Obama on isis saying that we have an objective, it is clear, to degrade and destroy isis. Fox friends will, of course, continue our coverage this morning. Thanks so much for joining us. Well be back at 5 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning. Good morning. It is wednesday, september 3rd. Im ilves hhis best hasselbeck. The president just confirmed the video is, in fact, the beheading of journalist Steve Sotloff. He said justice will be served but where in the world is the strategy . So are we or are we not at war with isis . Is there any doubt on your part or the part of this administration that, in fact, the United States is at war with i this . I dont think its a useful exercise to go back and forth about new terms. Are you kidding me . Why the Administration Simply cant call it what it is. All right. And shouldnt these acts of
terror unite us as a nation. According to this democratic candidate he calls republicans worse than isis. It may not seem like that, but morning are better with friends. Just moments ago, president obama speaking on the eve of a crucial nato meeting saying justice will, indeed, be served against isis, this as the white house confirms a second american journalist has been killed by the terror group. Ed henry is live in estonia with the latest. Good morning to you, ed. What is the latest and what the president is saying. Well, very interesting because at this News Conference, the president wanting to talk, you know, stopping here in estonia, just standing right now about 100 miles from the russian border because the president wants to send a signal to Vladimir Putin about its moves
in ukraine saying look, the u. S. Will stand up for nato allies like estonia right here. But instead the president got two questions at this News Conference immediately on defense about isis, about the videotape, the beheading of the second american journalist. The president was saying americans are repulsed by this bar barrism, the second videotape, the second beheading only stiffens our resolve, reach is long and justice will be served. Pressed by american reporters twice on whether or not he finally has a strategy to deal with isis. Listen to his answer. So the bottom line is this, our objective is clear and that is to degrade and destroy isis so that its no longer a threat, not just to iraq, but also the region, and to the United States. But when he was pressed on that a second time, the president seemed to back pedal a bit and said that his goal
ultimately is to make sure that isis is a, quote, manageable problem, that we push them back, roll them back as he said at one point, to the point its a manageable problem. Its interesting because the beginning of the News Conference, what you just heard there, the idea of destroying isis, but by the end of the News Conference, he was saying we need to make it a manageable problem. Seems like the white house messaging on this is still struggling, guys. The one thing that emerges for me and watching it, the president went out of his way he does have a strategy and objective, fine, but i dont see the urgency, compare and contrast that with our secretary of defense and joint chiefs of staff and David Cameron, how do you explain the disconnect between the president s approach, members of his cabinet and britain . It is hard to explain because look, when that sound bite that we just played and the president said, you know, the objective is to destroy isis, hes actually borrowing something from his cabinet member, secretary of state john kerry, who as you
know a couple weeks ago said look, the goal is to destroy them. The president had not quite said that before and there had been questions at the White House Briefing for days, is the president at odds with his own cabinet about how serious a threat this is. It seemed like at the beginning of the News Conference he was trying to say were on the same page here, were going to destroy them but his answers got more rambling and settled on this idea that isis, we want to get them down, degrade them to the point theyre a manageable problem. If its a manageable problem its still out there. Its not destroyed. So the president within one News Conference had a couple answers that were at odds with himself. As hes trying to clarify the no strategy comment at the white houses almost a week ago now, its sort of surprising that nearly a week later he still quite doesnt have down what his strategy, what his objective, what his message is. Last point i make is this nato summit you mentioned coming up in wales later this week, one of the questions he got from the american press, will you bring the nato leaders your strategy
on isis finally and he basically suggested he doesnt have that strategy yet. Great. All right. Ed henry, traveling with the president up early for us on this wednesday morning. Live in estonia. Clearly the president thanks, ed. The president stung by headlines like this in the daily news, do you have a strategy now, mr. President , showing Steven Sotloff beheaded on video and this wont stop until we stop them. Of course they wont stop until we stop. How do we do it . When we declare war on them. We are declaring war on isis, arent we . James rosen got into that conversation with jen psaki at the state Department Yesterday and the answers not very eye opening but at the same time revealing. Why does our president or our secretary of state not recognize that and say, indeed, we are at war with this group and well destroy them . Well, i think first of all, james, our actions speak for our commitment to this and the
