, good morning, democrats line. caller: yes, good morning. i disagree with sending troops back over there, too. you know, it needs to be a coalition, other countries, other countries that are surrounding that area need to get involved with it. host: thanks for the call. we'll go to layer any washington, d.c., republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. yes, he should send troops back in. he withdrew the troops in 2011, and a lot of people -- winston churchill says this constitutes warfare. if you do nothing, it's just going to escalate and escalate. things are heading towards a nuclear world war. we got civilization. he has to take force to deal with the radical islamist, raping women and killing children. send troops in and destroy them. plain and simple. radical islamists. host: larry, thanks. henry in new york city. the question, u.s. ground troops, should they return to iraq? good morning. what's your take? caller: good morning. no, absolutely not. there are other options. very briefly, one is addition it was suggested, address the financial infrastructure by destroying the oil refineries. the other option would be what was used in the vietnam war in 1968. saturation bombing of troop formations with dumb bombs. i know both are unpopular, but saturation bombing will destroy a lot. host: ok. we'll go to glen in lakeland, florida. good morning. democrats line. caller: good morning. how you doing? host: fine, thank you. caller: no, he shouldn't send troops back in, because the purpose of the air strikes is to destroy infrastructure and logistics for isis. the purpose is not to stop isis militants in the city, then also they report that you have 300,000 middle eastern troops that are there to do the ground -- i mean, do the ground combat fighting. it's never reported you have a certain amount of ground forces. it's always about, well, let americans come in. why let americans come in? host: ok. glen, thanks for the call. from the "telegraph," there is this story who writes, iraqi officials have issued a desperate plea for america to bring u.s. ground troops back to the embattled country, as heavily armed islamic state militants coming within striking distance of baghdad amid reports that isis forces have advanced as far as a town that is a suburb of baghdad. a senior governor claiming that 10,000 fighters from the movement were now poised to assault the capital city. most of the euphrates valley, which runs southeast from turk toy syria into iraq and towards the capital, is now under isis control. were ramadi to fall, they would control a vital chain directly back to their headquarters. we're also getting comments online on facebook. we want you also to like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. a couple of comments, gary says we should not have gone in the first place, and nicole jordan says no, no, a million times no. from roundup, montana, republican line. bob, good morning. caller: good morning. i was watching glenn beck, and i agree complete well him, absolutely not one more dollar, not one more life, not one more time. let them work it out. we have to work them, but we cannot put any more in there to die and come home in caskets. no. that's my comment. host: thank you. edward christian says restore the draft, include all 18-year-old male and female and do not exempt college students. then maybe congress will wake up. our next call is jason from cleveland, independent line. ood morning. caller: good morning. since the united states added government with saudi arabia and other ones, weaponized, like this, i think they should go wherever they made the mess and go clean it up. some of us who are aware of what's going on know that it's the united states and coalition forces that funded, trained, and weaponized the islamic state. they should go clean it up. host: arkansas, democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning. yes, i support troops on the ground. we need to show these people the most extreme brutality that humans can exact. these people need to be slaughtered. we need to go back to the 1880's and learn how we took care of this uprising the first time. host: we'll go to mike joining us from florida on the republican line. good morning, mike. caller: hell snow host: yes, you're on the air. go ahead, please. caller: i should be on the i understand pen line, but that's ok. i'm a former u.s. army veteran, and i wanted to say that i'm also studying to be a teacher. as far as history goes, if we go in there and take care of one insurgency, if we don't provide a foundation via a coalition to protect the interest of that area for themselves, there's a high likelihood that another insurgency will fill that void. host: how do you do that? what's your recommendation? caller: i will definitely say betterering with the coalition, the united nations, getting a group of countries over there that are all working for a better middle eastern state. they i'm need to work together, just like nafta works together, just like the european union. we all work together in unison for our better interests. the meelingds needs to follow suit. host: ok. when did you leave the military? caller: i left about six years ago. host: army, air force, navy marks reason? caller: army, a military police officer. host: thanks very