Let us know what you think about the program youre watching. Call us at 202 6263400, or email us at comments at cspan. Org. Joined as cspan conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Now todays edition of washington journal. In this first segment we asked viewers if they thought the Current Situation in iraq was created by u. S. Inaction in syria. We also got an update on Hillary Clinton and relationship with president obama. This portion is just shy of 50 minutes. Host let me sure the front page of the Washington Times morning. Obamas doctrine in action onacn syria led to the iraq crisis. Here is what been walking report their president obama underam the shadow of syria where heress resisted similar calls to analys intervene. Form and action to analysts and even formerer diplomats admit sewn ts seeds of the iraqi conflict. F state Hillary Rodham clinton became the latest to slam the white houses handling of iraq, she backed off of those statements yesterday. Mrs. Clinton, republicans, many Foreign Policy analysts, and other critics say mr. Obama failed to contain in syria the Islamist Groups that morphed into the Islamic State. And inadvertently helped the militants coopt the larger Rebel Movement against syrian president bashar alassad. We talked about that yesterday here on the we talked about this yesterday here on the washington journal, and mrs. Clintons interview with the Atlantics Jeffrey Goldberg where she said this to him about syria. The family to build up a credible fighting force of the people were the originators of the protests against assad, islamist, secularist, everything in the middle. The failure to do that, she said, left a big vacuum with the jihadists have now filled. So do you think inaction in syria has led to the Current Crisis in iraq . President obama, when he sat down on friday, talked about this as well with tom friedman. We will show you his reaction to this criticism as well but first lets hear from marissa from montana. Democratic caller. She is up first. Go ahead. What are your thoughts . Caller thank you, thank you for cspan. Cspan come your awesome. I watch you everyday but i dont everybody about you. Thank you for booktv. Thank you. Fantasies been. You are so important to the democracy of the United States of america. Anyways, my comment is that president obama doesnt stand a chance but he doesnt matter if it dont mean it wouldve gone wrong. If he didnt win it would have been wrong. He cant just do whatever he wants to do. Its willynilly, its dependent on the circumstances and the console the with the human everybody members correctly. When he drew the line and sent about the Nuclear Weapons he consulted again with the u. N. And they went in and theyre destroying all the Nuclear Weapons. President obamas time to the best he possibly can. Cspan, thank you so much for having that on tv, people for the ethical treatment of animals on. It was wonder. Thank you for having to do. Thank you cspan. Host want to hear from others as well, republicans, democrats, independents and the fourth one set aside for iraq veterans. Do you think that going into this year, anything and she has led to the situation in iraq that we are seeing with the Islamic State fighters taking over territory there and not president obama going in, and assisted 130 military advisers to go into work on rescuing those Kurdish People that are stuck on the mountains, and also wall street journal as we told you reporting this morning that the president weighing in at the military weighing some sort of rescue Mission Operation as well. So republicans 202 5853881. Democrats 202 5853880 and independents, all others 202 5853882. Iraq war veterans 2025853882. Were getting your thoughts on did in action lead to the situation in the iraq crisis. The Financial TimesEditorial Board, they are saying this about britain and what britain needs to do about the iraq crisis now iraq crisis saying any reticence on mr. Camerons part might be traced back to last summer when he lost a parliamentary vote contemplating action in syria. It goes on to say the next paragraph down, though, however, cameron must put any personal wound aside and recognize that isis is an even greater menace than bashar alassad, the syrian president. It is not a dictatorship with ambitions that stop at is own national borders. It is a Transnational Movement that ultimately wants to reach into the mediterranean and into turkey. It has also lured british jihadists to its cause. It is a subject that demands the immediate attention of the Prime Minister. If they decide against any further measure in taking on isis, that is a defensible decision. Outright silence is not. The Financial Times saying thats part the the Financial Times saying that as part of the u. S. Led invasion of 2003, britain is complicit in iraqs disarray. We will go to robert in toledo, ohio, independent caller. Robert, what do you think, did in action and certainly to the iraq crisis . Caller know. The inaction if we dont cost of the war criminals in our government. Iraq was a war crime, so serious, so was libya. The list goes on and on. Our government dispenses of terror around the world, and we do not we do nothing about it. We need to prosecute our leaders. Host all right, robert. Tennessee, what are your thoughts . Caller hello. First off, i do want to quickly make a comment on what the children from ohio said. I agree with a lot of what he says actually. With the exception of the fact that i dont believe that all of our leaders are in on this and