president has authorized more than 100 strikes in iraq, as have been confirmed by the department of defense. Any american sitting at home should sit and look at the axships that were taking. I dont think its a useful exercise to go back and forth about new terms. Seemingly uncertain in terms of terminology there, but why isnt it clear . I mean we have a number of troops thats been assigned to hold down and secure our forces there in baghdad. We have air strikes occurring right now. Weve got confusing language when it seems like we have two american journalists beheaded. Im not sure what more calls for war we need. Ed henry mentioned a softening of terms and by the end of the speech the president just gave in estonia in answering questions as it regards to war, in terms of strategy, he said referring to the beheadings, he referred to them as crimes against these fine young men. Civilized terminology. Right. For something so barbaric. Why is he afraid to call a spade a spade . He also says he blames social media for a lot of the uproar thats going on right now. The world is always in turmoil. Especially in the middle east. Charles krauthammer thinks he has thinks he understands why the president is so reluctant to call things as they are. Its a global war and obama persists in calling them extremists as if they are extremists for what the reason, theyre just very upset about a lot of stuff. He will not call it by its name. Islamic radicalism. He will not explain or can see its a worldwide movement. He will not concede that what hes done for these five years under estimating, underplaying and not explaining to the American People the necessity of carrying it on, has now beginning to bear fruit everywhere in the world as americas position is
collapsing. I thought what charles said was so good. He spent five years not explaining whats going on, waiting for things to happen, that he cant avoid it like this horrific beheading. For example, if he was able to segue from its labor day, look at the economy, to i got to explain to you the reality of what america faces today, instead hes screaming about minimum wage and fair pay yesterday in a way in which you would think Vince Lombardi was giving a halftime speech. He has to go out of his way to explain to the American People why they should care, but still, the American People are pivoting nonetheless. Frustrated as well. You look back to 2007, the president alluded to the fact he thought it would change the world once he was inaugurateded, that he would be able to understand muslims and therefore crimes like this would not occur and the world would be safer because he had understanding. Well years later, it doesnt seem to be working. His strategy seems to be himself not a good one. Himself, he is a politician and thats why they talk about minimum wage and stuff like that at a time when were worried
about isis. The number one topic, i was at a bunch of picnics over the weekend thats all anybody was talking about. Its clear were under attack and it will not go away if we choose not to respond. The president can say some words, but still, we havent done anything. We are going to put 350 more people on the ground there, but not a combat role. The pew poll of people asked the american pup lick how is the United States doing as it comes to World Problems . August 14th in the right column, we do too little rather too much. Which is way down from november of 13 where we were doing too much. As you can see, 31 , the middle column, far right, 31 of you say that were doing too little. That number has doubled. Look at the time line there. It absolutely has. Its doubled in doing too much, now 39 says were doing too much. I dont know who they are but
theyre not on this planet. Nine minutes after the hour. Do we have time to do this . Yeah. You know whats interesting, where youre headed you take a time like this, its not only heartbreaking but absolutely outrageous in terms of atrocity and the level of horror that were seeing when two americans are beheaded. Were going to examine together. Democrats are coming out saying hey, this president is not doing enough, hes too cautious, lets sort of find some middle ground and take action, but not everyone is doing that. I couldnt believe when i saw this tweet. Jesse smith, democrat candidate for congressman in alabama tweeted this the greatest country on earth is being bullied from within. Axships of republicans in congress are worse than isil. He said that some of the ways that the republicans are terrorizing americans is raising Interest Rates on student loans, trying to privatize social security, tax cuts and cutting food stamp budget. For him to make the comparison between the republicans and a