much. appreciate it. i want to show you another map, this courtesy of cbs news, as isis encroaches, the ultimate prize in iraq is baghdad. again, it gives you a sense whereof these troops are coming from inside syria, also some from jordan as well, and moving along the western part of iraq known as the anbar province heading in towards baghdad, and now reportedly only about eight miles from the capital airport. joyce from murraysville, pennsylvania, republican line. should u.s. ground troops return to iraq? good morning. caller: no, i don't think they should send our men and women in there until nations such as turkey and saudi arabia send some of their troops to the area. host: ok. we'll go next to mike in new castle, pennsylvania. democrats line, good morning. caller: yes, i agree with several callers. the ground troops, no, not right now. they need to have more support from the other countries. but i would definitely send bombs and bomb the area. host: well, worry doing that now, so the question is, should we enhance with additional ground troops to supplement what we're doing from the air? caller: not until the other countries do their part to take care behalf needs to be done. host: ok, thanks. mike, thanks for the call. arthur from missouri, independent line. good morning. caller: yeah, good morning. how are you? host: fine, thank you. caller: yeah, it seems that c-span promotes the drum beat for war, and killing as a would i of life now. do we not have enough killing in our very own country? leave other people's affairs alone and deal with their own. i'm just sick and tired of hearing about what's going on in the middle east, and i think we keep promoting that so people get the support of the people to go and kill those folks, but they want to kill themselves, let them kill themselves. we got enough killing in our own country, and thank you, and have a great day. host: arthur, thanks for the call. the only thing we're promoting is your feedback on these issues. normally the first 45 minutes reflect on what is being written about this morning or talked about from cnn and british newspapers as well on u.s. ground troops, as we look at the situation inside iraq. thank you for your call. carol has this point on her twitter page saying, to say that other countries should send in troops is like saying money should grow on trees t. on't happen if we don't do it. kxan reporting there's been a second case of ebola. preliminary testing sthage a second person in texas has tested positive for ebola. the department releasing the information at about 4:20 a.m. this morning after results came back from a preliminary testing late yesterday at a state public health laboratory in austin, texas. health officials saying that a healthcare worker at the texas health presbyterian hospital who provided care for thomas eric duncan, who died this past week, reported a low-grade fever on friday night. that individual has been isolated and tested. again, the headline, a dallas health worker is testing positive for ebola. next is maurice joining us from maywood, illinois, democrats line. ood morning. caller: good morning. i think it's disen genuous to ask that question. you guys are almost predictable when you come up asking that uestion. the enemy is winning. i mean, it's a simple -- yeah, you want to ask, what's the next best thing to do, but i'm pretty sure you want to ask that question, they wouldn't even consider that question if they was surrounding israel. i mean, israel is a great nation. i don't think they're being fair. why don't they wait and see, wait and see what happens? i think panetta and them warned, if they pull the troops out, this is going to happen, so you know, we don't have to be this simple, do we? host: ok from. michael, this on twitter, saying there's no political will among the world's political leaders to do more than drop bombs so they can say they are doing something. this morning inside the "new york times," in baghdad, bombings kill over 50 in the capital city. a rash of bombings in several districts around greater baghdad yesterday killed more than 50 people, wounding nearly 100, uneverybody ining the capital on for what many was a final day of a week-long holiday. a suicide bomber detonating his explosives in baghdad in the rural northern outer skirts of the capital city killing 14, wounding 27. that was the first of a series of bombs that took place yesterday in the city. next is bill from gloversville, new york, democrats line. the question, should u.s. ground troops return to iraq? good morning to you. caller: good morning. just have a comment right away on the one comment that that guy made about c-span. c-span is one of the best things i've ever seen on tv. i'm 49 years old, ok? so never mind about him. as you know, isis has been trying to come to this country and promote terrorism right here in the united states, so it is our business. i must agree with one person who said that if we don't do something, then nobody else is going to do it. so yes, something needs to be done. i do believe we need to put some forces back on the ground over there. like the one caller said, we already put a lot of our stuff over there, and the other people are using it. so yes, we do need to put some, but it needs to go back to congress and everything like that. we