i dont believe that its necessary america so much as a coop of america by bunch of transNational Organizations and businesses who really make a lot of profit off of every aspect of war. So there there been so many amn people fear for a long time. We are starting to wake a. I just want to let them know that this is actually im sorry, im a little bit nervous here. Host thats all right tragedy to track everything we do nowadays. Its something we need to have a lot of long conversations about. And i dont think that war is ever going to let anything. I think if we were to spend the past to point some trillion dollars we spent on war over the past 10, 15 years on free energy technology, we probably would be a lot better off and the world would probably be a lot safer. With that, thank you very much. Host detroit, michigan, democratic caller. Caller i just wanted to say that it is possible that not going into syria could have caused this to come about, but i saw on the news yesterday that president obama had made an announcement that he was willing to centuries into syria, but he wanted to get congresses approval. So congress, the republicans, could not get the vote to go into syria. And so the president did not. So now all of this has come about. Its a possibility. Mwr may not have caused it, but he did want to go into syria. But the republicans were too afraid to take a vote and it failed. Host you say blame is on both sides in . Caller no, because the president wanted to go. He said that he would give congress, he would go before congress and get the right to go in there with troops. And congress did not do it. They held a vote but it did not hold. You know, it failed. They could got they could not get enough people of all the splitting going on in congress. Host on that note heres the Washington Post this morning with the headline, tim kaine, democrat from virginia wants congressional authorization of iraq airstrikes. The airstrikes that were seeing now. And inside the peace, it says a on tuesday, called on president obama to seek congressional authorization for the Ongoing Operations in iraq especially if military engagement is expected to continue for several weeks or months. Kaine welcomes the nomination of Haider Alabadi to serve as iraqs Prime Minister and the humanitarian Mission Underway in the country, but it is now up to the administration to receive congressional authorization for the current air campaign against the Islamic State. The piece goes on to say that kain seshgs a vocaled a voe kaine is a vocal advocate for overhauling the war authorization act for when to seek reaction. And last fall he teamed up with john mccain, a republican of arizona, to revive the law a move that earned global attention because it became as president obama was seeking congressional approval for military intervention in syria. Later, kaine and other lawmakers heralded obamas decision to seek Congressional Authority even though he ultimately decided not to intervene in syria. Like we said, president obama sat downit tomiedm like we said, president obama sat down with tom friedman, the New York Times columnist, for 60 minutes and talk all the different issues around the world but heres what the president had to say about those who have criticized his decision on syria. With respect to syria, its always been a fantasy, this idea that we could provide some light arms or even more sophisticated arms to what was essentially an opposition made up of former doctors, farmers, pharmacists and so forth, and that they were going to be able to battle not only a well armed state, but also a well armed state backed by russia, backed by iran, a battle hardened hezbollah, and that was never in the cards. Host president obama in his interview with tom friedman on friday. He sat down for 60 minutes. If you want to watch the whole thing they did the mutated. You can go to the New York Times website and watch it there. Yesterday senator john mccain along with Lindsey Graham, to republicans, put this joint statement out saying, it is far past time posed by isis. While the humanitarian aid efforts undertaken by the administration are an important first step, it should be accompanied by additional steps to degrade isiss capabilities including airstrikes in the positions against iraq and syria. And the immediate provision of military assistance to our partners who are fighting against isis. Francis in c host francis in california, independent caller. What do you think, francis . Go ahead. Caller thank you much for taking my call. I am an african, and when i look at the United States, i have invested everything i have to come down to the United States. Because i love this country. And i believe in innovative aspect of america. But when i look at the policies of aspect, it undermines all of that. Why is that . It is because american politicians are in the front of the world. The world in which they should they react without actually having a clear understanding of what is happening on the other side of things. The United States took out saddam hussein, who said he was a bad guy, son of a bitch, hes got to get out of there. We took them out. What happened . That led to all of these crises and the massive killings. Saddam killed so we people. We took them out and now we have killed more people and were still killing. There are so much killed. We are spending so much money. We are risking the lives of our precious troops. In libya, the same way. We took out Moammar Gadhafi because he is a bad guy. And look at what we