blood Thirsty Group of people cutting off peoples heads seems to be he is an iraq veteran and he was in on the invasion. Still a stupid thing to say. Also in his background. 11 minutes after the hour. Ainsley, other things happen. We saw you downstairs covering the press conference and now this. What else is happening in the news this morning. Brand new video showing the moment a fighter jet nose dives into an apartment in libya, exploding into a massive fire ball. Wow. The pilot and two residents died. Officials blaming that crash on a technical issue but reports say the military jet was shot down by the terrorist group ansar al sharia. This morning the fbi is joining the search for a young
girl, heres her picture, who might have been snatched out of her bed in the middle of the night. Cops in bull head city, arizona, say 8yearold isabella kanell la was last seen in her bed on monday shortly before midnight but when her parents checked on her two hours later she was gone. A victory for america against islamic extremists this morning. The feds allowed to withhold photos of the 20th hijacker. An appeals pam ruled the government can hang on to photos of the Gitmo Detainee slated to be on one of the suicide planes on september 11th. The center for Constitutional Rights sued saying the images of his interrogation would serve the public interest, but the court cited with the feds because american extremists could use that photo to recruit other terrorists. Those are your headlines. Back to you. Ainsley, thank you very much. Coming up, 11 commercial jetliners from libya, 11, are missing. Are terrorists planning another
9 11style attack on america . 9 11 just next week. Lieutenant general tom mcka nerneny is here with a dire warning coming up next. New developments in the shooting of Michael Brown. Will his past catch up with him . Those details are straight ahead. To come to Bass Pro Shops than right now. Announcer Bass Pro Shops is the place for incredible savings. Like your choice of bass pro hats for only 5. And this she outdoor vintage camo hoodie for under 30. Hello three grams daily of betaglucan. A soluable fiber from whole grain oat foods like cheerios can help lower cholesterol. Thank you
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sotloff was by isis and is, indeed, authentic. This as details emerge about an american man killed fighting for isis. A homegrown terrorist and a former employee of the minneapolis airport. Does this show isis is in our midst . Joining us is fox news military analyst retired air force Lieutenant GeneralTom Mcinerney who like us 20 minutes ago saw the president wrap up a presser in estonia as a precursor to his meeting in nato. First off your impression of the president s remarks . Well, i thought they were like, ed, very conflicting, they were ambivalent. We could destroy isis in 90 days if we wanted to. He is indicating this is a longterm problem. I dont believe it is. Lets get on with it, mr. President. He said this date backs to the iraq war, again, where al qaeda in iraq put up a tough fight against our guys. Well, that was a different kind of threat. That was a covert threat. We are now facing an overt
threat, armored vehicles, seizing cities, et cetera. An entirely different threat, far more formidable. All right. General, you thought it was very significant that we have these jetliners now, now in militant islamic extremist hands over in libya. What role do you see that playing as we get closer and closer to another year marking 9 11 . Brian, i am getting flashing red lights about to go steady red. Let me give you five or six key end indications and warnings that give me that feeling its very dangerous right now. Number one, King Abdullah sent a signal to the american and the europeans that isis has got a european and a u. S. Reach. Number two, the beheadings that we have just witnessed are clear indications by isis to the American People, we are not afraid of you, we are coming after you. Number three, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom upgrading his alert,
warning status to severe. We havent done anything. Number four, two weeks ago tomorrow, our secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff cried out that isis was an imminent threat to the United States and got slam dunked by the white house. I commend both of them for standing up on this. Now you have those 11 airliners that could be prepositioned as i say in south america, they could strike europe, and theres always where is mh370. Will it rise again . And so i just found out this morning moments ago that the terrorists have developed an explosive that could be planted on human beings and it cannot be traced. This is a very, very dangerous warning that were getting and america should upgrade our alert status to def con 1. Beware, america, they are coming after us. Well, it looks like if thats going to happen, our Homeland Security secretary has to do it on its own because the president is blaming social media for the uproar and nervousness from sea it to shining sea. Lieutenant Tom Mcinerney, thank you very much. Thank you. Heres whats straight ahead. Not that i know you want to digest what you heard but brand new details about the