need to do better home work and get people back over there, because even training them, training the troops and stuff, and clearly they're not using it the way it should be used, and just like when we were dropping eight and isis was stealing it, we really need to get some some folks back over there, maybe want as many as before, but we should have people on the ground over there for the support. i believe that, yes. host: a live look at the u.s. capitol on this sunday morning, a few weeks before the election, foreign policy, one of the issues driving the mid-term elections, and the testimony of general martin dempsey. he testified in mid-september before the senate armed services committee and was asked this by republican senator kelly ayotte of new hampshire. >> would you agree with me, though, that air strikes are much more effective with having our special forces or having a capability in terms of the effectiveness of strikes on the round with our people? >> it depends on the kind of contact that that the two forces are having. let me explain. when the forces are separate, when isil is at some geographic separation from the iraqi security forces, it's not very difficult at all to discriminate between the targets. >> sure, but isn't our problem is when they're not out in open space, when we have to distinguish between, for example, civilian targets? >> that is correct. >> then our people are very effective at that? >> yeah, absolutely. and that's where i was headed. if we get into a circumstance where the forces are very intermingled, then the target discrimination becomes more difficult. but i will say, this is not a light switch. either you do it or you don't. there are technologies available that we dent have five years ago that allow us to actually apply force and to see the situation on the ground in ways we couldn't before. but i'm not walking away from what i said f. we get to the oint where i think we need the jtac with the iraqi security forces, i'll make the recommendation. >> you do not think we need that at this time? >> i do not. >> has general austin, what was his thought on this, given that he's the centcom commander, his prior experience in iraq? >> on the mosul dam operation, the one i described earlier, which was very complicated, as much by the introduction of the two different forces speaking two different languages, he did suggest that we should use the jtax in a company role. as we discussed it, he found a way to do it as i described it to you. host: the testimony of general dempsey, and that took place in mid-september. the question we're asking, and we want to you join in on the conversation, should u.s. ground troops return to iraq? our phone lines are open, 202 is the area code, 585-3881 is our line for republicans. 202-585-3880 for democrats f. you're an independent, 202-585-3882. you can also joinous social media, at facebook, or send us @cspanwj. and this is a map or a photograph courtesy of cnn to show you some of the movement of the isis workers, their familiar black flag. and from cnn.com, there's this, americans are steadfastly opposed to sending u.s. ground troops to fight isis in iraq and syria, but an overwhelming number of people continue to support the u.s.-led air strikes against the terrorist group, according to a late september cnn poll. while fewer than four in 10 americans favor sending u.s. ground troops into combat situations against isis, there is a wide spread belief that such an action is inevitable. only 24% of americans do not think that the u.s. will send combat troops inside battle and isis. 36%, according to polls, saying it's likely, and 39% saying it is somewhat likely. again, that this morning from cnn.com. frank is writing about president obama. it's called appetite bill and barack. in the body of the story, he's also quoting leon panetta, who's out with his new book, in which he said that the president relies on a law professor rather than on the passion of a leader. we'll be covering leon panetta for c-span2's book tv. you can check out the scheduling information at booktv.org. next from texas, gordon is on the phone. welcome to the conversation. > guys are getting metal problems, getting disabled, and we've got to stop this, stop the mutilation of our young generation. i don't want our boys getting hurt. we don't need no more ground troops. i've seen enough action. i know what these kids are going through. we need to stop the war. host: gordon, thanks for the call. let me go back to the piece and a little bit more from what leon panetta is writing in his book. he points out that "it comes into sharper more troubling focus with each new book, including panetta's worthy fight, published last week. the reservations expressed by panetta, who served under obama as both c.i.a. director and defense secretary seconded those articulated by so many ther democrats -- host: wayne from houston, texas, democrats line. caller: yeah, i think this drum beat from the media out of control. from my understanding, we're talking about 30,000 to 40,000 isis troops. why is it we understood to send our army over there to take troops? ust 30,000 you can never fully eliminate terrorism. that's like saying you're going to eliminate racism. terrorism is everywhere. so what if we go over there and fight these people. they're