created there. In ukraine, we took out yonder coverage or whoever he was, and look yana coverage. Look at the mess. When is this madness going to stop . Host okay. All, democratic caller. Caller i couldnt have said it any better than that guy from california. Ill tell you what, if we are john mccain as president right now would probably have a million troops in the middle east. We would probably be spending a trillion dollars a month. I mean, him and Lindsey Graham, i cant believe the things they say. I mean host what about what the former sec of state had to say, Hillary Clinton yesterday, calling it a failure . Caller shes just trying to run for president. I dont know. Battle area, like i said, theres nothing we can do about it. Those people are mad. I mean, its crazy. Host all right. John in brooklyn, new york, independent caller. Caller good morning. I think this morning this is a shameful question that youre asking. And the reason why i am saying that is when i going to ask or cspan is going to ask if the iraqis or the syrians responsible for their own actions . The iraqis wanted us out of iraq. We got out. And that everything that goes wrong, its our responsibility. I think its a ridiculous question. And as for people like john mccain and Lindsey Graham are concerned, until theyre standing on the front line can i dont want to anything that they had to say. Host sounds good but what about the humanitarian effort . Caller that crisis we can help in whatever way we can. But we are not responsible for everything that goes on in that region. Host say disagree because the Financial Times editorial says, but britain specifically but perhaps it could be applied to the United States, that is part of the u. S. Led invasion of 2003, britain is complicit in iraqs disarray. Caller i agree. I think we can help in whatever way we can. But military action is not the only solution to these problems. I dont understand why, if the president should want to send chips into syria, the republicans and everyone else turned their heads like hours and no, you are asking if what is in it in action by the congress to avert the crisis penalties . Host we didnt say was just the president. The question, did inaction on to point comment you should Hillary Clinton and showed barack obama. Thats blaming who youre making reference to this morning. Host and we also read from the Washington Post about tim kaine and trying to change the war powers act last fall when the president want to go into syria but congress did not approve action. He wanted congress to approve action. Hears from the Washington Times. The president declined to use mildred force last against the assad regime even after its launched a chemical weapons attack against rebel forces something the white house had labelled a line in the sand. Instead, they secured an agreement with mr. Assad in which he would give up the chemical weapons stockpiles. The u. S. And International Partners have provided humanitarian aid and some weapons to moderate rebel forces. But analysts say the Islamic State has seized control of the Rebel Movement. The outcome could have been avoided, it goes on to say f the u. S. Had acted against mr. Assad and made a stronger commitment to moderate rebel elements much sooner. Critics and analysts say. Cars, west viinra host carlos, west virginia, an iraq war veteran. Carlos, what is your take this morning . Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. First of all i want to, you become appreciate the fact that all of your callers are calling enthused about the subject. Some of them are incorrect. As a matter of fact, the idea that we did not respond to serious crisis by military invasion, we are seeing what were seeing today in iraq is incorrect. Actually we have gotten ourselves involved in syria as we did in iraq and 2003. In syria, we have started supporting initially, your collar, and the call we start with nonlethal it and all the kind of stuff which really ended up with body armor, equipment, satellite communications, secure communications and all that kind of center we have already done the. The United States has did that, provided all that equipment, and groups like isis of course the custody of those. Isil is not just today but it did not come to power two months ago or almost six months ago. This is a residue of actually left over forces that we supported initially in syria. Part of the forces that came over there and power. Now, as an iraq veteran who has lost friends, brothers in arms over there, it hurts every single being of my existence to see iraq fall so badly. This war is the war that i would love to go to fight. Not for the 2003 where the president of the United States and the administration and all that lied to the American People and the armed forces of the United States at that time. That was a lie. Not only us, but the government would lie to the world. We lied to the American People. Host you say this is the war you go to fight. Want more traffic this war against isis. Host against isis, okay, this is the time we need to act. We dont need to act just like you aircraft, a few airstrikes because were going to protect americans men and women on the ground. What we can do now is we do that all the time. If we wanted to protect them, we would just pull them out. We dont have to send military aircraft over there to do anything. Host all right. As we told you, Hillary Rodham clinton in her interview with the atlantic was critical of the president s Foreign Policy approach in many areas, not just s