not just in iraq. this drum beat is just completely out of control. thank you for your time. host: thank you, wayne. and joe says this, if iraq is asking for help, we have to answer that call if for no reason other than they are slaughtering human beings. in case you're wondering, we certainly did, why the flag is at half-staff here at the u.s. capitol, the reason can be found this morning. flags at half-staff for fallen firefighters. american flags across the country lowered today in honor of the firefighters who died in the line of duty. this includes the u.s. capitol and the white house, as well as federal buildings around the country. frank is joining us this morning. go ahead, frank. >> hi. i was thinking about the fact that when the united states troops were there, there was always an issue between shiites and sunnis, and that's still the case today between iraq, iran, and the other shiite-sunni factions at each other's throat, isis being the more extreme. but united states to go back in there right now is wrong. once iran thinks they're threatened, then they'll do something big time, and they'll support the united states efforts, as well as maybe even turkey, because right now turkey's status is sacrificing their own citizens. as far as the humanitarian crisis is happening, there's so many people dying, i think the fact that we lost over 4,000 troops in iraq just makes it unfeasible for us to go in there right now, including other nations that are -- others like france, germany, and britain. host: tom, thanks for the call. today's "washington post," how we leave and what we leave behind, a look at the situation in iraq, or in afghanistan, it should say, the height of the ar in afghanistan. the analysis of richard johnson this morning inside "the washington post." next is tom from brookfield, illinois, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. my comment would be, this is an election year in three weeks here. people are forgetting that not very many decisions are going to be made before the election. after the election, we're going to see some more decisions. my second question -- host: would one of those decisions include ground troops? caller: it's possible. host: should it? caller: well, in my opinion, i think there should be an equal amount of ground troops from a large coalition around the world. host: tony next in texas. good morning. caller: good morning. isn't this strange that turkey is nothing at this point in time? isis is approaching the turkish border. turkey is doing nothing. and turkey is opposed to the government of assad. and nothing is happening at this time. turkey needs to move its forces. it needs to open the boreders and protect the people in kobane, let the people in kobane come in so they're not slaughtered, and until them and arab decide that they're going to stand up against isis, the united states should let them kill each other. host: ok. thanks for the call. from the "new york times" sunday magazine, food is the topic this morning. food and your children, what should children eat is the question this morning from the "new york times" magazine and "new york post," reporting more on ebola and the developing situation at j.f.k. airport. the first of a series of airports to conduct a screening program. "new york post" reporting that the coast guard medical team with temperature probes checking for signs of the virus among passengers arriving from west africa. customs inspectors are also asking customers to fill out questionnaires and provide them with contact information. oont we'll the coast guard will be replaced with what "the new york post" is calling professional medical staff, similar screening, planning for newark, o'hare, atlanta's hartsfield airport, and that will begin in the next week. next call is monique in port angels, washington. good morning. how are you today? caller: i'm good. i'm calling to say that i believe there should be air strikes, but not ground troops, because if isis can get out of hand there, there's no telling what's going to come to other countries. so something should be done. host: ok. thanks for the call from washington state, up early on this sunday morning. and the tax fight, what to expect when the congress returns for a lame duck session. they will determine which expired tax credits are renewed and for how long. alvin is joining from us kentucky, democrats line. good morning. caller: how you doing, sir? i'll be brief, and i'm a little nervous, but i'm going to get to the point. i believe that something need to be done. we cannot allow people just to be massacred by the thousands every day. america has to show some type of leadership because it appears that no one else wants to. but that being said, we need to commit to doing something or just sitting down and doing nothing at all and making things -- and just creating a bigger problem. and that's it. have a nice day. you did a great job. all of my feelings about this is, the american people have to get back to the survival oncencts we want had -- we had back in the world war. wars.r military fight our in the suits should keep their mouth shut about it. host: excellent call. from the washington times, the situation continues to unfold western iraq. ground troops.s. as the islamic state closes on baghdad. from new york ,